Saperstein, Abe

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{{epname|Saperstein, Abe}}
 
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[[File:Abe Saperstein.jpeg|thumb|220px|Abe Saperstein, circa 1950s]]
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'''Abraham M. Saperstein''' (July 4, 1902 – March 15, 1966) was the founder and coach of the world-famous [[Harlem Globetrotters]]. In an era where [[basketball]] hadn’t yet found its niche, Saperstein played the role of [[Phineas T. Barnum]] and promoted the nuances of the sport worldwide.  During the latter stages of his life he was also credited with the invention of the [[three point shot]], which has made the modern game of basketball more fast paced and exciting. Basketball would not be where it is today without his lifelong dedication and contribution to the sport.
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Saperstein is also an unsung hero in the area of [[civil rights]]. He provided opportunities for [[African-American]] players that were excluded by professional leagues and in so doing he opened the door for them to the [[National Basketball Association|NBA]]. The team he founded has since become Goodwill Ambassadors that travel all over the world. He was inducted into the [[Basketball Hall of Fame]] in 1971.
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=='''Life'''==
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'''Abe Saperstein''' was born in [[London]], [[England]], but left for [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]] at the age of six. Though he was only five feet tall, Saperstein competed in [[baseball]], [[basketball]], and [[Track and field|track]] as a [[high school]] student, but wasn't even given a tryout for the basketball team at the [[University of Illinois]]. From 1920 to 1925, he played guard for the semi-professional [[Chicago Reds]]. While much of Saperstein’s youth was ordinary, he first arrived on the horizon of basketball history in 1928 as a coach of the [[Savoy Big Five]], named after Chicago’s famous [[Savoy Ballroom]]. After a short lived stint as a professional baseball and basketball player, Saperstein found his role as coach and promoter.
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==Sports history pioneer==
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[[Image:Harlem Globetrotter playing with spctators 01.jpg|thumb|300px|The Harlem Globetrotters were famous for playing tricks on spectators during their games.]]
 +
The [[Harlem Globetrotters]] evolved from a series of different teams, beginning with the ''Giles Post'' of the [[Negro American Legion League]]. The Giles Post was founded at Wendell Phillips High School in 1926. Soon thereafter the 24 year old Abe Saperstein took over the team and renamed it the ''Savoy Big Five'' in return for sponsorship of his team. At the time, the Savoy Ballroom had just opened and partnered with Saperstein in an attempt to draw an audience to dance after their shows. In its early stages, the Savoy Big Five consisted entirely of [[African-American]]s and was deemed to be a failure by all. The team consisted of [[William Grant]], [[Lester Johnson]], [[Tommy Brookings]], [[Inman Jackson]], [[Joe Lillard]], [[Walter Wright]], [[Randolph Ramsey]], and [[William Watson]]. One year later, he formed the Saperstein's [[Harlem]], [[New York City|New York]], Globetrotters, which later became simply the Harlem Globetrotters.
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The Globetrotters sported a 101-6 record the first year, 145-13 in 1928, and 151-13 in 1929. Finding difficulty locating willing opponents, Saperstein conceived the idea of fancy, [[Comedy|comedic]], razzle-dazzle type of play, and soon the team became a must-see attraction on the professional basketball [[barnstorming]] circuit.<ref name=HoF>[http://www.jewishsports.net/BioPages/AbeSaperstein.htm Abe Saperstein] ''Jewishsports.net.'' Retrieved December 21, 2017.</ref> Not only did Saperstein manage the team, he acted as their chauffeur, trainer, and only substitute player in order to manage finances when profits were bleak. Even with all their clowning the Globetrotters still won the [[World Basketball Championship]] in 1940, giving substance to Saperstein's long-ignored claim that given the opportunity, they were among basketball's best. In 1943-44, the Trotters captured basketball’s International Cup.<ref name= HoF/>
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Saperstein was also [[Tom Hayes]]’ partner in the Black Barons baseball team in Birmingham, [[Alabama]]. Hayes owned the [[Negro league baseball|Negro League]] team but stayed in the background while Abe ran the club. He was extensively involved in black baseball, being a booking agent for several barnstorming teams besides running the Black Barons. He is remembered as someone who earned the respect of his players by paying them on time and in full (not always the case in the Negro Leagues).
 +
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==The Game that Changed the Game==
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Until the end of the 1940s basketball upheld [[Racial segregation|racial barriers]] and did not allow blacks to mix with whites. At that time the majority of basketball fans, including the players of the NBL, did not think that blacks had the talent to play basketball. The Harlem Globetrotters were perceived as entertainers and not athletes.
 +
 +
That perception changed after a game featuring the [[National Basketball League]]’s best team, the [[Minneapolis Lakers ]]and Saperstein’s Harlem Globetrotters. The game was the brainchild of  Saperstein and [[Max Winter]], an owner of the Lakers.<ref name=Babwin>Don Babwin, 2008, [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2008/02/17/SP5SV396L.DTL Globetrotters played for real in a game that altered history] ''Sfgate.com.'' Retrieved December 21, 2017.</ref>
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Saperstein's team had vastly improved over the years. By the late 1940s, the Globetrotters were taking on and beating anyone who would play them: [[YMCA]] teams, industrial league squads and a team from the NBL, the [[National Basketball Association|NBA]]'s precursor. The crowds were getting bigger and by 1948 Saperstein was boasting that his team had won more than 100 straight games.<ref name=Babwin/>
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 +
The game was played in the shadow of deep racial divides in Chicago. The Globetrotters were popular but they stayed in a black only rooming house when they came to town.<ref name=Babwin/>
 +
On February 19, 1948, [[George Mikan]], the legendary Lakers center and Globetrotters’ [[Reece "Goose" Tatum]] took center court for a jump ball. Just the year before, in 1947, [[Jackie Robinson]] had broken the color barrier for [[baseball]], and this game was instrumental in doing the same for basketball. The game was a thriller as [[Ermer Robinson]] sank a 30-foot shot with the clock running out.
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The Globetrotters' 61-59 win was big news in Chicago and made big headlines in both the black and white newspapers. But while the black [[Chicago Defender]] trumpeted the victory in its headline, not all the white papers did. Some headlines obscured the final results. ''Mikan, Trotters Thrill 17,823'' read the ''[[Chicago Daily News]]''. And the ''[[Daily Sun and Times]]'' focused on the individual scoring battle with a headline that read: ''Mikan Cooks Tatum's Goose''.<ref name=Babwin/>
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The Globetrotters had not only shown they could play with white teams, they'd also shown that fans, white and black, would watch them. At a time when white teams were drawing small crowds and losing money, it wasn't lost on the owners that the crowd was the largest ever to see a professional game in Chicago. As a result, two years later (1950), the NBA drafted the first African-American player, [[Chuck Cooper]].<ref name=Babwin/>
  
