There are a few common misconceptions about the renowned Harlem Globetrotters.
One stems from their name — the team actually originated in Chicago. A second is that portly promoter Abe Saperstein founded them — he in fact inherited the team from successive managers Dick Hudson and Tommy Brookins.
Thirdly, many fans think the Trotters were always and exclusively a clown unit that played stooge teams. Also untrue — the squad defeated the powerful Minneapolis Lakers twice during the late 1940s, and often bested College All-Stars and leading touring squads.
In "Spinning the Globe" (Amistad, 2005, 402 pages, $24.95 U.S.), Ben Green sets the record straight in a fashion as fun and fast-paced as the Globies themselves.
The story begins with a ballroom basketball team from Chicago's "Bronzeville," a young tight unit graduated from Wendell Phillips High. When former NFL'er Hudson sought to book the team out of state, he was steered to a 25-year-old sports entrepreneur who was born in London on July 4, 1902, Abe Saperstein.
Running the team while living downstairs in his parents' home, Saperstein conceived of gimmicks such as touting the Globetrotters as grads of college basketball powers, and associating the club with the African-American cultural capital, Harlem. He hired the best Chicago schoolboy talent, schmoozed sportswriters, booked gymnasiums, and drove the players to games in his car. Booking information and contact names were kept in his coat pockets, his mobile office.
Led by players such as "Runt" Pullins and big Inman Jackson, the Trotters became a strong midwestern unit, if not on the level of the great Harlem Renaissance Ballroom (Rens) team out of New York. Rens owner Robert Douglas spurned Saperstein's offers of a showdown, though Abe still billed his club as the premier African-American unit in the world. The teams met in the World Professional Tournament in Chicago in March of 1939, but the experienced Rens beat the ersatz Harlemites, 27-23.
Green's detalied account brings the tension of this and other games to life. A year later, the loss was avenged in a 40-39 nail-biter. Saperstein and his men stood atop the world, a world they introduced the game to via world tours which began in 1950. Their flashy brand of hoops and the patriotic uni's became the first basketball experience for many spectators in Mexico, Belgium, Portugal, Morocco, Singapore, and Colombia. They played in bullrings, on stages, and aboard aircraft carriers. Despite being barred from registering at many U.S. hotels due to Jim Crow laws, they met popes and kings, and their tours were sanctioned by the State Department.
"Spinning the Globe" is more than a sports history. Green profiles longtime team secretary Marie Linehan, who modernized Saperstein's archaic filing system (his pockets). There is in depth exploration of the characters that formed the legacy — Pullins, Inman Jackson, the dramatic "Goose" Tatum, and the ageless Marques Haynes, the latter to whom all streetballers are indebted.
The evolution of the business and the brand are examined, with opponents, media, and former Trotters quoted and referenced. Players sound off on Saperstein's business practices, Wilt Chamberlain's stint with the club, and the dubious role of playing the court clown to the largely white audiences the domestic version of the team entertained (in their peak years, international and domestic units played separate tours). It is not all laughter, however, as players age, feud, and part with Saperstein on bitter terms. Tatum's career was particularly bittersweet, yet he was Satchel Paige, Connie Hawkins, and Johnny Carson rolled into one.
This read will enlighten even the most savvy hoops fans, and shined a well-deserved spotlight on those who not only paved the way for the style of gave we take for granted today, but helped keep the fledging NBA alive by playing preliminary games before teams such as Sheboygan, Rochester, and Fort Wayne would take the court. After all, who among us can ever forget the first time they laid eyes on the magicians in red, white, and blue?
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