The Harlem Globetrotters are considered the trick kings of basketball. The games of the US show team are peppered with skilful ball passes, entertainment elements and slapstick interludes. In keeping with their name, the Globetrotters thrill spectators all over the world.
Show team with around 100 years of history
The history of the Harlem Globetrotters presumably began as early as 1926. The entrepreneur Abe Saperstein took over the post of manager and promoter of the troupe first known only as the "Globetrotters" and gave it its current name - in reference to the New York neighbourhood of Harlem, one of the centres of the black community. In fact, the Harlem Globetrotters play in the namesake neighbourhood for the first time some 40 years after the team was founded.
Strict racial segregation prevailed in the USA in the early days of the Harlem Globetrotters and even into the 1960s. Many black talents who are not allowed to play in white teams therefore soon belong to the Globetrotters, who are an all-black basketball team at that time. The many excellent players also brought the team success at major tournaments: in 1940 the Globetrotters won the World Professional Basketball Tournament, and in 1948 they defeated the white team Minneapolis Lakers (now Los Angeles Lakers), making headlines.
Over the years, the Harlem Globetrotters' special style develops: as soon as they are leading in a game, they show impressive tricks on the basketball court and thus prove their technical superiority.
When the professional league NBA, founded in the late 1940s, starts to recruit black players as well, talents of the team are poached by other teams. Nathaniel Clifton, for example, is signed by the Globetrotters to play for the New York Knicks, making him the first black player ever to receive a professional contract from the NBA. From then on, the Harlem Globetrotters concentrated more and more on the show aspect of their games and increasingly integrated comedy and slapstick interludes into their performances alongside trick shots and skill games.
Basketball meets slapstick: professionals show comedic talent
In view of the players' skills, many a visitor's jaw drops. It is entertainment at its best when the Harlem Globetrotters shoot baskets over long distances, backwards or blindly, show impressive dribbling skills, balance spinning balls on their fingertips or pass back and forth so fast that the eye can hardly keep up. The Harlem Globetrotters have even made it into the Guinness Book of Records with some of these tricks. To master the ball in such a way requires great speed and outstanding coordination.
However, the games are not primarily about winning, but about impressing the audience with spectacular tricks and making them laugh. The slapstick interludes provide a lot of fun at every Harlem Globetrotters show. When the members of the team tease each other, playfully chase each other around the field and throw buckets of confetti at each other, the audience hoots with delight. Mascot Globie, a walking globe with a face, amiably sparks in here and there.
Paving the way for women on the co-ed basketball team was Lynette Woodard, who in 1985 became the first female member of the Harlem Globetrotters and also the first player ever on a men's team in professional basketball. Like many other former members of the Harlem Globetrotters, she is now immortalised in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. In 2002, the Globetrotters as a whole team received this honour.
Harlem Globetrotters on Tour through Germany and Switzerland
Tickets for the Harlem Globetrotters are not only something for basketball fans: The shows resemble a circus performance of grandiose ball artists and thrill spectators big and small. With more than 26,000 games and a history of around 100 years, the Globetrotters are basketball's primeval rocks and have made a decisive contribution to the sport's great success. On tour through Germany and Switzerland, the entertainers show what perfect ball control means and reliably deliver a superlative show.