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'''Abraham M. Saperstein''' (July 4, 1902 – March 15, 1966) was the founder and coach of the world-famous [[Harlem Globetrotters]]. In an era where [[basketball]] hadn’t yet found its niche, Saperstein played the role of [[Phineas T. Barnum]] and promoted the nuances of the sport worldwide.  During the latter stages of his life he was also credited with the invention of the [[three point shot]], without which the game of basketball would undoubtedly be slow and at best a grind. Although Saperstein does not receive the lion’s share of fame in basketball’s upbringing, basketball would not be where it is today without his lifelong dedication and contribution to the sport.
+
The demand for the Globetrotters was so great in the 1950s, that the team fielded three separate units in the United States, and an all star international squad. Since 1954, the Globetrotters have made numerous [[television]] appearances and have starred in their own [[cartoon]] series (1970-1973), and a variety show (1974).
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=='''Life'''==
 
−
[[Abe Saperstein]] was born in [[London]], [[England]], but left for [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]] at the age of six. Though he was only 5 feet tall, Saperstein competed in [[baseball]], [[basketball]], and [[track]] as a [[high school]] student, but wasn't even given a tryout for the basketball team at the [[University of Illinois]]. From 1920 to 1925, he played guard for the semi-professional [[Chicago Reds]].<ref>http://www.hickoksports.com/biograph/sapersteinabe.shtml</ref> While much of Saperstein’s youth was ordinary, he first arrived on the horizon of basketball history in 1928 as a coach of the [[Savoy Big Five]], named after Chicago’s famous [[Savoy Ballroom]]. After a short lived stint as a professional baseball and basketball player, Saperstein found his role as coach and promoter.
 
