Reviews
Spinning the Globe: The Rise, Fall, and Return to Greatness of the Harlem Globetrotters by Ben Green
tonyhightower's review
4.0
I can't really imagine a better top-to-bottom history of the Harlem Globetrotters, from their inception through their heyday and their transformation from a key part of the racial integration process in the United States and around the world into cuddly Saturday morning kids show fodder, than this one.
It's a relatively easy story to tell colorfully. Abe Saperstein, a natural born huckster, falls in love with the sport of basketball not long after it was invented, and through a series of events winds up as the coach and (5 foot 3 inch tall, and round) player for, the first black sports team many whites would ever see. His tireless efforts and occasional serious missteps are chronicled here, and while they may skew a little toward the positive, this is no hagiography. He was a businessman first, and while his personal views on racial equality weren't always as progressive as I'd have thought, his pragmatism and work ethic earned him many loyal adherents and followers, many of whom were interviewed in great detail for this book.
Highly recommended, especially if you only know the Globetrotters as cartoon friends of Scooby-Doo, and not the primary promotional sporting force of the middle third of the 20th century, and very nearly a charter team in the NBA. A solid read.
It's a relatively easy story to tell colorfully. Abe Saperstein, a natural born huckster, falls in love with the sport of basketball not long after it was invented, and through a series of events winds up as the coach and (5 foot 3 inch tall, and round) player for, the first black sports team many whites would ever see. His tireless efforts and occasional serious missteps are chronicled here, and while they may skew a little toward the positive, this is no hagiography. He was a businessman first, and while his personal views on racial equality weren't always as progressive as I'd have thought, his pragmatism and work ethic earned him many loyal adherents and followers, many of whom were interviewed in great detail for this book.
Highly recommended, especially if you only know the Globetrotters as cartoon friends of Scooby-Doo, and not the primary promotional sporting force of the middle third of the 20th century, and very nearly a charter team in the NBA. A solid read.
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