The legend for the Globetrotters will always live but the original Harlem Globetrotters players will remain foundation upon which this team was created.
With never-before-seen tricks, and dazzling moves they turned their exhibitions more into comedy and entertainment than sports and competition. The team was created by Abe Saperstein in 1926 and believe it or not, the first game was played after 42 years.
Initially, the team was really competitive. It was natural that later on, the team bloomed into a spectacular show of uncanny tricks and perfect ball handling. They learned how to combine athletism and comedy but never lost their “will” to win games.
Some would debate that players couldn’t care less about winning, while others say that they actually did. Because the Harlem Globetrotters as a team, has an unprecedented winning percentage of 98.4%.
Some of the famous players in Globetrotters are Connie Hawkins, Reece Tatum, Fred Neal, Wilt Chamberlain, Ferguson Jenkins, Bob Gibson, Ubert Ausbie, George Lemon, Lou Brock, Jerome James and Marques Haynes. The first female players to play for this team is Lynette Woodard.
To qualify you have to have crazy dribbling skills and be black. In fact, that’s how they got their name “Harlem” because of the players from the Afro-American community.
Jamario Moon who is, at the time of writing this playing for the Toronto Raptors has played for the modern team of Harlem. When you look at the Harlem Globetrotters players and the way they play, the remind you of today’s AND1 players.
But deep inside they have a different spirit.
Each of them is unique and special in their nature. Granted, they both entertain and display ridiculous skills but they represent something different. To be honest, I can’t really tell what it is but I can feel they’re different.
The “modern” Globetrotters paid us a visit here in Macedonia. Here’s the clip that was going live on National Television.
In the past, many times the NBA would challenge the Globetrotters because they were criticized for not playing “real basketball”. Also because back then NBA was all white against the black Harlem. Most of the time NBA teams would lose because as of today Globetrotters have over 20000 victories and little over 300 losses.
They would remain their dignity as a tough team to beat even though they used their entertaining skills with circus shots, spinning balls on their fingertips, balancing the ball, making difficult shots and doing the famous “Magic Circle” routine every time. The purpose was always to make us think of new possibilities and think “outside the box”.
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