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==='''Globetrotter History'''===
 
−
[[Image:Harlem Globetrotter playing with spctators 01.jpg|thumb|300px|The Harlem Globetrotters were famous fo playing tricks on spectators during a game.]]
 
−
The Harlem Globetrotters evolved from a series of different teams, beginning with the ''Giles Post'' of the [[Negro American Legion League]]. The Giles Post was founded at Wendell Phillips High School in 1926. Soon thereafter, Abe Saperstein took over the team and renamed it the ''Savoy Big Five'' in return for sponsorship of his team. At the time, the Savoy Ballroom had just opened and partnered with Saperstein in an attempt to draw an audience to dance after their shows. In its early stages, the Savoy Big Five consisted entirely of [[African-American]]s and was deemed to be a failure by all. The team consisted of [[William Grant]], [[Lester Johnson]], [[Tommy Brookings]], [[Inman Jackson]], [[Joe Lillard]], [[Walter Wright]], [[Randolph Ramsey]], and [[William Watson]]. One year later, he formed the Saperstein's [[Harlem]], [[New York City|New York]], Globetrotters, which later became simply the [[Harlem Globetrotters]].  
 
  
−
The Trotters sported a 101-6 record the first year, 145-13 in 1928, and 151-13 in 1929. Finding difficulty locating willing opponents, Saperstein conceived the idea of fancy, [[Comedy|comedic]], razzle-dazzle type of play, and soon the team became a must-see attraction on the professional basketball [[barnstorming]] circuit.<ref name= abe>http://www.jewishsports.net/BioPages/AbeSaperstein.htm</ref> Not only did Saperstein manage the team, he acted as their chauffeur, trainer, and only substitute player in order to manage finances when profits were bleak. Even with all their clowning the Globetrotters still won the [[World Basketball Championship]] in 1940, giving substance to Saperstein's long-ignored claim that given the opportunity, they were among basketball's best. In 1943-44, the Trotters captured basketball’s International Cup.<ref name= abe/>
+
==Birth of the ABL==
 +
The second coming of the [[American Basketball League]] (ABL), was the brainchild of a disappointed Abe Saperstein. Saperstein was denied an [[National Basketball Association|NBA]] franchise in [[Los Angeles]], as he believed he'd been promised after helping prop up the league, and owner [[Bob Short]] instead moved the Lakers from Minneapolis.
  
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==='''Birth of the ABL'''===
+
After Saperstein had spent years supporting the struggling NBA with doubleheader games featuring his Harlem Globetrotters he was convinced that professional basketball was ready for something new. Saperstein went out of his way to place ABL teams in Los Angeles to rival the Lakers. He convinced the [[National Alliance of Basketball Leagues]] team owner [[Tuck Tapers]] and [[Amateur Athletic Union]] owner [[George Steinbrenner]] to take their top teams and form a league to rival the NBA.  
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The second coming of the [[American Basketball League]] (ABL), was the brainchild of a disappointed Abe Saperstein. Amidst a flurry of controversy, the ABL was founded in 1961 in Chicago as a response to Saperstein’s denial of his own [[National Basketball Association|NBA]] team in [[Los Angeles]] and the move of the Lakers from Minneapolis to Los Angeles. After Saperstein had spent years supporting the struggling NBA with doubleheader games featuring his Harlem Globetrotters he was convinced that professional basketball was ready for something new. Saperstein went out of his way to place ABL teams in Los Angeles to rival the Lakers. He convinced the [[National Alliance of Basketball Leagues]] team owner [[Tuck Tapers]] and [[Amateur Athletic Union]] owner [[George Steinbrenner]] to take their top teams and form a league to rival the NBA.  
 
  
−
The American Basketball League played one full season, 1961-1962, and part of 1962-1963. The league  folded on December 31, 1962, with the only crowned champion being the [[Bill Sharman]]-led [[Cleveland Pipers]].<ref>http://hoopedia.nba.com/index.php/ABL_(1961-1963)</ref>
+
The American Basketball League played one full season, 1961-1962, and part of 1962-1963. The league  folded on December 31, 1962, with the only crowned champion being the [[Bill Sharman]]-led [[Cleveland Pipers]].<ref>Paul Ladewski, [http://archive.is/20130129195543/hoopedia.nba.com/index.php?title=ABL_(1961-1963) The Forgotten League: The ABL (1961-63)] ''Hoopedia.nba.com.'' Retrieved December 21, 2017.</ref>
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*The Game that Changed the Game
 
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Up until the end of the 1940’s, basketball, like life in general, held its racial barriers and did not allow blacks to mix with whites. The fact was, at the time, that the majority of basketball fans, including the players of the NBL did not think that blacks had the talent and the smarts to play basketball. The Harlem Globetrotters, they felt, were the embodiment of a black man’s capabilities: create a circus, make people laugh, and provide entertainment.
 
