When was harlem globetrotters started

As owner, coach, manager, publicist and sometimes even substitute player, Saperstein worked overtime to book games for his team. Their first national championship appearance came in , when the Globetrotters lost to the New York Renaissance.

That same year, the team began to add the silly antics they later became known for, including ball handling tricks and on-court comedic routines. The crowds loved it, and Saperstein told his team to keep up the clowning around, but only when they had achieved a solid lead. By this time, the Globetrotters were actively touring on the international circuit, playing to audiences in post-war Berlin, Eastern Europe and Russia, among other places; they even performed once for Pope Pius XII in Rome.

Reaching the height of their fame in the s, the Globetrotters began to lose fans during the next decade, after the departure of such longtime stars as Meadowlark Lemmon.

In , Olympic gold medalist Lynette Woodard became the first female Globetrotter. Over the years, the Harlem Globetrotters have played in more than countries in front of million fans.

They have been the subject of two feature films and numerous television shows, including two animated series in the s. In honor of their entertainment value, the team was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and made the subject of a permanent exhibit at the Smithsonian Institute. Their pioneering history and considerable athletic skill over the years was honored in , when they were inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.

But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! By then, Anderson was in the twilight of a career that was equal parts acclaimed and hamstrung by racism. Around midday on January 7, , gunmen raid the offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, killing 12 people.

This was quite a feat for an all-black team at the time -- professional teams were "whites only," so Saperstein had to work very hard to book games for his team. Saperstein acted as owner, manager, coach, publicity agent and even substitute for the team. With each passing year the Harlem Globetrotters' playing strengthened, their popularity increased, and their tours lengthened.

In the Globetrotters played in their first professional basketball championship tournament. They lost to the New York Renaissance the Rens , but would return year after year to be victorious. During a regular season game they were leading an opponent to 5. The lead was so outrageous that it made for a boring game, so team members entertained themselves and the crowd by being a little silly. The crowd loved it and Saperstein was pleased.

He told his team that the clowning around was acceptable, only after they had secured a safe lead. The Globetrotters' famous "Magic Circle" routine.

Saving their comic routines for strong-lead games, the Globetrotters continued serious ball play. From this point on, the Globetrotters toured internationally and would also, throughout the 50s, continuously compete against NBA teams. In talking to a number of actual historians, I was told that the best place to get historical information, especially about dates, is from newspaper articles of the day.

If you find an old newspaper that reports that the Savoy Ballroom opened on November 23, , which the Chicago Defender does in its November 26, edition , it is unlikely that they missed the facts by more than a year. Here's part of what that Defender article says: "The thousands of fashionably dressed patrons hurrying in the rain from their cars Wednesday evening to attend the grand opening of the Savoy ballroom were met with such a glow of warmth and beauty as they stepped into the lobby, as was almost bewildering.

The contests have been scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, Jan. There are a number of reasons why a record crowd is expected to see the game. First, there will be dancing after the game and second, it will be the first time that a Howard University basketball team has invaded Chicago.

The Savoy quintet, playing its first game , flashed into the lead at the outset and was never headed. In fact, it seems that they did not play at the Savoy until nearly a full year after they played their first game in Hinckley, Illinois. But did they actually play a game on January 7, in Hinckley, as all prevailing sources site? This would prove to be a much more difficult task to sort out. As I mentioned, I am not a historian.

In fact, the complicated and convoluted history I was finding about the Globetrotters nascent days would be very difficult to make clear in a television documentary, especially one that couldn't devote much more than a minute to the issues, given the plus years of history that needed be covered in less than 30 minutes.

Though excited about being able to correct the historical record, indeed one that is wrong in so many sources , making the story clear on television would be very difficult. The task was so daunting, in fact, that on our television program, we simply state as fact that the Globetrotters played in Hinckley on January 7, , and that they played at the Savoy in There's no bragging about correcting the historical record; that would take too long and be too confusing and too self-serving.

So, back now to trying to pin down that game in Hinckley. You see that the game was mentioned in our television program as fact. That's because it was cited so many times in the historical record, and contrary to the opening of the Savoy, there is no neat way to dispute it.

Here are the facts we found to lead us to believe that it is at least possible that the team then known as the Giles Post American Legion team played in Hinckley on January 7, First of all, there is an ad in the Hinckley Review newspaper of January 6, The ad promotes a dance on Friday night, January 7, with "Music by the White Ivories 5-piece orchestra. Hinckley H. Those teams certainly could have been the "future Globetrotters" against the Hinckley Merchants the team often cited as the Globetrotters first opponent.

So where exactly was the Giles team in January of ? The Chicago Defender reported the following in their January 15, issue: "After a successful tour of the state of Wisconsin, where they hung up an enviable record, the American Legion Giles post No. Their "successful tour" of Wisconsin certainly could have started with a jaunt to Hinckley before traveling north of the Illinois border. No, I can't. But unlike the references to the Savoy Big Five playing in , I can't disprove it either.

So here is the history, as rewritten by Chicago Stories, much of which is presented in our television program: Globetrotter founder Abe Saperstein graduated Lake View High School in He went to the University of Illinois for a very short time, and in late or early began working for the Chicago Park District.

He took on a variety of jobs, everything from tree trimmer to athletic director. He coached the Welles Park basketball team in the Lake View neighborhood. A group composed mainly of former Wendell Phillips High School basketball players formed a semi-pro basketball team, and played under the banner of the South Side Giles Post of the American Legion. We know they were playing in late , though they may have been together earlier than that. Their promoter and coach was a man named Dick Hudson, who was a former University of Minnesota sports star and a former professional football player.

Exactly how Abe Saperstein and the team got together is open for debate. Some say the team was doing poorly and asked him to coach. Others say they needed a white man to book games around the Midwest.

In any case, Saperstein likely joined them in late , the group now ready to hit the road and try to make a living as barnstorming basketball pros. On January 7, , Saperstein and his team piled into Abe's jalopy. They were ready for their first road trip.

For their first game they drove 50 miles west to the small town of Hinckley, Illinois, and took on the Hinckley Merchants team. Most written histories about the Globetrotters claim that Saperstein's team won that first game.

But that's not how former Hinckley resident Marvel Loring remembers it. She was at that first game. It was much more than they would make most nights, often satisfied if they could afford a sandwich on the way to the next town. The team would play anywhere it could find a willing opponent and a paying crowd; not an easy combination to put together in those days.

They took a new name, the "Savoy Big Five. Stars including Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington graced the stage.