The Harlem Globetrotters: American Treasures | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

welcome to stuff you should know a. production of iHeart. [Music]. Radio hey and welcome to the podcast I'm. Josh and there's Chuck and Jerry's here. too and this is stuff you should know. the Harlem Globe trer Edition it's a. little on the nose as far as Edition. names go but it is what it. [Music]. is how's that pretty great were you.

going to follow up I was just egging you. on. okay I feel like I get a little offkey. because it goes in some you know more. subtle directions it does and what. you're referring to is of course the. song Sweet George Brown by uh brother. bones right brother bones who was a. halftime musical act for the globe trods. and as The Story Goes was like hey I got. this banging a whistled version of Sweet.

Georgia Brown that uh I'm doing during. your little uh magic circle routine and. it's stuck for 70 years yeah they they. decided to make it basically their. unofficial official team. song and if you remember that was my. first 45 record ever was it really yeah. after seeing the globe TRS I was like I. love that song so my dad took me to. probably Peach's Records in Toledo and I. got the 45 all right well let's talk. real quick so you saw the Globe Trotters.

in what year roughly my guess is it. would have been 82. 883 uh I mean that's if not you know uh. the Golden Era just sort of it's just. after just after the Golden Era Curley. was still there but met L left okay I. loved watching the Harlem Globe Trotters. on uh Wide World of Sports or wherever. they played them on Sunday afternoons MH. I thought it was the best thing ever I. love basketball I love comedy I thought.

it was funny oh well they they were. right up your alley then but I did not. see the Harlem Globe Trotters my friend. until last year oh really yeah I took uh. Ruby and Emily and uh my father-in-law. Steve and uh Scotty who you know sure of. course and we went and saw the Harlem. glob Trotters here in Atlanta and I got. to tell you dude I was like a kid all. over again it was so much fun all those. old bits they did and it was genuinely.

funny like it wasn't like oh well this. is quaint and sort of oldfashioned like. I was Scotty and I were dying laughing. and we just had the best time highly. recommend you anyone should still go. it's still so much fun yeah I would. after doing this research I would. definitely go to see them and there they. have a two 2023 24 World Tour plan which. I think is pretty much par for the. course with them every year yep but if. you look you're like wow in three.

different cities on this one day uh and. it's because which is a long-standing. tradition with the globe chers they are. have so many great players that they'll. split them into multiple teams and just. send them out around the country so. there is a 100% chance essentially that. they are coming within probably 20 miles. of whatever town you live in yeah go see. them it's a lot of fun I mean they still. just have so much personality uh I can't. remember the guy's name at least the one. I saw who sort of is the metal Ark lemon.

who sort of is the ring leader uh but he. was just he had so much Charisma and. they're great basketball players it's so. it's it's modernized a little bit but. it's still what it always has been and. uh it was just so much fun what's funny. is Chuck is that them being great. basketball players is actually a. throwback to their original um I guess. kind of iteration look at you bringing. it all around I like to do that. sometimes so are we in the 1920s then. yeah at the beginning of the har har. Globe Trotters it's actually predates.

the Harlem Globe Trotters in I think the. early to mid. 1920s that's right so we're going to set. up sort of basketball at the time which. is to say basketball is pretty new uh it. was not hugely popular as far as if you. want to compare it to football and. baseball uh it was it was well into. third place if that uh behind you know. horse racing and I'm sure a lot of other. things were more popular at the time. high uh the NBA didn't even come around.

till 49 so this was quite a while before. that and uh what they did have though. and we've seen this in other uh Sports. and another sort of um uh entertainment. uh it was it was touring but they called. it barnstorming it was when you traveled. around to different small towns and they. would get teams together to go on these. little tours in Barnstorm and play each. other and you know essentially. exhibition games cuz there wasn't a. league but they were you know. competitive real basketball games yeah.

they'd be like hey you hay seeds look at. this yeah exactly um sometimes also like. there there wouldn't even be a team but. like some of these teams would go play. locals like local groups of farmers or. whatever would take these teams on and I. don't know why but I think it was maybe. like how sometimes wrestlers will take. on any comers at like some small town or. whatever yeah but so that's the. beginnings of basketball and it's really. interesting that like PE there were. people out there who loved the game.

enough that they made a career for. themselves for they figured out how to. do it and this was really really close. to the beginning of the Harlem Globe. Charters uh and in fact the group that. originally formed the first Harlem Globe. chter started out as um players at wend. Phillips high school and all black high. school in Chicago uh that said hey we're. pretty good let's go start a. barnstorming team ourselves that's right. and this is uh either in 25 or 26 uh. they didn't have a name at first they.

were sponsored by the Southside Giles. post of the American Legion so there are. some sources that'll say they were the. they were called the Giles post-. American Legion quintet okay uh but then. another thing happened uh the Sao. Ballroom in Chicago in Bronzeville it. was a blackowned entertainment venue. very popular and on the weekends they. would have these big dances and they. thought well hey why don't we have a. little opening act and have a basketball. game before these dances maybe it'll.