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However, the face of basketball changed quickly after a game featuring the National Basketball League’s best team, Minneapolis Lakers and Abe Saperstein’s Harlem Globetrotters.
 
−
The game was the brainchild of Abe Saperstein and Max Winter, an owner of the Lakers.<ref name=mike>http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2008/02/17/SP5SV396L.DTL</ref>
 
−
"Saperstein's team had vastly improved over the years. By the late 1940s, the Globetrotters were taking on and beating anyone who would play them: YMCA teams, industrial league squads and a team from the NBL, the NBA's precursor. The crowds were getting bigger and by 1948 Saperstein was boasting his team had won more than 100 straight games."<ref name=mike/>
 
−
Some, including Chicago Tribune sportswriter Arch Ward, proclaimed the Globetrotters the world's best team - a view the Globetrotters shared.
 
−
"We just felt we could beat anybody we played against," said Marques Haynes, one of the Globetrotters' stars and a master ballhandler. <ref name=mike/>
 
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"I thought, 'This guy's nuts,' " said Christgau, whose 2004 book "Tricksters in the Madhouse" is about the game. " 'The Globetrotters, they're clowns, they're comedians' ... I said to myself, 'They're not ballplayers in the same category as the Lakers.' " <ref name=mike/>
 
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"Still, there was no escaping the shadow that race cast over the game. Chicago was a city of deep racial divides. The Globetrotters may have been a huge draw, but they knew better than to try to stay anywhere other than a black rooming house when they came to town." <ref name=mike/>
 
−
On February 19, 1948, [[George Mikan]], the legendary Lakers center and Globetrotters’ Goose Tatum took center court for a jump ball. The game was a back and forth affair in which the issue of race never came into question. Clearly, a trend was forming: in sports, racial divides would soon be shattered. Just the year before, in 1947, Jackie Robinson had broken the color barrier for baseball, and this game was instrumental in doing the same for basketball.
 
−
The Lakers had just tied the game on a Mikan free throw and the ball belonged to the Globetrotters with two seconds left. What followed has been lost in history; however, for those 18,000 fans at the Chicago Stadium, it was a ray of hope. Ermer Robinson received the ball 30 feet from the basket with two seconds left. He set up, and launched the ball, gracefully posing as the ball went through the net to give the Globetrotters an improbable victory.
 
−
Not only did the Globetrotters ride to victory but the game drew the largest audience for a professional game at the time. As a result, two years later in 1950, the NBA drafted the first African American player in [[Chuck Cooper]].
 
  
 
=='''Legacy'''==
 
=='''Legacy'''==
−
Abe Saperstein will always be known for his contributions to the Harlem Globetrotters, and thus basketball. However, he was a promoter of sports at heart, and was not afraid of taking risks. In the short-lived ABL, he gave birth to the three point shot that is so crucial in today's NBA. Saperstein was inducted into the basketball hall of fame in 1971 and the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1979.
+
His key contribution is the acceptance of [[African-American]] players.  
−
His key contribution that many forget is the acceptance of African American players who had been excluded by professional leagues of baseball and basketball. He traveled around the world as the owner and coach of the Harlem Globetrotters until his death in 1966. There were many comparisons to P.T. Barnum, the eternal promoter, and rightly so. In the Harlem Globetrotters documentary 6 Decades of Magic, it was noted that Saperstein chose "Harlem" to indicate that the players were African-American, even though they were actually from Chicago, Illinois, United States and the "Globetrotters" moniker to make it seem as though the team had traveled all around the world. Saperstein was a thinking man that turned the Savoy Big Five into an international entertainment attraction, the Harlem Globetrotters, who played in more than 80 countries on five continents, on television, and in motion pictures.<ref name=abe/> In fact, he is often labeled as the “Barnum of Basketball” and his team is known as “America’s Number One Goodwill Ambassadors”<ref name=abe/>
+
 
