Suzie Button Creations

THEY HAVE THRILLED FANS AROUND THE WORLD FOR DECADES WITH THEIR COLOURFUL UNIFORMS, THAT TRADEMARK MUSIC “SWEET GEORGIA BROWN” AND OF COURSE, THEIR REMARKABLE BASKETBALL SKILLS. MANY PEOPLE GOT THEIR FIRST TASTE OF THE HARLEM GLOBETROTTERS HERE DURING THE EARLY 1970s ON “WIDE WORLD OF SPORTS.”
THE GLOBETROTTERS WERE THE CREATION OF ABE SAPERSTEIN OF CHICAGO WHO TOOK OVER COACHING DUTIES FOR A TEAM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN PLAYERS ORIGINALLY KNOWN AS THE BIG FIVE AFTER THE FAMOUS CHICAGO BALLROOM WHERE THEY PLAYED THEIR EARLY GAMES. AT A TIME WHEN ONLY WHITES WERE ALLOWED TO PLAY ON PROFESSIONAL BASKETBALL TEAMS HE DECIDED TO PROMOTE HIS TEAM’S RACIAL MAKEUP BY NAMING THEM AFTER HARLEM, THE FAMOUS NEIGHBOURHOOD IN NEW YORK.
THE GLOBETROTTERS WERE VICTORIOUS IN 101 OUT OF THE 117 GAMES THEY PLAYED IN THEIR FIRST SEASON AND THEY DIDN’T PLAY A GAME IN HARLEM UNTIL THE 1960s.
THE FIRST NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP APPEARANCE CAME IN 1939 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 THE TEAM’S OWNER TOLD HIS PLAYERS TO KEEP UP THE CLOWNING AROUND BUT ONLY WHEN THEY’D ACHIEVED A SOLID LEAD.
IN 1948 THE GLOBETROTTERS EARNED A NEW MEASURE OF RESPECT BY BEATING THE NEW YORK LAKERS FROM THE NEWLY ESTABLISHED NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION, TWO YEARS LATER THE NBA LIFTED ITS WHITES ONLY BAN.
OVER THE YEARS THE HARLEM GLOBETROTTERS PLAYED IN 115 COUNTRIES IN FRONT OF
120 MILLION FANS. THEIR ACHIEVEMENTS WERE HONOURED IN 2002 WHEN THEY WERE INDUCTED INTO THE BASKETBALL HALL OF FAME.
BUT IT WAS ON THIS DATE, JANUARY 7, 1927, THE HARLEM GLOBETROTTERS BASKETBALL TEAM TRAVELLED 48 MILES WEST FROM CHICAGO TO PLAY THEIR FIRST GAME IN HINCKLEY, ILLINOIS.
THEIR FIRST GAME WAS PLAYED ON "TODAY IN HISTORY."