sell some more tickets and at the very. least it'll be fun and sort of get. people going before the big dance and in. 1926 they hired that Wendell Phillips. team and they named them the seavoy big. five yeah and I don't know how long they. played for this dance hall the seavoy. ballroom but I don't I don't get the. impression it was very long because I. think that they weren't moving tickets. like the owners thought they would and. so they moved on on to something else I.

can't remember what it was but they. basically got rid of the the basketball. team which left them essentially free. agents and it it's kind of lost to. history exactly how this happened but a. guy named Abe sapperstein came in and. attached himself to the seavoy big five. scooped them up after they were fired. took them away from the seavoy who knows. but this is about the time in the mid to. late 1920s about the mid 1920s where AB. sapin comes in and you can say like.

without qualification that had it not. been for Abe sapin entering there would. be no Harlem Globe Trotters yeah for. sure uh he was born in London but he was. raised in uh he was Jewish and raised in. a Irish German neighborhood in Chicago. and he was a little guy he loved. basketball but they say he was like you. know 53 54 something like that so really. small to be playing basketball even at. the time when guys weren't super tall.

playing basketball generally yeah uh or. you could be you know a little shorter. and still get by but uh he would um. plays a little hard out he tried out for. the University of Illinois team and did. not make the team and then dropped out. and worked for the Chicago parks. department uh as a playground supervisor. and if you you know listen to him sort. of tell his own story of the lore uh. he's going to say like you know I saw. these guys playing basketball on the. playground I'd never seen basketball. played like this before and I knew right.

away that you know I had to get these. guys and you know make them like the. best team that they could be right um. that's the that's the lore again it's. kind of lost to history but the I think. by the 19 like 1926. 1927 Abe sapperstein was attached to. this group of players from Wendell. Phillips High School um that would. become the the Harlem Globe trods yeah.

and one of the first thing he did uh was. change that name because he wanted to. take them barnstorming yeah he's like I. can make some money here so he named him. the Harlem Globe truers right out of the. gate because he was a Savvy marketing. guy and he's bringing this team on the. road in these like small towns in in. Kansas and Indiana who had never you. know who who knows how much interaction. they had with black people in rural. Kansas at the time right they at the. very least they probably hadn't seen an. all black B team come through town yeah.

so he was like this is a sellable thing. you know to turn these people on to this. and so Harlem like everybody knows what. Harlem represents it's the center of. Black Culture uh in the 1920s so if I. put Harlem on the name it's they're. immediately going to know this is a. black team and if I call them the globe. trods even though we're really not Globe. trotting yet they're going to you know. it's just it's going to Gussy them up to. where they sound like this sort of. worldly team that's been been everywhere. playing this Sport and it just has a. nice ring together and it should sell.

some tickets yeah and I mean he was. right it definitely does have a nice. ring but it's ironic that this the. Harlem Globe TRS originated in Chicago. yeah and apparently didn't play their. first game in Harlem until. 1968 yeah had nothing to do with Harlem. I don't think so like it took 40 years. for them to finally get to play in. Harlem right but it was a it was you. could almost call it today a dog whistle. that would would guarantee that no you. know Kansas farmer would show up at the. game thinking he was coming to see a.

white basketball team and getting like. racially angry that he had been tricked. into giving his money to a black. basketball team in addition to just kind. of signaling that it also did say like. but not only is this like a black team. this is like a black team from the. greatest black city in America yeah so. it's prestigious too but it also was a. signal yeah absolutely um so sapene he. coached he was with the team for a long. time he coached them into his 60s and he.

was uh you know. criticized many times throughout the. years for uh being too controlling for. underpaying his guys for not giving them. any say in like what they did or how. they did it kind of like I'm the boss. and you do what I say uh for. perpetuating uh racial stereotypes he. was not some perfect guy uh but he also. you know as we'll. see in his own way eventually led to you. know integration of the NBA and putting.

uh black players on a stage that no one. had ever done before and sort of. elevating their perception to the rest. of America and as you'll see the rest of. the world yeah and he was in inducted. into the Basketball Hall of Fame in. 1971 and I don't dispute the impact that. he had on it but it is he definitely he. went it wasn't like mischievous or like. in the gray area he swindled some of his. players oh yeah he told um one star. player later uh on Marcus Haynes that he.

believed um black players didn't deserve. or didn't need as much money as white. players they just didn't black people. just didn't need as much money and that. was why he underpaid his black players. apparently they found out once that a. group of white college Allstars that was. touring as a warm-up act for the Globe. Trotters was getting paid more than the. Globe Trotters um he did a lot of really. shady underhanded stuff so he's a good. study in one of those things that's like. okay this he was not like a sterling.

example of somebody even for his time. but he also did do some really amazing. things that benefited a lot of black. people during his lifetime and well. beyond today actually because you can. kind of give him credit for giving the. NBA the the stability it needed to to. take off on its own too yeah yeah and. you know what that's also and this is. not defending him but that this is also. the history of pro sports ownership. right like in a nutshell this is how it.