−
He was buried in the Westlawn Cemetery in Chicago, Illinois.
+
He traveled around the world as the owner and coach of the Harlem Globetrotters until his death in 1966. He was buried in the Westlawn Cemetery in Chicago, Illinois.
 +
 
 +
Saperstein was inducted into the [[Basketball Hall of Fame]] in 1971 and the [[International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame]] in 1979.
 +
 
 +
In the short-lived ABL, he gave birth to the three point shot that is a fan favorite in today's [[National Basketball Associatiion|NBA]].
 +
 +
In 1988 the documentary film ''Harlem Globetrotters: 6 Decades of Magic'' was released. In 2005 ''The Team That Changed the World'' was released with newsreel footage and recent interviews and testimonials tracking the years of struggle as the Globetrotters went from touring entertainment to serious competitors.<ref>[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0482610/ Harlem Globetrotters: The Team That Changed The World] ''IMDb.com. '' Retrieved December 21, 2017.</ref>
 +
 
 +
The Harlem Globetrotters have become an international phenomenon having traveled through more than 115 countries and five continents and played before more than 120 million fans. They have appeared on [[television]], and in motion pictures.<ref name=HoF/> The team is still known as ''America’s Number One Goodwill Ambassadors''.<ref name=HoF/>
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 +
In 2002 the team he founded was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. The Harlem Globetrotters have scored over 20,000 victories with less than 400 losses. They surpass every other team in the history of sports for number of games played.<ref>[http://www.pbs.org/pov/hardwood/background/ Hardwood Background: History of the Harlem Globetrotters] ''Pbs.org.'' Retrieved December 21, 2017.</ref>
  
 
==Notes==
 
==Notes==
Line 36: Line 57:
  
 
==References==
 
==References==
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*[http://www.jewishsports.net/BioPages/AbeSaperstein.htm Abe Saperstein Biography] Retrieved June 1, 2008
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*Christgau, John. ''Tricksters in the Madhouse: Lakers vs. Globetrotters, 1948.'' Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2004. ISBN 0803215266
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*[http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/utcah/00442/cah-00442.html Intro to Abe Saperstein] Retrieved June 1, 2008
+
*Finkelman, Paul, and Cary D. Wintz. ''Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance''. Taylor and Francis. 2004. ISBN 1579584578
−
*[http://www.latimes.com/news/columnists/la-sp-crowe6-2008may06,1,1322363.column The Birth of the Three-point Shot] Retrieved June 01, 2008
+
*Zinkoff, Dave. ''Around the World with the Harlem Globetrotters.'' Philadelphia: Macrae Smith Co., 1974. {{OCLC|148859}}
−
*Finkelman, Paul;Wintz, Cary D. ''Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance''. Taylor and Francis.2004. ISBN:1579584578
 
−
*[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2008/02/17/SP5SV396L.DTL The Game that Changed the Game] Retrieved June 1, 2008
 
−
*[http://www.hickoksports.com/biograph/sapersteinabe.shtml Abe Saperstein Biography] Retrieved June 01, 2008
 
−
*[http://hoopedia.nba.com/index.php/ABL_(1961-1963) The Forgotten League] Retrieved June 01, 2008. Ladewski, Paul. ''NBA Encyclopedia''
 
−
*Zinkoff, Dave. ''Around the World with the Harlem Globetrotters''. Philadelphia, Macrae Smith Co., 1953. OCLC: 17957061
 
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*Zinkoff, Dave. ''Go Man, Go!'' New York : Willow Books, 1971. OCLC: 5225576
 
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==External links==
 +
All links retrieved June 14, 2023.
 +
*[http://www.harlemglobetrotters.com Official Site of the Harlem Globetrotters]
 +
*[http://www.jewishsports.net/BioPages/AbeSaperstein.htm Abe Saperstein Biography]
 +
*[http://www.latimes.com/news/columnists/la-sp-crowe6-2008may06,1,1322363.column The Birth of the Three-point Shot]
 +
*[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2008/02/17/SP5SV396L.DTL The Game that Changed the Game]
  
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Saperstein, Abe}}
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[[Category:Basketball]]
 
[[Category:Biography]]
 
[[Category:Biography]]
 
[[Category:Art, music, literature, sports and leisure]]
 
[[Category:Art, music, literature, sports and leisure]]

Latest revision as of 04:45, 14 June 2023

Abe Saperstein, circa 1950s

Abraham M. Saperstein (July 4, 1902 – March 15, 1966) was the founder and coach of the world-famous Harlem Globetrotters. In an era where basketball hadn’t yet found its niche, Saperstein played the role of Phineas T. Barnum and promoted the nuances of the sport worldwide. During the latter stages of his life he was also credited with the invention of the three point shot, which has made the modern game of basketball more fast paced and exciting. Basketball would not be where it is today without his lifelong dedication and contribution to the sport.

