MARY BRASWELL: Looking back at the Harlem Globetrotters

Each week Albany Herald researcher Mary Braswell looks for interesting events, places and people from the past. You can contact her at (229) 888-9371 or [email protected]. Follow @ABH_MBraswell on Twitter.

Although not called the Harlem Globetrotters at the time, this iconic basketball team was first formed 90 years ago. Here is a look back at some of the facts surrounding the team through the years.

— Late in the year 1926, an all-African-American basketball team from Chicago was playing exhibitions, mostly before dances. The team was named the Savoy Big Five.

— Hinckley, Ill., was home to the first “real” Savoy Big Five game on Jan. 7, 1927.

—–

QUIK QUIZ

How old was Meadowlark Lemon (1932-2015) when he first dreamed of becoming a Harlem Globetrotter?

a) 6

b) 11

c) 14

d) 18

Answer is at the end of the column.

—–

— The names of the first five: “Toots” Wright, “Fat” Long, “Kid” Oliver,” “Runt” Pullins and Andy Washington. All were from Chicago and several attended the same high school.

— The Savoy Ballroom in Chicago hosted the team’s exhibitions as a promotional move.

— In 1928, Abe Saperstein, a white businessman, became involved with the team, then known as the Globe Trotters, as its manager, promoter and owner. Ownership stayed with Saperstein until his death in 1966.

— Saperstein’s team, known as the New York Harlem Globetrotters, toured Illinois and Iowa throughout 1929.

— Harlem was chosen as the team’s hometown because the area was considered the center of African-American culture. The “New York” was dropped in 1930. It was, however, not until 1968 that the team played its first game for a Harlem audience.

— The Globetrotters participated in the World Professional Basketball Tournament in 1939, but lost to the New York Renaissance. It was around the same time that Saperstein realized how much the audiences liked the tricks and comic routines of the players. He encouraged the players to keep it up, as long as they maintained a healthy lead. The Harlem Globetrotters took the world championship title in 1940 by defeating the Chicago Bruins.

— The Harlem Globetrotters popularity resulted in two early films, “Go Man Go” (1948) and “The Harlem Globetrotters” (1951).

— Since 1952, the team has traveled with a second team that (almost) always loses. The Eastern Basketball League team of Red Klotz was renamed the Washington Generals and served as a straight man to the clowning Globetrotters. Sometimes the team name and uniforms were changed to become the Boston Shamrocks, Baltimore Rockets, Atlantic City Seagulls and/or the New Jersey Reds. It was, however, always the same team.

— In 1959 the team, including Wilt Chamberlain, was invited to Moscow, where they met Premier Nikita Khrushchev and played nine games.

— It was in the 1950s that the National Basketball Association began fielding black players and some of the best took that route. The comedy routines and elaborate ball tricks of the Globetrotters became a larger part of the performance than ever before.

— The whistler of the Globetrotters’ theme song is Brother Bones (1902-74). Born Freeman Davis, Bones’ 1949 recording of “Sweet Georgia Brown” became internationally famous when it was adopted by the Harlem Globetrotters in 1952.

— In 1951, the team toured Major League Baseball stadiums and went on their first tour of South America.

— On Dec. 30, 1956, 12 members of the Globetrotters appeared as guest challengers on the TV panel show “What’s My Line?”

— Baseball Hall of Fame members Bob Gibson and Ferguson Jenkins played on the Globetrotters team at one time.

— In 1976, the Globetrotters began naming honorary members. In 40 years only nine have been honored with membership. They are Henry Kissinger (1976), Bob Hope (1977), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1989), Whoopi Goldberg (1990), Nelson Mandela (1996), Jackie Joyner-Kersee (1999), Pope John Paul II (2000), Jesse Jackson (2001) and Pope Francis (2015).

— “Harlem Globetrotters,” a Hanna-Barbera Saturday morning cartoon, broadcast from Sept. 12, 1970 to May 1973. Originally broadcast on CBS, the show was later re-run on NBC as “The Go-Go Globetrotters.”

— On Jan. 25, 1971, the Washington Generals, outfitted that night as the New Jersey Reds, traveled to Martin, Tenn., to once more play the Globetrotters. The trickster team loss track of the score and the Generals won 100-99. Generals (Reds) owner Red Klotz said in an interview that the crowd reacted “as if we’d just killed Santa Claus.”

— The first non-African American Globetrotter was Orlando Antigua. The year was 1995.

— Nine women have played for the Harlem Globetrotters.

— In May 1981, the Harlem Globetrotters crash landed on Gilligan’s Island and, inthe made-for-TV movie, immediately dispatched a terrifying shark by throwing basketballs at it.

— In 1972, Bill Cosby signed to $1-a-year lifetime contract with the Globetrotters. The contract was increased to $1.05 in 1986.

— In “The Amazing Race: Season 15” (2009), Globetrotters Herbert “Flight Time” Lang and Nathaniel “Big Easy” Lofton participated, finishing fourth place. As part of the cross-promotion of “The Amazing Race,” Lang and Lofton also appeared on CBS’s game show “The Price Is Right” to model prizes and present a showcase.

— In 2010, five members of the Globetrotters appeared on “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?” to raise money for charity.

— Special K Daley, Ant Atkinson, and Blenda Rodriguez of the Globetrotters made a guest appearance in the October 18, 2011 episode of “Sesame Street”, in which they and Elmo talked about the number 3.

— The Globetrotters have played in more than 25,000 games, more than any other team in any sport in history. It is estimated that more than 125 million people in 120 countries have seen a Globetrotters game.

Gone, but not forgotten…

George “Meadowlark” Lemon, known as the “Clown Prince of Basketball” for his captivating and amusing style during his 24-season run with the Harlem Globetrotters, died in Scottsdale, Ariz., on Dec. 27, 2015. He was 83. Lemon’s Globetrotter career spanned 7,500 games played in more than 100 countries. He first full season with the team was in 1954. The 2016 Globetrotters have announced they are dedicating this season, the team’s 90th overall, to Lemon and fellow legend Marques Haynes, who died in May.

You can see them soon

If you want to see the Globetrotters, you’re in luck. They’re coming to the Albany Civic Center on Feb. 24. Tip-off is at 7 p.m. Tickets are on sale and prices range from $21.50 to courtside $55.50. Ticket locations include the Civic Center Box Office and ticketmaster.com. For information, contact Kyndra Flowers at (602) 707-7009 or email [email protected].

QUIK QUIZ answer: (b) 11

After seeing a newsreel at the movie theater featuring the Harlem Globetrotters, Lemon made his first basketball hoop out of an onion sack and coat hanger, using an empty Carnation milk can to sink his first 2-point hoop.