was almost with everybody uh as far as. not integrating the leagues and sort of. the ownership aspect and I mean that's. why players still complain about this. stuff that's why they formed players. unions and banded together for like you. know better treatment and better pay and. we're you're not going to just pay us a. little bit amount of money and you take. everything else right uh it's. interesting we should I don't know maybe. there's an episode in there somewhere. about like the history of sports. ownership cuz it's fraught with stories. like this I could totally see that I.

could totally yeah I think that's a. great idea but to kind of wrap up. sapperstein at least at his. introduction he owned the Globe Trotters. not just the team not just the name like. the Globe Trotters he. believed not he believed that they that. if you wanted to play on his team he was. the boss he was in charge he called the. shots he was not to be questioned he. even called himself coach to these. players that did not need a coach but. they kind of humored him and played. along but he was in charge and his whole.

Jam was I'm creating a place where if. you're a black basketball player and. you're good this is the team you want to. be on yeah he created that absolutely uh. good time for a break I think good. setup and we'll come back and talk a. little bit about uh what you were. talking about earlier the fact that they. were not comedians at. first.

all right so we are back uh with promise. to talk about the Harlem Globe Trotters. as a serious basketball team because. that is what they were for many years uh. they did not come out of the gate do. doing uh you know the confetti and a.

bucket trick uh they came out playing. some really good basketball uh to the. tune of a record uh reportedly of 101. and6 over their first 117 games or so. yeah and they traveled uh throughout the. 30s uh they would pile apparently into. Abe Sapp's giant model te and they would. play Eight Games a week for 25 bucks a. game for the entire team uh sapperstein. they would split it up but sapperstein. would get two shares and uh back then.

that wasn't even a lot of money uh but. they L the game and they were getting. paid to play it no today they would be. making a $500 a week so you had to love. the game to be doing that for sure. because it was a lot of it was hard work. in addition to traveling constantly too. so the people who were playing like. really love to play and this is the one. place they could play and make any money. at it and by the way that winning. percentage it's 863 win percentage in. their first year year and only the 20156.

Warriors and the 9596 Bulls had better. win percentages and they each only. played 82 games these guys played. 117 and it's kind of jokey now because. everyone knows the generals aren't. supposed to win but the as of. 2022 the um win loss ratio for the. Harlem Globe truers was 27,000 to. 345 and by the way if you don't know the. generals are the team that they always.

play now on their Road show right uh we. kind of assume people know that but. we'll talk about them at the end yeah. talk about the generals wait everybody. just wait a second so they're traveling. around the country uh when they play in. the north they're playing against white. teams and black teams uh there was a. team called the New York Renaissance the. Rens they were the first all black. professional basketball team uh when. they went to the South this was the Jim. Crow South uh they would play in front. of uh black crowds and uh only again. against black teams and it was it was.

rough they you know they were in a in a. South that was uh obviously segregated. not treating them equally not letting. them stay in hotels not letting them eat. in restaurants uh there was one story uh. Dave ruse helped us with this he dug up. that uh in Nebraska they had to sleep in. the county jail because they could not. find a hotel that would house. them yeah they also um the uh that that. they would play two games a night in the.

South because they would play in front. of a black crowd and then they would go. across town and play in front of a white. crowd so they would play two two a day. I'm not sure if they got paid for both. games or not um but yeah it was a like. in addition to riding around in a Model. T with five other people and getting 25. bucks a game you also had to just face. blatant horrible racism every every day. of your life basically especially when. you were touring this out. yeah absolutely uh they were a really.

good team though and they wanted to. prove that they were among the best uh. of of any color in the country and they. entered the uh the world basketball. championship in 1940 and won this. tournament it was a 14 team tournament. in Chicago and beat the Hometown Chicago. Bruins to win the title uh and this was. again pre-nba this is when the only. thing that was around was the it was. called the National Basketball League at. the time the and it was white white. teams only right all black teams were.

independent and there were other good. black teams too like the um New York. Renaissance the Rens they were like the. Globe Trotters but they were serious. they only played serious basketball. there was no clowning whatsoever and. they actually were huge Rivals not just. on the court but off the court as well. for players for advancing their team um. for getting crowds like it was a they. were both trying to carve out a place. for themselves in the same space and. there was not really enough space for.

both yeah for sure um as for how the. Clowning Around started and the comedy. element it's sort of um depends on who. you ask uh some people will say that. barnstorming in the 40s started losing. Steam and so sappin as the sort of. sengali came up with this idea to keep. the show going by incorporating these. funny bits uh other people will say that. it just sort of kind of slowly evolved. from the fact that they were uh even.

before the clowning around they were. playing a different style of basketball. than what white teams were playing at. the time which is a lot of like it it's. kind of funny to look at old basketball. clips these little two-handed. flat-footed set shots and uh lots and. lots and lots of passing uh not a lot of. dribbling um all of a sudden these guys. come in and they're uh running fast. breaks uh Dave said they dunked I I. looked into the history of the dunk and. it's I think think that the first dunk. was in.

