George Smith | |
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Born: Princeton, Kentucky | March 2, 1927|
Died: October 1, 2011 84) Indianapolis, Indiana | (aged|
Professional debut | |
Baseball: 1948, for the Harlem Globetrotters | |
Basketball: 1948, for the Harlem Globetrotters | |
Last appearance | |
Baseball: 1952, for the Chicago American Giants | |
Basketball: 1954, for the Harlem Globetrotters | |
Teams | |
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George E. Smith (March 2,1927 - October 1,2011),nicknamed "Sonny," was a sportsman who played Negro league baseball for the Harlem Globetrotters from 1948 to 1950 and the Chicago American Giants of the Negro American League from 1951 to 1952. [1]
He also played basketball as a guard and forward for the Harlem Globetrotters from 1948 to 1954. [2]
Abraham Michael Saperstein was the founder,owner and earliest coach of the Harlem Globetrotters. Saperstein was a leading figure in black basketball and baseball from the 1920s through the 1950s,primarily before those sports were racially integrated.
The Birmingham Black Barons were a Negro league baseball team that played from 1920 until 1960. They shared their home field of Rickwood Field in Birmingham,Alabama,with the white Birmingham Barons,usually drawing larger crowds and equal press.
Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton was an American professional basketball and baseball player. He is best known as one of the first African Americans to play in the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Reece "Goose" Tatum was an American Negro league baseball and basketball player. In 1942,he was signed to the Harlem Globetrotters and had an 11-year career with the team. He later formed his own team known as the Harlem Magicians with former Globetrotters player Marques Haynes. He is a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame. Tatum's number 50 is retired by the Globetrotters.
The Boston Royal Giants were a Negro league baseball team in Boston. The team was also known as the Boston Giants,Quaker Giants,Philadelphia Giants and Boston Colored Giants. The Royal Giants served as a farm team of sorts for the league. They played as far north as Canada's Cape Breton League,and games against mill or industrial teams in Maine,Vermont and New Hampshire.
The Indianapolis Clowns were a professional baseball team in the Negro American League. Tracing their origins back to the 1930s,the Clowns were the last of the Negro league teams to disband,continuing to play exhibition games into the 1980s. They began play as the independent Ethiopian Clowns,joined the Negro American League as the Cincinnati Clowns and,after a couple of years,relocated to Indianapolis. Hank Aaron was a Clown for a short period,and the Clowns were also one of the first professional baseball teams to hire a female player.
In athletics terminology,barnstorming refers to sports teams or individual athletes that travel to various locations,usually small towns,to stage exhibition matches. Barnstorming teams differ from traveling teams in that they operate outside the framework of an established athletic league,while traveling teams are designated by a league,formally or informally,to be a designated visiting team.
John E. Wilson,popularly known as Jumpin' Johnny Wilson,was an American basketball and baseball player. He gained his nickname for being the only player on his high school team able to dunk the basketball.
The Seattle Steelheads were a Negro league baseball team from Seattle,Washington. Owned by Abe Saperstein,they were also known as the Harlem Globetrotters and Cincinnati Crescents,though occasionally the teams split and played each other.
Theodore Reginald Strong,Jr.,was an American Negro league baseball player who played from 1936 to 1942 and again from 1946 to 1951 for the Chicago American Giants,Indianapolis Athletics,Kansas City Monarchs,Indianapolis ABCs,and Indianapolis Clowns.
The Portland Rosebuds,sometimes called the Portland Roses,were a baseball team owned by Jesse Owens. The Rosebuds were part of the West Coast Baseball Association,a Negro league headed by Abe Saperstein,the owner of the Harlem Globetrotters.
The Detroit–New Orleans Stars,originally the Detroit Stars and briefly the Detroit Clowns,were a minor Negro league baseball team that played in the Negro American League from 1954 until 1961 after the integration of white baseball.
Samuel Wallace Wheeler,Jr.,nicknamed "Boom Boom",was an American professional basketball player with the Harlem Globetrotters and Harlem Magicians,and was an outfielder in Negro league baseball for the New York Cubans.
The following is a timeline of the evolution of major-league-caliber franchises in Negro league baseball. The franchises included are those of high-caliber independent teams prior to the organization of formal league play in 1920 and concludes with the dissolution of the remnant of the last major Negro league team,the Kansas City Monarchs then based out of Grand Rapids,Michigan,in about 1966. All teams who played a season while a member of a major Negro league are included. The major leagues are the original Negro National League,the Eastern Colored League,the American Negro League,the East–West League,the second Negro National League and the Negro American League. Teams from the 1932 original Negro Southern League are also included which allows for the inclusion of the few high caliber minor Negro league teams.
Fred Thomas was a Canadian multi-sport professional athlete. He played on semi-professional or professional teams in basketball,baseball,and Canadian football. He was a standout on his college basketball team and is known as one of Canada's finest basketball players. A 2019 profile by TVOntario described Thomas as "the greatest Canadian athlete you've never heard of". He would likely have been more well-known had blacks not been denied opportunities to compete in major professional sports leagues in the 1940s and 1950s.
Everett Marcell,nicknamed "Ziggy",was an American Negro league catcher and Harlem Globetrotters basketball player in the 1930s and 1940s.
Napoleon Gulley was an American Negro league pitcher in the 1940s.
Winfield Scott Welch,nicknamed "Gus" and "Moe",was an American Negro league outfielder and manager. Welch spent most of his playing career with minor Negro teams. He is best known as a successful manager,lauded by some as "the Connie Mack of Negro baseball"
Leamon Walter Johnson was an American baseball shortstop in the Negro leagues. He played from 1941 to 1950 with the Newark Eagles,New York Black Yankees,Birmingham Black Barons,St. Louis Stars,Harlem Globetrotters,Memphis Red Sox,Los Angeles White Sox,Detroit Senators and Cincinnati Crescents.
Samuel L. Gee was an American Negro league shortstop in the 1940s.