Abe Saperstein

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Abraham M. "Abe" Saperstein (born July 4, 1902 in London , † March 15, 1966 in Chicago ) was an American entrepreneur and manager of the Harlem Globetrotters .

Career

In 1927, Saperstein took over the team of the Savoy Big Five and formed the Globetrotters from them. In the 1930s and 1940s, the Globetrotters were among the best professional teams in the United States. They toured the cities of the East Coast and the Midwest without belonging to a league.

After the war, the World Series of Basketball was a touring game series initiated by the Globetrotters against the College All-Stars . These were selected outstanding college players, just graduated and often All-Americans , who first played a so-called college all-star game in Madison Square Garden and whose best all-stars then went on tour with the Globetrotters for a month. This World Series was very popular because the NBA was only able to sign a TV contract in the mid-1950s and - with two one-off exceptions in 1949 - was not to cross the Mississippi with the Lakers and the Warriors until 1960 and 1962. These tours were the only way for many fans to see high-quality basketball. For example, Bob Cousy and Paul Arizin were among the College All-Star players , Clair Bee and Hank Iba were among their coaches. The trick game faded into the background in this series between 1950 and 1962, because the games all ran out very closely. The Globetrotters won 144-66 games. Occasionally, fans also missed the entertainment they expected from a Globetrotters game. When interest in the series decreased noticeably due to the rescheduling of dates because of the Pan American and Olympic Games in 1959 and 1960, the organization shifted to pure entertainment after its end.

In 1961, however, Saperstein founded the American Basketball League , a league competing with the NBA, after the Minneapolis Lakers relocated to Los Angeles and Saperstein was unable to found his own NBA team there, as he had hoped. The league only existed until 1963.

For his services to basketball, Saperstein was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1971 and into the Hall of Fame of Jewish Sports Greats in 1979 .

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Robert Bradley, Steve Dimitry, John Duxbury, Dave Quinn, Tim Kaldis: History of the World Series of Basketball 1950-1958, 1961-1962. On: Association for Professional Basketball Research website; 2006. Retrieved November 16, 2018.
  2. ^ NN: All-Americans Ready for Tour. Seven Collegiate Stars Play Garden Game Tonight, Then Start on Series With Trotters. From: Buffalo Evening News; Buffalo, NY, March 31, 1951. (Page 5).
personal data
SURNAME Saperstein, Abe
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Saperstein, Abraham M.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American entrepreneur and basketball manager
DATE OF BIRTH 4th July 1902
PLACE OF BIRTH London , England
DATE OF DEATH March 15, 1966
Place of death Chicago , Illinois