Harlem Globetrotters Brief History

The Harlem Globetrotters were founded in 1926 in Chicago by Abe Saperstein and was named as the “Savoy Big Five” and played several of their early games with this name. On January 7th 1927, they played their first game at Hinckley, Illinois with sport jerseys having “New York” printed on them to give an impression they were from New York. Hence the name changed to Saperstein's New York Globetrotters to Harlem New York Globe trotters and then they decided to have their name as the Harlem Globetrotters. They are an all black team who travel around the world and have played in 115 countries for an astounding 120 million fans. They have had 20,000 victories and only 332 losses and are probably the only team to have played so many games. They are now known for wholesome entertainment like comedy and juggling shows on the court as well as popular numbers like “Sweet Georgia Brown”.

Since professional teams were only whites, Saperstein worked hard to ensure his team plays a large number of games and in 1939 they played their first professional basketball championship and lost to New York Renaissance but from then they began to win every year. At one of the games, they were leading the opponents 112 to 5 and the game had become really boring so the players began to entertain the crowd by acting silly and behaving like clowns. The crowds loved it and this became a trademark of the Harlem Globetrotters.

Their fame increased gradually and in 1970's they began appearing in the Harlem Globetrotter Show, Harlem Globetrotter Popcorn machine show and were called the ambassadors of goodwill by President Gerald Ford. Now there are three different Harlem Globetrotter teams touring the country and also have female members and were inducted in he basketball hall of fame in 2002. They still continue to entertain the crowds with their wit and sporting skills.