1936 so it is plausible that they were. dunking the basketball cuz immediately I. was like I don't think people were. dunking at all back then if anybody was. it was them though yeah well the first. person who dunk wasn't a glob troter but. it it was you know it wasn't I think it. was looked at as kind of a rude thing to. do in a a basketball game early on well. it also seemed to be taken as wrong like. the right way to do it was to pass five. times and then you you you took your. shot and the the Charters weren't. playing like that at all they were.

playing like what you see when you watch. a modern basketball game and in fact. there was a 20021 letter open letter. from the globe trods to the NBA saying. you know we basically created the style. of play that is like the NBA now why. don't you let us in and give us a. franchise um of course the NBA just I. think completely ignored it but they. make a really good case that like the. style of play today dates back to the um.

the globe trods starting this stuff in. the 30s and 40s and if you watch like. clips of say like Curly Neil in like the. 70s shooting shooting like a halfcourt. three-pointer he looks exactly like. Steph Curry does today yeah when you. watch when you watch Steph Curry do the. same thing they have the same exact. motion everything about that shot is the. exact same but curly Neil is doing it. like 50 years earlier yeah absolutely. and this was way earlier than curly Neil.

too yeah I mean people didn't take. halfcourt three-pointers outside of the. Harlem Globe Trotters yeah and that was. sort of when things started getting a. little more interesting another story is. that they uh were blowing people out so. much they started getting bored and kind. of just messing around and they would do. no look passes and they would take these. super long hook shots and people went. crazy for it uh supposedly one of the. original set Sao big five uh this guy. big Jack Johnson was the guy who kind of.

started developing these tricks he was a. a big giant of a man and he's the guy. who would put another player on his. shoulders uh to go in and uh dunk the. ball he's the guy who started drop. kicking it from the free throw line uh. and so you know this is sort of the the. ER version of what we would later see uh. to be followed by uh Reese Tatum Goose. Tatum who is known as the clown Prince. of glob Trotters he's a guy that really. ramped up the Antics yeah he apparently.

got his clowning start on the. Indianapolis clowns which was a baseball. team which were essentially the Globe. Trotters of baseball at the time in the. Negro Leagues um and he was 16 when he. started playing for them so he kind of. was already exposed to the idea of. joking around while you're playing. serious professional sports um by the. time he got to the globe troter so he. was like kind of a natural person to to. bring that so it makes a lot of sense. that he would have been kind of like the. real konel that that created that I I.

don't think that those stories of where. it came from it evolving over time and. Abe sapperstein saying we need to to do. some clowning because the crowds are. getting bored are mutually exclusive I. think that they could have happened. together because apparently the crowds. were getting bored they would just blow. out the opponent so much that it was. like what's what's the point of seeing. these games so when they they figured. out that when they were clowning though. the crowds really responded to it and.

eventually over time that would come to. serve them well because as other. basketball players in like the NBA got. better and better and started adopting. more and more Globe truers. techniques the all the tech all the. globe Charters had left was the clowning. aspect so that's kind of what they. became so it's a really neat Evolution. that I it makes sense that this all took. place over coming up on a hundred years. yeah yeah absolutely uh and. interestingly Goose Tatum was you know.

sort of an early example of a uh a. two-way sports star uh I believe the. globe shoters had ended up having four. different former professional baseball. players on their team oh wow so there. were you know the the Bo Jacksons and. the Deion Sanders way back then yeah. doing their thing sure so Goose was the. one who came up with some of these gags. that they still use today uh like. they're still doing the same stuff man. well it's funny it's funny I guess so.

the the spying like going over in the. other team's huddle he came up with that. they still do that uh hiding in the. crowd from The Ref they still do that it. still kills it's. hilarious uh when you faint on the court. and someone waves takes off your shoe. and puts it over your nose and you you. know you start up they still do that and. that all came from Goose those things. make people from 8 to 80 just laugh I. know but if you're seven or you're 81. forget get it yeah uh Marcus Haynes was.

another guy in 1946 he came along uh he. was a former college basketball star and. he's the guy that kind of um was the. inspiration for curly Neil he's the guy. that first started doing like the insane. dribbling and sliding around on his. knees and keeping that dribble alive and. dribbling between other people's legs. and dribbling in circles around people. he was the first you know ball handling. Master yeah that's kind of like one of. the the Globe Charter characters that. they always kind of filled at one time.

or another and like today it's um. Charelle George know his torch and. apparently she holds the world record. for most under under the leg tumbles in. a minute so it's where you're dribbling. real low to the ground and then you you. basically do um a somersault while you. dribble the ball between your legs and. then when you come up on the somersault. the ball goes right back to your hand. she did 32 of those one after the other. in one minute and that's I bu that being.

the world record for sure did you say. she I did say she because she is one of. three women on the um the Harlem Globe. chers team that's right and think about. that if the globe Chargers did somehow. get their own franchise in the NBA the. NBA then would be um integrated among. the Sexes as well how nuts would that be. if they not only push the NBA to. integrate racially but also um by sex as.

