His most popular work, The Last Shot, is about basketball and the game's effect on urban youth. Beginning in the summer of 1991, Frey spent several months with members of the Abraham Lincoln High School basketball team. The school, located in Coney Island, is well known for its basketball program. One of the players Frey followed, Stephon Marbury, has been an NBA All-Star and was a player for the New York Knicks and the Boston Celtics before playing in China.
Others weren't so lucky. One player, Darryl Flicking (whose name is changed to "Russell Thomas" in the book), lost his scholarship to Temple University because he couldn't surpass the 700 SAT score required to be NCAA eligible. He became homeless and an Amtrak train hit and killed him in 1999. Another player, Tchaka Shipp, works manual labor for $8.50 an hour, according to "Betrayed by the Game", a follow-up published in The New York Times Magazine in 2004.
The Last Shot reveals the demeaning aspects of urban athletics — children are tempted by the multi-millionaire lifestyle of NBA stars and become convinced of their heroic prowess, usually at the expense of their education; most don't end up with a basketball career. It also documents the harsh effects of Proposition 48, the rule that requires at least a 700 on the SAT for NCAA eligibility.
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| Name | Frey, Darcy |
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| Short description | American journalist |
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