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.
William Blair was a Negro league pitcher.
The Birmingham Black Barons were a Negro league baseball team that played from 1920 until 1960,including 18 seasons recognized as Major League by Major League Baseball. They shared their home field of Rickwood Field in Birmingham,Alabama,with the white Birmingham Barons,usually drawing larger crowds and equal press.
Nathaniel "Sweetwater" Clifton was an American professional basketball player. He is best known as one of the first African Americans to play in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was also a professional baseball player.
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 Zulu Cannibal Giants were an American Negro league baseball team,formed in 1934 by Charlie Henry in Louisville,Kentucky.
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 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.
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.
George E. Smith,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.
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.
Walter Owens was a pitcher and outfielder who played in Negro league baseball. He batted and threw right handed.
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.
William Robert Pope,nicknamed "Wee Willie",was an American Negro league pitcher for the Pittsburgh Crawfords and Homestead Grays between 1946 and 1948.
Ulysses Adolph Redd,nicknamed "Hickey",was an American Negro league shortstop for the Birmingham Black Barons in 1940 and 1941.
William Benjamin Felder was an American Negro league shortstop who played for the 1946 Negro World Series champion Newark Eagles.
Everett Marcell,nicknamed "Ziggy",was an American Negro league catcher and Harlem Globetrotters basketball player in the 1930s and 1940s.
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