Saperstein is also an unsung hero in the area of civil rights. He provided opportunities for African-American players that were excluded by professional leagues and in so doing he opened the door for them to the NBA. The team he founded has since become Goodwill Ambassadors that travel all over the world. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1971.

Life

Abe Saperstein was born in London, England, but left for Chicago, Illinois at the age of six. Though he was only five feet tall, Saperstein competed in baseball, basketball, and track as a high school student, but wasn't even given a tryout for the basketball team at the University of Illinois. From 1920 to 1925, he played guard for the semi-professional Chicago Reds. While much of Saperstein’s youth was ordinary, he first arrived on the horizon of basketball history in 1928 as a coach of the Savoy Big Five, named after Chicago’s famous Savoy Ballroom. After a short lived stint as a professional baseball and basketball player, Saperstein found his role as coach and promoter.

Sports history pioneer

The Harlem Globetrotters were famous for playing tricks on spectators during their games.

The Harlem Globetrotters evolved from a series of different teams, beginning with the Giles Post of the Negro American Legion League. The Giles Post was founded at Wendell Phillips High School in 1926. Soon thereafter the 24 year old Abe Saperstein took over the team and renamed it the Savoy Big Five in return for sponsorship of his team. At the time, the Savoy Ballroom had just opened and partnered with Saperstein in an attempt to draw an audience to dance after their shows. In its early stages, the Savoy Big Five consisted entirely of African-Americans and was deemed to be a failure by all. The team consisted of William Grant, Lester Johnson, Tommy Brookings, Inman Jackson, Joe Lillard, Walter Wright, Randolph Ramsey, and William Watson. One year later, he formed the Saperstein's Harlem, New York, Globetrotters, which later became simply the Harlem Globetrotters.

The Globetrotters sported a 101-6 record the first year, 145-13 in 1928, and 151-13 in 1929. Finding difficulty locating willing opponents, Saperstein conceived the idea of fancy, comedic, razzle-dazzle type of play, and soon the team became a must-see attraction on the professional basketball barnstorming circuit.[1] Not only did Saperstein manage the team, he acted as their chauffeur, trainer, and only substitute player in order to manage finances when profits were bleak. Even with all their clowning the Globetrotters still won the World Basketball Championship in 1940, giving substance to Saperstein's long-ignored claim that given the opportunity, they were among basketball's best. In 1943-44, the Trotters captured basketball’s International Cup.[1]

Saperstein was also Tom Hayes’ partner in the Black Barons baseball team in Birmingham, Alabama. Hayes owned the Negro League team but stayed in the background while Abe ran the club. He was extensively involved in black baseball, being a booking agent for several barnstorming teams besides running the Black Barons. He is remembered as someone who earned the respect of his players by paying them on time and in full (not always the case in the Negro Leagues).

The Game that Changed the Game

Until the end of the 1940s basketball upheld racial barriers and did not allow blacks to mix with whites. At that time the majority of basketball fans, including the players of the NBL, did not think that blacks had the talent to play basketball. The Harlem Globetrotters were perceived as entertainers and not athletes.

That perception changed after a game featuring the National Basketball League’s best team, the Minneapolis Lakers and Saperstein’s Harlem Globetrotters. The game was the brainchild of Saperstein and Max Winter, an owner of the Lakers.[2] Saperstein's team had vastly improved over the years. By the late 1940s, the Globetrotters were taking on and beating anyone who would play them: YMCA teams, industrial league squads and a team from the NBL, the NBA's precursor. The crowds were getting bigger and by 1948 Saperstein was boasting that his team had won more than 100 straight games.[2]

The game was played in the shadow of deep racial divides in Chicago. The Globetrotters were popular but they stayed in a black only rooming house when they came to town.[2] On February 19, 1948, George Mikan, the legendary Lakers center and Globetrotters’ Reece "Goose" Tatum took center court for a jump ball. Just the year before, in 1947, Jackie Robinson had broken the color barrier for baseball, and this game was instrumental in doing the same for basketball. The game was a thriller as Ermer Robinson sank a 30-foot shot with the clock running out.

