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Harlem Globetrotters

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Sports teams

                                           Harlem Globetrotters

                   Harlem Globetrotters logo

                       Founded                             1926
                       League                           Independent
                    Team History              New York HarlemGlobetrotters
                                                      1928-1929
                                                   Harlem Globetrotters
                                                       1929-present
                        Arena                               N/A
                      Based in                       Phoenix, Arizona
                     Team Colors                    Red, White, & Blue
                        Owner                         Mannie Jackson
                     Head Coach                     Henry Clark
                                                      Tellis Frank
                                                     Charles Harrison
                                                      Clyde Sinclair
                                                      Mike St. Julien
                    Championships                            –
                   Division Titles                           –
                       Mascot                             Globie

   The Harlem Globetrotters are an exhibition basketball team that
   combines athleticism and comedy to create one of the best-known sports
   entertainment franchises in the world.

   Created by Abe Saperstein in 1927 in Chicago, Illinois, the team
   adopted the name Harlem because of its connotations as a major
   African-American community. Over the years they have played more than
   20,000 exhibition games in 118 countries, mostly against deliberately
   ineffective opponents, such as the Washington Generals (1953–1995) and
   the New York Nationals (1995–present).

   Brother Bones' whistled version of " Sweet Georgia Brown" is the team's
   signature song.

Early history

   There is no clear consensus as to the very beginnings of the
   Globetrotters. The official history contains several details which are
   clearly untrue, such as the team being organized in 1926 in the Savoy
   Ballroom, which opened in 1927. What is clear is that the genesis of
   the Globetrotters takes place in the South Side of Chicago in the
   1920s, where all the original players grew up. Most, if not all of the
   original players attended Wendell Phillips High School. When the Savoy
   Ballroom opened in November of 1927, one of the premier attractions was
   the Savoy Big Five, a basketball team that played exhibitions before
   dances. 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"
   which would tour Southern Illinois that winter. A white man named Abe
   Saperstein became involved with the team, though to exactly 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 centre of African-American culture at the
   time, and an out of town team name would give the team more of a
   mystique. After four decades of existence, the Globetrotters played
   their first "home" game in Harlem in 1968.

   The first star player of those early Globe Trotters (the name would be
   merged into one word later on) was Albert "Runt" Pullins, an adept
   dribbler and shooter. Soon he would be joined by 6'4" Inman Jackson,
   who played centre and had a flair for showboating. They would originate
   the two roles that would stay with the 'trotters for decades, the
   showman and the dribbler.

   The Globetrotters were initially a serious competitive team, and
   despite a flair for entertainment, they would only clown for the
   audience after establishing a safe lead in the game. In 1937, they
   accepted an invitation to participate in the World Professional
   Baketball Tournament, where they met the New York Rens in the
   semi-finals in the first big clash of the two greatest all-black
   professional basketball teams. The Rens defeated the Globetrotters and
   went on to win the Tournament, but in 1940 they avenged their loss by
   defeating the Rens in the quarterfinals and advancing to the
   championship game, where they beat the Chicago Bruins in overtime by a
   score of 31-25.

   The Globetrotters beat the premier professional team, the Minneapolis
   Lakers (led by George Mikan), for two years in a row in 1948 and 1949,
   with the Lakers winning later contests. The February 1948 win (by a
   score of 61-59, on a buzzer beater) was a hallmark in professional
   basketball history, as the all-black Globetrotters proved they were on
   an equal footing with the all-white Lakers. Momentum for ending the
   NBA's colour line grew, and in 1950, Chuck Cooper became the first
   black player drafted by an NBA team. From that time on the
   Globetrotters had increasing difficulty attracting and retaining top
   talent.

Finding success

   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 (National
   Basketball Association) greats Wilt "The Stilt" Chamberlain, Connie
   "The Hawk" Hawkins and Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton, as well as Marques
   Haynes, George "Meadowlark" Lemon, Jerome James, former Temple coach
   John Chaney, and Reece "Goose" Tatum. Another popular team member in
   the 1970s and 1980s was Fred "Curly" Neal who was the best dribbler of
   that era of the team's history and was immediately recognizable due to
   his shaven head. Baseball Hall of Famers Bob Gibson, Ferguson Jenkins
   and Lou Brock 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 virtually 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
   white owner Abe Saperstein. However, prominent civil rights' activist
   Jesse Jackson came to their defense by stating, "I think they've been a
   positive influence... They did not show blacks as stupid. On the
   contrary, they were shown as superior."
   Eugene "Killer" Edgerson of the Harlem Globetrotters goes up for a
   layup
   Eugene "Killer" Edgerson of the Harlem Globetrotters goes up for a
   layup

Modern era

   During the 1970s and 1980s, the team was controlled by Metromedia and,
   in addition to their touring and playing the Washington Generals or the
   New York Nationals, were featured in numerous television series and
   specials, including appearances in live-action variety shows and
   several Hanna-Barbera cartoons (see "Media" section below).

   After a period of decline the Globetrotters franchise was purchased by
   former team member Mannie Jackson in 1993, and its fortunes revived
   again. In 2002 the team was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.

   To try to offset the criticism that they do not play "real basketball",
   in recent years the Trotters have scheduled games against college teams
   and pickup teams like Magic Johnson's All Stars with varying results.
   This renews a tradition of playing NBA teams, which the Globetrotters
   did during the 1950s.

   The Harlem Globetrotters visited Pope John Paul II at the Vatican in
   November of 2000 and named the Pontiff an Honorary Harlem Globetrotter.
   In addition to this, James Knight was also made a member of the Harlem
   Globetrotters. More recently the Harlem Globetrotters visited troops in
   Iraq where they played in a series of matches in local courts.

