Harlem Globetrotters Set Standard for U.S. Olympic Team
By Bill Hoover, Jr.

President George Bush has dubbed the United States 2008 Olympic athletes the “Ambassadors of Liberty” and expects them to represent liberty-in-practice to the rest of the world in Beijing, China, next month. Dr. “Jumpin” Johnny Kline, representing a group of the former Harlem Globetrotters who are among those that President Harry S. Truman’s administration first labeled the “Ambassadors of Goodwill,” hopes that this year’s Olympic Men’s Basketball team offers goodwill by using the Olympic Games to bring attention to the men who blazed the way for their professional success. The Black Legends of Professional Basketball, a non-profit 501(c)3 organization that Kline founded, has a fund established to assist the financial needs of 27 of the former Harlem Globetrotters who are responsible for popularizing basketball around the world, but the organization needs the current players’ help.

During the l950s, when the U.S. government was battling the anti-American propaganda of communism, the Truman administration realized that the country could benefit from the worldwide popularity of the Harlem Globetrotterg. Therefore, the decision was made to embrace the Trotters by giving them the moniker of Ambassadors of Goodwill and formally assisting the team on its Around the World Tour of 1952. This tour included 141 games played in 168 days, from April 19 through October 3, while covering 51,000 miles. In comparison, the Ambassadors of Liberty will compete only 17 days, from August 8 through August 24, never leaving Beijing.

Kline, who played with the Trotters during the 1950s, also points out the difficulty that these 27 men experienced in the 1940s and 1950s by saying, “These Harlem Globetrotters played under difficult conditions, with segregated hotels and eating facilities, in most towns and cities where they played. This meant that after a game, the team had to travel in their old school bus up to 300 miles, before finding a place that would accept them to eat and rest for the night.”

In addition to helping America advance its anti-communism agenda, the Trotters did much for the development of the game of basketball. While the NBA was unheard of overseas and struggling to stay alive in America, the Trotters, on the other hand, were internationally known and loved. The Globetrotters’ games and clinics, not the NBA or Olympic Games, did the most to popularize and help develop the game of basketball around the world. The countries of Argentina, Australia, Croatia, Iran, Lithuania, Russia, Angola, China, Germany, Greece, Spain, as well as the United States, the 12 countries whose men’s teams will compete in this year’s Olympics, are amongst the world’s countries that benefited from the performances and clinics of the Harlem Globetrotters of the 1940s and 1950s.

And even though the 1952 trip was a smashing success for the U.S. government, author Ben Green points out in his book Spinning the Globe, that it wrapped up with a punch in the gut for the Trotters. Disgustingly, two months after returning to the United States, a scheduled game at Louisiana State University was canceled by the school’s president who said that having blacks play in the school’s gymnasium would destroy “our way of life.”

Well, it would seem that our way of life in America should include honoring and supporting our pioneers and elders. This certainly includes our basketball greats, like these 27 former Harlem Globetrotters. In addition to suffering indignities like the one at L.S.U. during their careers as Ambassadors of Goodwill, these Globetrotters were never given a pension or health benefits for their retirement years. Thanks to the Black Legends of Professional Basketball, a fund does exist in their names; but the coffers are next to empty. Time is running out for this aging group, which recently lost two more men.

Kline wishes that these 27 men could have been the invited guests of the men’s team at the opening ceremonies in Beijing; but since that no longer appears to be a possibility, he is now hoping that the Olympic Committee can unite these 27 men with the men’s team when they return home after the games. By taking the time and effort to recognize the contributions of these surviving Harlem Globetrotters of the l940s and 1950s, the Ambassadors of Liberty will be providing much needed publicity which can help increase financial donations to the fund. The fund is essential to make it possible for these men to be able to live the balance of their lives with dignity.

For further information about the Goodwill Fund, contact Dr. John Kline at (615) 838-7330 or at johnkline@comcast.net.

Kline’s 27
1. Hubert Ausbie, 2. Don Barnette, 3. Stanley Burrell, 4. Joe Buckhalter, 5. Mel Davis, 6. David Gaines, 7. J.C. Gipson, 8. Carl Green, 9. Chuck Holton, 10. Charles Hoxie, 11. Ernest Jones, 12. Henry Kean,
13. Webster Kirksey, 14. John Issacs, 15. John Kline, 16. Al Price,
17. Charlie Primas, 18. Bobby Hall, 19.George Smith, 20. Harry Sykes,
21. Herschell Turner, 22. Ernie Wagner, 23. Charles Ward, 24. Frank Washington, 25. Bob Williams, 26. Johnny Wilson, and 27. Vertis Zeigler.