well well I think if they said you get a. franchise they wouldn't just bring over. these players they would start fresh and. draft players and I do any other. expansion team because these players are. great but they're not NBA they'd be in. the NBA if they were NBA. caliber it's true okay no I mean that's. where they get these players they're. players from college that were really. good that couldn't go any further okay. that's new. that's a generally new phenomenon that.

probably started in the. 80s uh I would say probably 70s but sure. okay but prior to that just 50 years but. prior to that the the Harlem and this is. significant the Harlem Globe truers were. a place where you would go um you could. go and and create a career for yourself. and and be as good if not better than. the best people in the NBA and the globe. triers Pro that over and over and over. again yeah I mean this was pre-nba so it. wasn't even a thing yet still at this. point okay so the magic circle we.

mentioned with Sweet Georgia Brown. that's another thing they're very famous. for it's when they uh pregame they'll or. and at halftime they'll stand around in. their Circle Sweet Georgia Brown plays. on the loudspeakers and they do that. thing where they're going behind their. back they're doing all these ball tricks. they're spinning it on their finger uh. it's just a little little fun warmup to. get everybody excited right and it works. like a charm it does uh you want to take. a break or keep. going.

uh let's keep going okay so one of the. biggest watershed moments in Globe. Charter history was in. 1948 when um the globe Charters. challenged the Minneapolis Lakers whose. name makes way more sense than the Los. Angeles Lakers yeah as I've said. multiple times on this show yeah um who. were the champions of the world. basketball or national basketball league. um at the time challenged them to a game. and the Lakers were all white and their.

team was centered around a guy named. George mccan or mik and he was 6 feet1. or. glasses and um could just he he just. took shots whenever he wanted and he. made basically all them there's just. nothing you could do to stop him and he. was a huge reason that Minneapolis was. were the Champs and um in February of. 1948 the the globe charers played the. Lakers and they beat them and they beat. him like at the buzzer it was like a. really dramatic really amazing game um.

that showed the world like whoa whoa. whoa these guys who the sports writers. consider clowns and not serious just. beat the the champions of a very serious. basketball league what's going on here. yeah and uh in the pre-shot clock era. you could dribble the ball around at the. end of the game uh until somebody fouled. you and in this case they could not. catch Marcus Haynes the the ball. handling master so with less than a. minute left and the game was tied he was.

dribbling all over the court nobody. could get to him he finally uh as the. time is expiring gets the ball over to. Elmer Robertson who drains a 20-footer. and they beat the Lakers and just to. show like hey this wasn't some fluke. actually a good team they played them. again in 1949 and beat them again yeah. the following year and in the Lakers. defense the Lakers were leading by 10 at. the half and the globe Charters were. doing zero clowning they were playing. straight basketball oh yeah uh and they.

still almost lost but they won so by. winning those two back-to-back um. championships I guess uh the the not. just the globe Chargers but also like. the Rens and other black teams showed. like we've got better players over here. and for you basketball associations that. are eventually going to become the NBA. like you're shooting yourselves in the. feet by by staying segregated like why. would you do that why wouldn't you just. want to put together the best team you. possibly could regardless of race and.

the the Basketball Association said. racism and the glob Charter said yes. clearly that's why but stop doing that. and very quickly shortly after those two. wins against the Lakers they did start. integrating basketball. leagues yeah one of the first guys they. signed actually in 1950 was a globe. Trotter uh Sweetwater Clifton and so you. know that what Abe Satine set out to do. to prove they were as good or better. than anybody in the Pro leagues uh.

worked right away yeah and so he so this. was actually like a double-edged sword. that gave um Abe sapin like boasting. rights which he did a lot about how the. NBA wanted his players the first player. to ever be signed who was black and the. NBA came from the globe charterers at. the same time though it would start to. become a problem uh later on as the NBA. got better and better and stood more and. more on its own two feet that sounds. like a great cliffhanger I think so too. all right we'll be right.

[Music]. back Nat Sweetwater Clifton by the way. was one of the people who swindled by. Abe sapin he sold his contract to um I.

think the Knicks for $5,000 and gave. half of it to um Clifton the player and. it turns out he had sold the contract. for $20,000 and only gave Nat Clifton. 2500 because Nat Clifton thought he was. getting half like that's the kind of. stuff he would do yeah that's not cool. well at least Nat clipton got to move on. he did move on for sure and he was ready. to move on too they were having disputes. over things like pay and everything and. just treatment of players um and yeah.

