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 different aliases in their history as the Globetrotters' perennial opponents.
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.
Oliver J. Miller is an American former professional basketball player. He was nicknamed "The Big O" because of his large size. Miller played college basketball at the University of Arkansas and was drafted by the Phoenix Suns in 1992. After his initial stint in the NBA from 1992 to 1998,where he became the heaviest player in league history,Miller played overseas and for semi-professional American teams. He returned to the NBA for the 2003–04 season,but he transitioned back to minor-league and semi-professional play,and he retired from professional basketball in 2010.
Hubert Eugene "Geese" Ausbie is a retired professional basketball player.
The Illinois State Redbirds are the athletic teams that represent Illinois State University in Normal,Illinois. Teams play at the NCAA Division I level. The football team competes in the Missouri Valley Football Conference while most other teams compete in the Missouri Valley Conference. The fight song is Go,You Redbirds.
David "Smokey" Gaines was an American basketball player and coach.
In athletics terminology,barnstorming refers to sports teams or individual athletes who travel to various locations,usually small towns,to stage exhibition matches. The term is primarily used in the United States. 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.
Bernardo Baró was a Cuban professional baseball player in the Negro leagues and the Cuban League. Primarily an outfielder,he also played some games as a pitcher or an infielder. He played for the Cuban Stars (West) and the Cuban Stars (East) in the Negro leagues and Almendares,San Francisco Park and Habana in the Cuban League from 1915 to 1929.
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 Cuban House of David were a traveling Negro league baseball team that played from about 1927 to 1936 featuring players primarily from Cuba.
Zachary M. Clayton, was a basketball player for the New York Rens. He was also a Negro league baseball player and a professional boxing referee. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2017.
William Garfield Dumpson was a former player for the Negro leagues.
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"
Samuel L. Gee was an American Negro league shortstop in the 1940s.
Harry Alfonso Rusan was an American basketball player for the Harlem Globetrotters and a Negro league baseball shortstop in the 1930s.