Winning streaks and rare defeats

   After losing to the Washington Generals in 1962, the Harlem
   Globetrotters only lost two more games in the next 38 years (12,596
   games). Usually they played a "stooge" team owned by Red Klotz, which
   also appeared as the Boston Shamrocks, New Jersey Reds, Baltimore
   Rockets, or the Atlantic City Seagulls. On January 5, 1971 they lost in
   Martin, Tennessee in overtime to the New Jersey Reds; the 100-99 score
   ended a 2,495-game winning streak.

   In addition to their hundreds of exhibition games, the Globetrotters
   have faced some competitive action since the mid-1990s. On September
   12, 1995, they lost 91-85 to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's All Star Team in
   Vienna, Austria ending a run of 8,829 straight victories in going back
   to 1971. The 48-year-old Abdul-Jabbar scored 34 points. The
   Globetrotters won the other 10 games during that European tour.

   They also immediately went on another winning streak of 1,270 before
   losing 72-68 to the Michigan State University Spartans on November 13,
   2000, which was only the 333rd defeat in the team's history. 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 - still a winning percentage of 98.5%.

   The Globetrotters claim all its exhibition games are "real,
   competitive" contests.

Harlem Globetrotters in films and television

   The Harlem Globetrotters have featured in several of their own films
   and television series over the years;
     * The Harlem Globetrotters, a 1951 feature film starring Whitney
       Rumsey and other Globetrotters, also featuring Thomas Gomez,
       Dorothy Dandridge, Bill Walker, and Angela Clarke. Young Bill
       Townsend drops out of college to join the famous independent
       Trotter team. He also finds romance along the way. "Goose" Tatum
       and fancy dribbler Haynes were the star players of the
       Globetrotters at the time and Saperstein was the owner. Tatum,
       Haynes, Babe Presley, Ermer Robinson, Duke Cumberland, Clarence
       Wilson, Pop Gates, Frank Washington, Ted Strong and other current
       team members appear in the film as themselves. Also featured is a
       lot of actual game footage (three times against the Celtics with
       Tony Lavelli and Big Bob Hahn), including their famous "Sweet
       Georgia Brown" warm-up routine. (Along with making the film, the
       team toured Major League Baseball stadiums that year and went on
       their first tour of South America).

     * Go, Man, Go, a 1954 sequel, starring Dane Clark as Abe Saperstein
       and Sidney Poitier as Inman Jackson.

     * Harlem Globetrotters, a Hanna-Barbera Saturday morning cartoon,
       broadcast from September 12, 1970 to May 1973. Originally broadcast
       on CBS, and later re-run on NBC as The Go-Go Globetrotters.

     * The Harlem Globetrotters Popcorn Machine, a 1974 live-action
       Saturday morning variety show starring the Globetrotters which
       featured comedy skits, blackout gags, and educational segments. The
       show was produced by Funhouse Productions and Yongestreet
       Productions for CBS.

     * The Super Globetrotters, a second animated series created by
       Hanna-Barbera for NBC in 1979. It featured the Globetrotters (now
       including new squad members James "Twiggy" Sanders, Nate Branch and
       Louis "Sweet Lou" Dunbar) as undercover superheroes, who would
       transform from their regular forms by entering magic portable
       lockers carried in "Sweet Lou" Dunbar's Afro, or in a
       basketball-shaped medallion.

     * The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island, a 1981 made-for-TV
       film featured the Globetrotters alongside Bob Denver and the rest
       of the cast of Gilligan's Island. The film's plot follows the first
       animated series' formula to a degree with a conflict that ends with
       an unusual basketball game against an opposing team made up of
       robots. The Globetrotters decide to play with standard moves in the
       first half and fall hopelessly behind in points until the Professor
       advises the team to use their comedic style of play to win, which
       hopelessly confuses the machines.

     * Harlem Globetrotters: The Team that Changed the World, a 2005
       documentary featuring interviews with the Globetrotters, NBA
       coaches and fans such as Bill Cosby, Samuel L. Jackson, Phil
       Jackson and Henry Kissinger — himself an honorary Globetrotter —
       and including photos of the Globetrotters with the late Pope John
       Paul II.

Other appearances

   Former Globetrotter Mel Davis was the subject of the short documentary
   Hardwood, directed by his son, Hubert Davis. This film was nominated
   for an Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject in 2006.

   A contestant on the April 6, 2007, episode of the NBC game show
   Identity correctly identified "Stranger" #12 as being Eugene Edgerson.

   The Harlem Globetrotters have made multiple appearances on the animated
   show Futurama. These episodes feature fictional Globetrotters like
   Ethan "Bubblegum" Tate (played by Phil LaMarr). In the 31st century, it
   seems that the Globetrotters have a planet all their own, and in the
   episode " Time Keeps on Slippin'", the Globetrotter Homeworld
   challenges Earth to a basketball game (for absolutely no stakes beyond
   the shame of defeat). At one point in the series, "Bubblegum" declares
   everyone in the room an honorary Globetrotter; the only one to miss out
   - despite the fact that it was his dream to become one - was Bender.

Retired numbers

   The Globetrotters have retired four numbers to date:
     * 13 - Wilt Chamberlain; March 9, 2000
     * 20 - Marques Haynes; January 5, 2001
     * 36 - Meadowlark Lemon; January 5, 2001
     * 50 - Reece Tatum; February 8, 2002

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlem_Globetrotters"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