The Globetrotters' 61-59 win was big news in Chicago and made big headlines in both the black and white newspapers. But while the black Chicago Defender trumpeted the victory in its headline, not all the white papers did. Some headlines obscured the final results. Mikan, Trotters Thrill 17,823 read the Chicago Daily News. And the Daily Sun and Times focused on the individual scoring battle with a headline that read: Mikan Cooks Tatum's Goose.[2]

The Globetrotters had not only shown they could play with white teams, they'd also shown that fans, white and black, would watch them. At a time when white teams were drawing small crowds and losing money, it wasn't lost on the owners that the crowd was the largest ever to see a professional game in Chicago. As a result, two years later (1950), the NBA drafted the first African-American player, Chuck Cooper.[2]

The demand for the Globetrotters was so great in the 1950s, that the team fielded three separate units in the United States, and an all star international squad. Since 1954, the Globetrotters have made numerous television appearances and have starred in their own cartoon series (1970-1973), and a variety show (1974).

Birth of the ABL

The second coming of the American Basketball League (ABL), was the brainchild of a disappointed Abe Saperstein. Saperstein was denied an NBA franchise in Los Angeles, as he believed he'd been promised after helping prop up the league, and owner Bob Short instead moved the Lakers from Minneapolis.

After Saperstein had spent years supporting the struggling NBA with doubleheader games featuring his Harlem Globetrotters he was convinced that professional basketball was ready for something new. Saperstein went out of his way to place ABL teams in Los Angeles to rival the Lakers. He convinced the National Alliance of Basketball Leagues team owner Tuck Tapers and Amateur Athletic Union owner George Steinbrenner to take their top teams and form a league to rival the NBA.

The American Basketball League played one full season, 1961-1962, and part of 1962-1963. The league folded on December 31, 1962, with the only crowned champion being the Bill Sharman-led Cleveland Pipers.[3]

Legacy

His key contribution is the acceptance of African-American players.

He traveled around the world as the owner and coach of the Harlem Globetrotters until his death in 1966. He was buried in the Westlawn Cemetery in Chicago, Illinois.

Saperstein was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1971 and the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1979.

In the short-lived ABL, he gave birth to the three point shot that is a fan favorite in today's NBA.

In 1988 the documentary film Harlem Globetrotters: 6 Decades of Magic was released. In 2005 The Team That Changed the World was released with newsreel footage and recent interviews and testimonials tracking the years of struggle as the Globetrotters went from touring entertainment to serious competitors.[4]

The Harlem Globetrotters have become an international phenomenon having traveled through more than 115 countries and five continents and played before more than 120 million fans. They have appeared on television, and in motion pictures.[1] The team is still known as America’s Number One Goodwill Ambassadors.[1]

In 2002 the team he founded was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. The Harlem Globetrotters have scored over 20,000 victories with less than 400 losses. They surpass every other team in the history of sports for number of games played.[5]

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Abe Saperstein Jewishsports.net. Retrieved December 21, 2017.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Don Babwin, 2008, Globetrotters played for real in a game that altered history Sfgate.com. Retrieved December 21, 2017.
  3. ↑ Paul Ladewski, The Forgotten League: The ABL (1961-63) Hoopedia.nba.com. Retrieved December 21, 2017.
  4. ↑ Harlem Globetrotters: The Team That Changed The World IMDb.com. Retrieved December 21, 2017.
  5. ↑ Hardwood Background: History of the Harlem Globetrotters Pbs.org. Retrieved December 21, 2017.

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • Christgau, John. Tricksters in the Madhouse: Lakers vs. Globetrotters, 1948. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2004. ISBN 0803215266
  • Finkelman, Paul, and Cary D. Wintz. Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance. Taylor and Francis. 2004. ISBN 1579584578
  • Zinkoff, Dave. Around the World with the Harlem Globetrotters. Philadelphia: Macrae Smith Co., 1974. OCLC 148859

External links

All links retrieved June 14, 2023.


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