The Harlem Globetrotters are an American exhibition basketball team. They combine athleticism, theater, entertainment, and comedy in their style of play. Over the years, they have played more than 26,000 exhibition games in 124 countries and territories, mostly against deliberately ineffective opponents, such as the Washington Generals and the New York Nationals (1995–2015). The team's signature song is Brother Bones' whistled version of "Sweet Georgia Brown", and their mascot is an anthropomorphized globe named "Globie". The team is owned by Herschend Family Entertainment.
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 Washington Generals are an American basketball team who play exhibition games against the Harlem Globetrotters. The team has also played under several aliases in their history as the Globetrotters' perennial opponents.
Meadowlark Lemon, was an American basketball player, actor, and Christian minister. For 22 years, he was known as the "Clown Prince" of the touring Harlem Globetrotters basketball team. He was a 2003 inductee into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Ordained in 1986, in 1994 he started Meadowlark Lemon Ministries in Scottsdale, Arizona.
The Nutter Center is a multi-purpose arena located at Wright State University, in Fairborn, Ohio. It mainly serves as the home court of the Wright State Raiders men's and women's basketball teams. It is also regularly used as a music venue for touring concerts and shows and for area high school graduation ceremonies.
Marques Haynes was an American professional basketball player and member of the Harlem Globetrotters, notable for his ability to dribble the ball and keep it away from defenders. According to the 1988 film Harlem Globetrotters: Six Decades of Magic, Haynes could dribble the ball as many as 348 times a minute.
Kendal Nathaniel "Tiny" Pinder is a Bahamian former professional basketball player. He moved to the United States as a teenager and attended Miami Northwestern Senior High School in Florida. Pinder played college basketball for the East Tennessee State Buccaneers, Miami Dade Sharks and NC State Wolfpack. He started his professional career with stints in Israel and Finland; he also spent three seasons with the Harlem Globetrotters.
The Harlem Wizards is a professional basketball team created in 1962 by sports promoter Howie Davis. Unlike most basketball teams, the Harlem Wizards are not primarily focused on winning games. Instead, their aim is to entertain the crowd using a variety of basketball tricks and alley oops. They perform fundraisers at local schools for the students and the rest of the community, displaying their fancy trickery through dribbling, passing, shooting, and dunking. Through these fundraisers, they have raised millions of dollars for "charitable organizations, schools, and foundations around the world." The audience is not only there to watch the Wizards, but also to participate in the show. The Wizards get the crowd involved, often bringing children out onto the floor to be part of a basketball trick or a comedy act.
Kris Marcus Bruton is an American professional basketball player. Drafted by the Chicago Bulls in the second round of the 1994 NBA draft, he was with the Bulls for two pre-seasons before a serious thigh injury ended his career. Bruton never appeared in a regular-season NBA game for the Bulls. After recuperating, he was recruited by the Harlem Globetrotters, carving a niche on the court as a slam dunk expert.
Matthew P. "Pat" Kennedy was an American basketball referee.
Louis Herman "Red" Klotz was an American professional basketball player. He was a National Basketball Association (NBA) point guard with the original Baltimore Bullets, and he was best known for forming the teams that play against and tour with the Harlem Globetrotters: the Washington Generals and the New York Nationals. He was the oldest-living NBA champion at the time of his death.
David "Smokey" Gaines was an American basketball player and coach.
Wyatt "Sonny" Boswell was an early African American professional basketball player. He was born in Greenville, Mississippi and grew up in Toledo, Ohio, where he attended Scott High School. He played for the Harlem Globetrotters from 1939 to 1941 and again from 1943 to 1944.
Derrick Mercer is an American basketball player who played point guard for American University. During the 2008–09 season, he averaged 11.5 points per game, 4.3 rebounds per game, and 1.1 steals per game. He also averaged 4.4 assists per game.
"Jumpin" Jackie Jackson was an American professional basketball player. Jackson was one of the first streetball legends in the Rucker Playground Basketball Tournaments in New York City in the early 1960s. He went on to a 20-year career with the Harlem Globetrotters, earning his nickname by allegedly snatching a quarter from the top of a basketball backboard on a bet.
Paul Sturgess is an English former professional basketball player. At a height of 7 ft 7.26 in (2.32 m), he was measured as the tallest living person from the United Kingdom by Guinness World Records in November 2011. He was also the tallest college basketball player in the United States.
Brittany "Ice" Hrynko is an American basketball player, currently signed with the Philadelphia Reign of the Women's Basketball Development Association since 2019 and has also played with the Harlem Globetrotters since 2018. She was drafted by the Connecticut Sun of the Women's National Basketball Association in the 2015 WNBA draft. She was then traded to the Atlanta Dream, but was released and later signed short-term contracts with the San Antonio Stars and Tulsa Shock. From 2015 to 2018 she signed with teams in Israel, Slovakia, Italy and Germany.
Saul White Jr., nicknamed Flip White or Flip, is a basketball entertainer and a member of the Harlem Globetrotters. He was raised in Summit, Illinois. He received a full scholarship to play basketball at Moraine Valley Community College. After Moraine Valley, White Jr. played in the IBL league for the Ohio Hidden Gems. After playing in the IBL, he signed with the Harlem Globetrotters.
Milton Leon Banks, was an American basketball player best known for his seasons spent touring with the Harlem Globetrotters. He started his basketball career at Cal Poly Pomona in 1979, he was a member of several 3x3 (basketball), or Hoop-it-up championship teams, Dino Smiley's Drew League, and was named to the Venice Beach's basketball Hall of Fame in 2012 along the likes of Kobe Bryant.
Jermaine "Stretch" Middleton was an American basketball player for the Harlem Globetrotters.