Nat Clifton was one of the first black. great in the NBA yeah absolutely so. early days of the NBA they're it's not. Gang Busters right away they're sort of. this new league that's struggling to get. going uh the Globe Trotters are huge. Stars uh way bigger Stars than people in. the NBA at the time uh they were in. movies they were in a movie called The. Harlem glob Trotters okay another one. called go man go. and uh so sapperstein you know ever the.

businessman in 1950 said all right we're. we're named the Globe Trotters we're. going to start trotting the globe and so. set off on a femon around the world tour. to places like Rome and Paris and London. and they ate it up everywhere they went. oh yeah they were treated like. celebrities everywhere like they would. just sell out tens and tens of thousands. of seats in every city that they played. a game in um people just hadn't seen. anything like it over there and they. were just totally wowed and blown over.

by the Globe Trotters um the state. department actually got in touch with. Abe sapperstein and said hey um you know. we're in a cold war with the USSR and. they like to to basically point out how. poorly black Americans are treated back. home um and the globe trasers kind of. suggest otherwise so what if we make the. globe TRS Goodwill ambassadors and so. from that point on I think in the early. 50s um they were essentially um on the.

state department team they were playing. in part at the beest of the state. department who was I don't know if they. were help funding their travels or what. but they were definitely Goodwill. ambassadors for the United States yeah. one of the first things they did was. they played in West Berlin at the. Olympic Stadium there the very Stadium. uh where Jesse Owens made his name in uh. 1936 at the Berlin games when Hitler. very famously refused to shake his hand.

uh he came in was helicoptered in Jesse. Owens uh dropped in there on the field. and he ran a ceremonial lap to sort of. just get everybody pumped up before this. basketball game in front of. 76,000 people yeah and the mayor of West. Berlin used it as an opportunity to. reconcile um with with Jesse Owens on. behalf of Germany and I was reading a a. description of that event and supposedly. the globe chter game was post was.

delayed by 10 15 minutes because the the. Ovation giving to Jesse Owens and the. mayor was so long it just kept going and. going so um that was neat just to even. read about I can't imagine being there. at the time oh man so they're on this. world tour they are celebrities uh and. they're treated as such and they're. having a blast I imagine they come back. home to an America that is still. segregating. and uh Dave found this one just this is.

hard to believe and so shameful uh in. Jacksonville Florida in the early 50s a. hotel refused them Service uh and that. same Hotel. uh allowed a chimpanzee named Judy a. celebrity. chimpanzee uh that bowled on television. uh like bowling um set Judy up in the. presidential suite yet denied the Harlem. Globe trods yeah that was an eye. openening thing for a lot of the glob. cters at the time it was just that bad.

on the one hand they had like the rest. of the world to go uh be received by and. they were but just the idea that to have. to come back home to that yeah I mean it. just had to be doubly bitter after being. treated so well outside of the United. States outside of home you know of. course this would be a good movie I know. I say that totally for sure um so the. late 1950s the the NBA started to really. count come into its own and one of the. reasons why I was saying Abe sapperstein.

can take a lot of credit for the NBA. being around today is he agreed to help. this fledgling NBA make a name for. itself by playing double headers with. them either having the globe Charter. play NBA teams or having the NBA be like. the second the NBA teams were like the. second um game on the a double header. bill yeah and apparently most of the. time the crowd would just leave after. the globe troter game wouldn't stick. around for the NBA game but enough. people did that the NBA started to catch. on and it took about 10 years um but it.

was largely thanks to the globe TRS and. Abe sapperstein for getting the NBA to a. place where it could stand on its own. and then once it did now Abe sapine and. the globe triers had a problem because. no longer were they the place where a. great black basketball player would. aspire to go play they were um a a a Way. Station sometimes and then other people. just went directly around the globe. Charters and straight to the NBA yeah.

you know it was uh sort of be careful of. what you helped create because not only. like you said are they stealing or not. stealing plers but just you know uh. signing players away from the globe. Charters uh the globe Charters weren't. necessary anymore as this sort of very. high-profile minor league in a way uh. will Chamberlin was a Harlem Globe. shotter he played uh for the 1958 season. uh I don't think a lot of people realize. that you know one of the all-time great. NBA players Wilt the stilt uh was paid.

60 supposedly. $60,000 uh to play for the Harlem Globe. chers for that one season which would be. about $600,000 today yeah which is I. think below the minimum for a starting. um salary in the NBA today anyway but. still time ton of money and the NBA's. salaries are very high so that brings up. something that um has nothing to do with. this but that came up twice in research. when they were talking about um what the. what the Globe charers made initially.

that like $3.50 each per game M and how. little amount that that was it was like. 6250 I think a a player a game and. that's a small amount of money in. today's today's like money and today's. dollars right yeah but that seems to. indicate a trend that even adjusted for. inflation things today are eye popping. more expensive like I looked up how much. those players could have gotten for.

their. $3.50 and I came across like a 1928 menu. for like what seems to be a pretty nice. restaurant and you could get an amazing. dinner with dessert and like a couple of. soups and salad and all that stuff for. like 50 cents right yeah today even in. today's dollars that would be something. like eight $8 or something today um. imagine like having a nice dinner for. just $8 today so what happened is my. question I'm trying to figure out how.

to how to come up with the right. question to go research what happened. like why did things get more expensive. why did people start throwing more money. at like basketball players even adjusted. for today's dollars like what happened. why did money just blow up in the last. like 20 30 years well in the case of. sports it's because players stood up at. one point and we're like wait a minute. the owners are making that kind of money. we're the ones out here that are putting.

