What is the name of an exhibition basketball team that combines athleticism, theatre and comedy that was created by Abe Saperstein in 1926 in Chicago, Illinois?
Abe Saperstein boys cried. I had to force myself to be funny. I did it only because Abe would have wanted the show to go on.” Saperstein is buried in the Westlawn Cemetery in Norridge, Illinois, near Chicago. Abe Saperstein Abraham Michael Saperstein (July 4, 1902 – March 15, 1966) was the founder, owner and earliest coach of the Harlem Globetrotters. Saperstein was a leading figure in black basketball and baseball in the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, primarily before those sports were racially integrated. Saperstein revolutionized the game of basketball and took the Globetrotters from an unknown team touring small farm
Abe Saperstein the Chicago District Park as a playground supervisor at Welles Park, on Chicago's North Side. There, after hours of watching kids play basketball, he decided to create his own team. The Chicago Reds were a semi-pro lightweight (135 lb limit) basketball team, and Saperstein played point guard. As player, manager, and coach of the Chicago Reds, Saperstein met Walter Thomas Ball, a legendary baseball player in the Negro leagues, who had a black baseball team he wanted to send on tour in Illinois and southern Wisconsin. He hired Saperstein as his booking agent. Saperstein went on to become booking agent