The Harlem Globetrotters is an exhibition basketball team that combines athleticism, theater, and comedy. Over the years they have played more than 20,000 exhibition games in 120 countries. Brother Boness whistled version of Sweet Georgia Brown is the teams signature song. Globie has been their mascot since 1993. History When the Savoy Ballroom in Chicago opened in November 1927, one of the premier attractions was the Savoy Big Five, a basketball team that played exhibitions before dances. Hinckley, Illinois, was home to the first Harlem Globetrotters game on January 7, 1927. In 1928, several players left the team in a dispute over bringing back other players who had left the team. That fall, several players led by Tommy Brookins formed a team called the Globe Trotters that toured Southern Illinois that spring. Abe Saperstein became involved with the team, though exactly to what extent is unclear. In any event, by 1929 Saperstein was touring Illinois and Iowa with his basketball team called the New York Harlem Globe Trotters. Saperstein decided to pick Harlem as their home city, since Harlem was considered the center of African-American culture at the time and an out-of-town team name would give the team more of a mystique. It has been claimed that the Harlem Globetrotters were the first professional basketball team. After four decades, the Globetrotters played their first home game in Harlem in 1968. Sapersteins influence was complex: although he was called a loyal friend for his support of the team, he paid the players poorly and tried to keep the NBA from integrating, even threatening boycotts, because he feared losing his players. Moscow games In 1959, the Globetrotters played nine games in Moscow after Saperstein received an invitation from Vasily Gricorevich, the director of Lenin Central Stadium. The team, which included Wilt Chamberlain, was welcomed enthusiastically by spectators and authorities; they met Premier Nikita Khrushchev and collectively received the Athletic Order of Lenin medal. (However, according to one report, spectators were initially confused: A Soviet audience of 14,000 sat almost silently, as if in awe, through the first half of the game. It warmed up slightly in the second half when it realized the Trotters are more show than competition.) The Globetrotters brought their own opponent—not the Washington Generals, but the San Francisco Chinese Basketeers. A review in Pravda stated, This is not basketball; it is too full of tricks but praised the Globetrotters skills and suggested that they have some techniques to show us. The American press—particularly Drew Pearson—made note of the fact that the Globetrotters were paid (per game) the equivalent of $4000, which could be spent only in Moscow. The games were used as evidence that U.S.–Soviet relations were improving, that Moscow was backing off its criticism of race relations inside America, and that the USSR was becoming more capitalist (Pearson suggested that the games were held because Lenin Stadium needed money). Finding success The Globetrotters were perennial participants in the World Professional Basketball Tournament, winning it in 1940. Once one of the best teams in the country, the Globetrotters were eclipsed by the rise of the National Basketball Association, particularly when NBA teams began fielding African-American players in the 1950s. The Globetrotters gradually worked comic routines into their act until they became known more for entertainment than sports. The Globetrotters acts often feature incredible coordination and skillful handling of one or more basketballs, such as passing or juggling balls between players, balancing or spinning balls on their fingertips, and making unusual, difficult shots. Among the players who have been Globetrotters are NBA greats Wilt The Stilt Chamberlain, Connie The Hawk Hawkins, and Nat Sweetwater Clifton as well as Marques Haynes, Meadowlark Lemon, Jerome James, Reece Goose Tatum, and Hubert Geese Ausbie. Another popular team member in the 1970s and 1980s was Fred Curly Neal, who was the best dribbler of that era of the teams history and was immediately recognizable owing to his shaven head. Baseball Hall of Famers Bob Gibson and Ferguson Jenkins also played for the team at one time or another. In 1985, the Globetrotters signed their first female player, Olympic gold medalist Lynette Woodard, and their second, Joyce Walker, just three weeks later. Because almost all of its players have been African American, and because of the buffoonery involved in many of the Globetrotters skits, they drew some criticism in the Civil Rights era. The players were derisively accused of Tomming for Abe, a reference to Uncle Tom and Jewish owner Abe Saperstein. However, prominent civil rights activist Jesse Jackson (who would later be named an Honorary Globetrotter) came to their defense by stating, I think theyve been a positive influence... They did not show Blacks as stupid. On the contrary, they were shown as superior. In 1995, Orlando Antigua became the first Hispanic and the first nonblack on the Globetrotters roster since Bob Karstens played with the squad in 1942–43. Winning streaks and rare defeats One of the original losses for the Globetrotters was to the Sheldon Orabs, who were led by William DeKraai in the 1940s. In January 1952, the Harlem Globetrotters lost to the Seattle University Chieftains (now Redhawks) in an upset, 84–81. After a loss to the Washington Generals in 1962 alleged by Generals owner Red Klotz, the Harlem Globetrotters lost only three more games in the next 50 years (5,983 games). Usually they played a stooge team owned by Red Klotz, which also appeared as the Boston Shamrocks, New Jersey Reds, Baltimore Rockets, or Atlantic City Seagulls. On January 5, 1971, they lost in Martin, Tennessee, to the New Jersey Reds 100–99 in overtime; that ended an alleged 2,495-game winning streak (which would mean that the Globetrotters were playing 277 games per year up until that date). Another loss came against the Elmwood Yellow Jackets. The Globetrotters ended up losing after three over-times 36–34. In addition to their hundreds of exhibition games, the Globetrotters slowly returned to competitive basketball after 1993 under the new ownership of former player Mannie Jackson. On September 12, 1995, they lost 91–85 to Kareem Abdul-Jabbars All Star Team in Vienna, Austria, ending an alleged run of 8,829 straight victories going back to 1971. The 48-year-old Abdul-Jabbar scored 34 points. The 8,829 games in twenty-four years would mean the Globetrotters were playing nearly 368 games per year, or more than one game a day some days, for twenty-four years. This is because multiple team lineups tour as The Globetrotters to allow for a greater number of exhibitions. The Globetrotters won the other 10 games during that European tour. Five years later, following another 1,270 wins, they lost 72 to 68 to Michigan State University, the reigning mens collegiate champions, on November 13, 2000. Two years later, they set aside the hallmarks for a three-week, no-nonsense tour against college teams from mens Division One. There are no ballhandling displays to the tune of Sweet Georgia Brown, no buckets of water or confetti thrown, and no Washington Generals to act as their inept foils. On November 10 and 11 at Vanderbilt University and the University of Maryland, another defending champion, they lost close games to both teams, their first consecutive defeats since 1961. Yet the tour probably marked a decade of improvement as a competitive team. On November 3, 2003, the Globetrotters had a streak of 288 consecutive victories snapped after suffering an 89–88 loss to the UTEP Miners, who had just six victories the season before. It was their only loss during an eight-game college tour wherein the Globetrotters had defeated Michigan State (97–83), UMass (77–68), and defending national champion Syracuse (83–70). On February 27, 2006, the Globetrotters extended their overall record to exactly 22,000 wins. Their most recent loss came on March 31, 2006, when they went down 87–83 to the NABC College All-Stars to bring their loss tally to just 345, giving them a winning percentage of .985. Source: Wikipedia
Posted on: Wed, 07 Jan 2015 12:37:02 +0000