people in the seats and we're making. this kind of money and so they unionized. and were able to make great deals over. the year every time they sat down at the. negotiating table okay but let's say. that restaurant that was charging $8 in. today's dollar for a really nice good. dinner. sure you would you would say okay well. maybe there's like more demand for that. more people have more money to go out to. dinner so they're doing that so that. that restaurants are going to charge. more because of supply and demand.

there's a higher demand and thus less. Supply I would argue there is not less. Supply I would say that the supply is. increased even more than the demand has. and yet that same dinner probably cost. three to four times what it should. adjusted for today's dollars why yeah I. see what you mean I'm sure that somebody. will write in and say well guys it's. just research the the the last 40 Years. of the corporatization of of whatever or. something like there's probably. something you can point to that made. things go really out of whack and it.

wouldn't surprise me if it was it was. the consolidation of of wealth and. corporations in general but that's. exactly what I'm hoping for bringing. this up I hope somebody who knows what. I'm saying but just don't know how to. say it yeah like how can we go research. this better exactly yeah I'm with you. I'm with you um back to Harlem glob TRS. though uh the NBA is uh getting these. players from the Globe Trotters you know. kind of one after the other and so the.

Globe Trotters are like all right well. you know what that means um our days are. numbered unless we really lean into this. comedy stuff and from sort of the mid1. 1950s on it really became uh the Harlem. Globe Trotters like basketball Funtime. comedy show uh that we all know and love. today starting with their leader who you. mentioned metal Arc lemon who was there. from 54 to 7 and he was kind of the. central figure yeah they lucked out that. metalark lemon saw a news reel when he.

was 11 in. 1945 at his movie theater in Wilmington. North Carolina and decided like he he. was going to grow up to be a Harlem. Globe truter that was his life's Pursuit. and he he made it happen I think in his. 20s uh he joined the team and became. like kind of the the ring Master of the. whole thing um he became far and way. their greatest star not just of his era. but of like all time essentially metal.

AR lemon is wellknown even outside of. people the name you think exactly for. sure um he was the one who led the crew. on um Scooby-Doo he was you're GNA say. he was at the heart of the Harlem Globe. Trotter um Saturday morning cartoon like. that kind of stuff like it was all. metalark all the time and I get the. impression that some of the other. members of the team were not super happy. about exactly how inequitable things. were but he definitely brought the the. crowds in he was a huge crowd pleaser.

for sure yeah he's the guy who invented. the confetti bit which is uh you're. chasing a referee down with what. everyone thinks is a bucket of water and. uh he throws it into the stands and. misses the referee and everyone goes. crazy but it's really. confetti still works somehow uh he's the. one that started pulling everyone's. shorts down and pancing everybody. referees fellow players uh Washington. generals he's a guy that started doing. that half court hook shot uh which a guy.

still does that now they're keeping that. tradition alive I think it was they have. a guy from Atlanta cuz at least in the. one I saw cuz it was you know played up. that it was a HomeTown show for him and. he was the guy that was shooting the. half court hook shot and he didn't make. any of them but he came really really. close uh it's very hard to do supposedly. metal Arc lemon was so good at it that. he would nail it 70% of the time I I'm. not so sure about that well he has a lot. of Legend around him like he even on the. Hall of Fame Basketball Hall of Fame. website he's credited with playing.

16,000 games as a globe Trotter and all. you have to do is the math and you'll. see that that's basically impossible he. would have had to have played um he he. would had to have played two games a day. every day for 21 years to reach that. number and he was only with the globe. triers for 24 years and I'm quite sure. the math still isn't wash out but um it. it just kind of goes to show like how. willing everybody is to go along with it.

that's how good of a ball player he was. that they're like yeah it's that's. probably not that far. off yeah absolutely um as far as sort of. the perception and Legacy of the globe. triers uh at the time uh some looked. down upon them from the Civil Rights. community and said that you know you. guys are perpetuating these stereotypes. you're sort of doing an A A basketball. version of a of a traveling minstral. show uh other people said no that's not.

what's going on uh no less than Jesse. Jackson would stand up for them and his. quote was the Globe Trotters did not. show blacks as stupid on the contrary. they were shown as Superior uh he was. like they're you know they're bringing. this to an audience who maybe has never. seen something like this it's fun. they're really good at what they do and. and stop with all that yeah so they they. made it through that um really rough. time they had navate that cuz they. definitely were old school black comedy.

in a time where that was increasingly. looked upon as offensive to the to the. the black community so um they they. navigated that they they managed to and. I think I don't know how much they. changed I think they they just weathered. that criticism and came out the other. side you know yeah so um one of the. reasons they were Superior though is. because there was almost always a team. in the globe Charter history that was. paid to lose to them yeah which kind of.

explains their 22,000 to 345 win loss. ratio yeah absolutely uh they went by. different names over the years the. Boston Shamrocks the New Jersey Reds the. Atlantic City seagulls uh but in modern. times we all know and love them as the. Washington generals uh they used to be. an allh team uh now the generals are. integrated as well and you know it's a. it's a gig where you get to keep playing.

basketball and you get to get paid for. playing basketball you got to be okay. with being the you know the sucker. sometimes and to to be panted and to. lose uh but these guys can play oh like. this they always could play but you know. this team that I just saw last year like. these guys were good they had this uh. they had this point guard that was just. draining really really long uh jump shot. three-pointers like Steph Curry style 67.

