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The Harlem Globetrotters are a basketball team that bines athleticism and edy to create one of the best-known sports entertainnt franchises in the world. Created by Abe Saperstein in 1927 in Chicago Craig Smith Jersey , Illinois, the team adopted the na Harlem because of its connotations as a leading African-Arican munity. Over the years it has toured over 118 countries, playing more than 20,000 exhibition gas, mostly against deliberately ineffective opposition like the Waington Generals (19531995) and the New York Nationals (1995present). There is no clear consensus as to the very beginnings of the Globetrotters. The official history contains several fts which are clearly untrue, such as the team being organized in 1926 in the Savoy Ballroom, which opened in 1927. What is clear is that the genesis of the Globetrotters takes ple in the South Side of Chicago in the 1920s, where all the original players grew up. Most Colin Wilson Jersey , if not all of the original players attended Wendell Phillips High School. When the Savoy Ballroom opened in November of 1927, one of the premier attrtions was the Savoy Big Five, a basketball team that played exhibitions before dances. In 1928, several players left the team in a dispute over bringing other players who had left the team bk. That fall, several players led by Tommy Brookins ford a team called the "Globe Trotters" which would tour Southern Illinois that winter. A white man nad Abe Saperstein beca involved with the team, though to extly what extent is unclear. In any event, by 1929 Saperstein was touring Illinois and Iowa with his basketball team, called the "New York Harlem Globe Trotters". Saperstein decided to pick Harlem as their ho city since Harlem was considered the center of African-Arican culture at the ti Marek Mazanec Womens Jersey , and an out of town team na would give the team more of a mystique. After four decades of existence, the Globetrotters played their first "ho" ga in Harlem in 1968. The first star player of those early Globe Trotters (the na would be rged into one word later on was Albert "Runt" Puller, an adept dribbler and ooter. Soon he would be joined by 6'3" Inman Jkson, who played center and had a flair for owboating. They would originate the o roles that would stay with the 'trotters for decades, the owman and the dribbler. The Globetrotters were initially a serious petitive team, and despite a flair for entertainnt, they would only clown for the audience after establiing a safe lead in the ga. In 1940, they aepted an invitation to participate in the World Professional Basketball Tournant. Defeating the New York Rens in the semi-finals Cody Hodgson Womens Jersey , they advanced to the championip ga, where they beat the Chicago Bruins in overti by a score of 31-29. The Globetrotters beat the premier professional team, George Mikan and the Minneapolis Lakers, for o gas in a row in 1948 and 1949, with the Lakers winning the third contest. The February 1948 win (by a score of 61-59, on a buzzer beater) was a hallmark in professional basketball history, as the all-blk Globetrotters proved they were on an equal footing with the all-white Lakers. Montum for ending the NBA's color line grew, and in 1950 Shea Weber Womens Jersey , Chuck Cooper beca the first blk player drafted by an NBA team. From that ti on the Globetrotters had increasing difficulty attrting and retaining top talent. The Globetrotters gradually worked ic routines into their t until they beca known more for entertainnt than sports. The Globetrotters' ts often feature incredible coordination and skillful handling of one or more basketballs, such as passing or juggling balls beeen players, balancing or spinning balls on their fingertips, and making unusual, difficult ots. Among the players who have been Globetrotters are NBA (National Basketball Association) greats Wilt "The Stilt" Chamberlain, Connie "The Hawk" Hawkins and Nat "Sweeater" Clifton, as well as Marques Haynes, George "Meadowlark" Lemon Predators Marek Mazanec Jersey , Jero Jas, forr Temple coh John Chaney, and Reece "Goose" Tatum. Another popular team mber in the 1970s and 1980s was Fred "Curly" Neal who was the best dribbler of that era of the team's history and was imdiately recognizable due to his aven head. Baseball Hall of Fars Bob Gibson, Ferguson Jenkins and Lou Brock also played for the team at one ti or another. Another famous forr player is edy legend Bill Cosby who had a contrt with the Globetrotters when he was younger.[citation needed] In 1985, the Globetrotters signed their first female player, Olympic gold dalist Lyte Woodard, and their second, Joyce Walker Predators Cody Hodgson Jersey , just three weeks later. Because virtually all of its players have been African Arican, and because of the buffoonery involved in many of the Globetrotters' skits, they drew so criticism in the Civil Rights era. The players were derisively aused of "Tomming for Abe", a reference to Uncle Tom and white owner Abe Saperstein. However, prominent civil rights' tivist Jesse Jkson ca to their defense by stating, "I think they've been a positive influence. (...) They did not ow blks as stupid. On the contrary, they were own as superior." During the 1970s and 1980s, the team was controlled by Metrodia and Predators Shea Weber Jersey , in addition to their touring and playing the Waington Generals or the New York Nationals, were featured in nurous television series and specials, including appearances in live-tion variety ows and several Hanna-Barbera cartoons (see "Media" section below). After a period of decline the Globetrotters franchise was purchased by forr team mber Mannie Jkson in 1993, and its fortunes revived again. In 2002 the team was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fa. To try to offset the criticism that they do not play "real basketball", in recent years the Trotters have scheduled gas against college teams and pickup teams like Magic Johnson's All Stars with varying results. This renews a tradition of playing NBA teams, which the Globetrotters did during the 1950s. The Harlem Globetrotters visited Pope John Paul II at the Vatican in November of 2000 and nad the P.