Harlem Globetrotters
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The Harlem Globetrotters are a comic basketball team that combines athleticism and comedy to create one of the best-known sports 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 leading African-American community. Over the years it has toured more than 100 countries putting on more than 20,000 exhibition games, mostly against hapless opposition like the Washington Generals (until 1995) and the New York Nationals (1995-present).
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History
Early years
The Globetrotters started in the Negro American Legion League as the "Giles Post", and in 1927 turned professional as the "Savoy Big Five". That year, promoter Saperstein bought the team and re-named it the Harlem Globetrotters, after the most famous of all African American neighborhoods. The Globetrotters were initially a serious competitive team, and they beat the premier professional team, the Minneapolis Lakers, two games in a row in 1948 and 1949. However, in 1950, Chuck Cooper became the first black player drafted by an NBA team, and 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 the fingertips, and unusual or difficult shots.
Among the players who have been Globetrotters are NBA (National Basketball Association) greats Wilt Chamberlain and Reece "Goose" Tatum, as well as George "Meadowlark" Lemon, Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton, and Connie "The Hawk" Hawkins. 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 Famer Bob Gibson also briefly played for the team in the late 1950s.
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 Jesse Jackson has stated: "I think they've been a positive influence. . . . They did not show blacks as stupid. On the contrary, they were shown as superior".
Modern era
During the 1970s and 1980s, the team was controlled by Metromedia and was 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 pick up 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.
"Sweet Georgia Brown" is the team's signature song.
"Winning Streaks"
On September 12, 1995, the Harlem Globetrotters lost an exhibition game 91-85 to Kareem Abdul Jabbar's All Star Team in Vienna, Austria ending a run of 8,829 straight "victories" in exhibition games going back to 1971. 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 Michigan State University Spartans on November 13th 2000. In addition to their exhibition games, the Globetrotters have faced some competitive action since 1997 against many college teams and have tasted defeat on a few occasions.
On January 5, 1971 the Harlem Globetrotters lost a game in Martin, Tennessee in overtime to the New Jersey Reds as team owner Red Klotz sank the winning basket for a 100-99 score that ended a 2,495-game winning streak.
Media
Hanna-Barbera produced a Saturday morning cartoon, The Harlem Globetrotters, from 1970 to 1972. Originally broadcast on CBS, and later re-run on NBC as The Go-Go Globetrotters, The Harlem Globetrotters cartoon featured animated versions of Lemon, Neal, Hubert "Geese" Ausbie, J.C. "Gip" Gipson, Bobby Joe Mason, and Pablo Robertson, alongside their bus driver and manager Granny and Dribbles, their dog mascot. The Harlem Globetroters and Josie and the Pussycats, another Hanna-Barbera offering, were the first Saturday morning cartoons to feature African-American characters. After the show was cancelled, the animated Globetrotters made three appearances on Hanna-Barbera's The New Scooby-Doo Movies in 1972 and 1973.
In 1974, the Globetrotters appeared in the live-action Saturday morning variety show The Harlem Globetrotters Popcorn Machine, which featured comedy skits, blackout gags, and educational segments. The show was produced by Funhouse Productions and Yongestreet Productions for CBS
A second animated series, The Super Globetrotters, was created by Hanna-Barbera in 1979. It featured The Globetroters (now including new squad members Twiggy Sanders, Nate Branch and "Sweet" Lou Dunbar) as undercover superheroes, who would transform from their regular forms by entering magic portable lockers carried in Globetrotter "Sweet" Lou Dunbar's Afro.
A 1981 TV-movie, The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island, featured the Globetrotters alongside Bob Denver and the rest of the cast of Gilligan's Island. In more recent years, the Harlem Globetrotters have made appearances on the animated show Futurama and TV Funhouse.
References
- Spinning the Globe: The Rise, Fall, and Return to Greatness of the Harlem Globetrotters, by Ben Green (2005). Amistad/ HarperCollins Publishers