Trey young style eight feet behind the. three-point line and like you can't you. can fake and and script things but you. can't you know make that ball go in. nothing but net unless you're really. good at that and this guy was awesome so. um they were yeah a handful of them have. gone on to play in the NBA so it's. almost like the no I'm not giving up yet. I'm going to play for the the generals. and then get back into the NBA almost. like playing in Europe how a lot of. people do that where it's like the NBA.

doesn't doesn't take them for a year so. they go play in Europe somewhere and. then try again the next season I think. that's kind of what the generals were. for a while but um there was one. instance where the generals won and if. you go back and read the the the details. of this game and January of. 1971 um it's not clear whether it was. purposeful or accidental but the the the. globe charterers weren't paying. attention to the score they didn't need.

to normally and the generals were. starting to creep up on them and it came. down to I think a onepoint deficit and. somebody took a shot a guy named um. Lewis Herman clz who helped put the. generals together um he was in his 50s. yeah he took the last shot and he he. sunk it and won accidentally won. according to a lot of. people yeah. amazing that's like sort of at the end. of a modern NBA All-Star game when.

everyone's goofing off and having fun. until like the last two or three minutes. and then they're like all right we want. to win right apparent and things get. serious apparently cl's um quote was it. was like we just killed Santa. Claus I. IM uh that's funny you you know Scotty. and I uh who you know a friend of ours. he he was the uh DP for our TV show and. a very old friend of mine we had uh. written some stuff here and there. screenplays and like partnered up here.

and there and at one point we were. writing a script on a uh a Washington. generals team as the centerpiece like. thinly veiled there would be a globe. trods they wouldn't be called the globe. troter or the generals but uh we just. thought it was a really funny idea to. follow this uh team that always is has. to lose and be the uh the sucker that's. getting pantsed and then they come up. with this plan to like win the game one. time so is it going to be more like a. sports um movie where like it's really.

about the game or is it going to be like. slapshot where it's more about the lives. of the people playing the game more. slapshot than hooers okay yeah okay so. but then will frell did that basketball. movie and I think this is sort of around. the like time we were thinking about it. and then oh is it the same thing no but. it was just I don't know it was sort of. like all right well no one's going to. want to make this movie cuz this one. just came out and did I don't think it. did very well yeah I think that I think. enthusiasm for that particular movie is.

cool you guys can probably take a shot. at it again yeah I mean there's not a. lot of great basketball movies hooers is. one of the all-time great Sports movies. period uh but there's not a whole lot. else the fish that save Pittsburgh what. you remember that one no it was a. basketball movie Dr J was in it called. the fish who save. Pittsburgh I remember that from when I. was a kid but yeah not a lot of great. basketball movies well I say you and. Scott should get to it chuck all right. maybe it's time that movie has been. forgotten by now well since Chuck agreed.

to um get back to producing his. basketball movie with Scott uh I think. that means that this episode's over and. it's time for listener. [Music]. mail uh yeah let's get a good one that. was a that was a fun episode I enjoyed. that I agree completely it was a good. episode yeah that was fun and again go. see them everybody it's a lot of fun. they're they're not still in arenas. anymore which makes me sad but they had. they had a pretty good crowd good all.

right uh this is just a A really lovely. thank you we like to read those every. now and then uh Hey guys you've been by. my side for 15 years uh you shed your. voices your stories your laughter and. your curiosity with me you've been with. me through the highs and the lows of my. life during my journey of moving. multiple times changing career surviving. an accident where walking after was. painful for many years uh recovering. slowly from those injuries hiking again. coping with divorce uh you've inspired. me to keep exploring the world to keep. learning new things and to keep finding.

joy and every day uh you make me feel. like I'm a part of your family even. though we've never met uh look for an. episode on that coming soon Danny uh you. are some of my favorite teachers. sometimes silly sometimes serious. sometimes wrong but always genuine and. generous this Danny's got us pegged I. know he didn't have to mention that but. that's fine uh for 15 years you have. opened your hearts your minds and your. arms to all of us who listen for 15. years I've been lucky to know two. amazing dudes who make the world a. better place I hope you never stop.

making the show because I don't want to. stop listening uh I know that life is. unpredictable and nothing lasts forever. that's why I'm excited to finally see. you both at Nashville uh in Nashville on. the 6th so uh Danny was at our show and. he just finishes out by saying thank you. so much for being the stability some of. us need uh the platform of knowledge. that help us leap into a land of Wonder. and learning and just for being there. for 15 years seriously thank you and. that is Danny Westfall Danny you my.

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