VOLCANIC ASH
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By David Shapiro
A courtside seat at a professional basketball game is a good place to get punched out these days, and I was alarmed to see a muscular shooting guard headed my way during a recent hoops contest at the Blaisdell Center.
But all Eathan O'Bryant of the Harlem Globetrotters wanted to do was pat my shoulder and tousle the hair of my grandson Corwin as he worked the crowd for sympathy after being whistled for a foul he thought unfair.
Gannett News Service library photo • Oct. 14, 2004
In an age when spoiled NBA stars view patrons as targets for their fists, the only offenses fans need to fear from the Globetrotters is that they'll filch a little popcorn, steal a kiss from a pretty lady or douse the crowd with a bucket of confetti.
Curly Johnson of the Harlem Globetrotters performs one of the many stunts in the Globetrotters program with a young fan.
And the gags are still as hilarious as when I first saw the Trotters more than 45 years ago at about Corwin's age.
Everybody has his soul comforts in life, and the Globetrotters have been one of mine. With their visit to the Blaisdell, I've seen them five times in four cities — with my dad, my kids and now my grandson.
I took my first high school date to a Globetrotters game at the Hilo Civic Auditorium, which might explain my lack of popularity on the dating scene at Hilo High.
My father took me to see the Globetrotters at the Los Angeles Olympic Auditorium the year Wilt Chamberlain played briefly for the team while waiting to become eligible for the NBA.
I took my kids to cheer the Globetrotters at George Mason University in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., in 1985 — the year Olympic star Lynette Woodard made her debut as the first woman to tour with the team.
Times and tastes change, but the Globetrotters' blend of razzle-dazzle basketball and good, clean fun never grows old nearly 80 years from the team's birth.
Their signature routines are mostly unchanged from the time legends such as Goose Tatum, Marques Haynes and Meadowlark Lemon originated the roles now ably filled by Showtime Gaffney, Curley Johnson and Michael St. Julien.
Gaffney is today's clown prince in the high post who jokes with fans and taunts opponents and referees while dishing out no-look passes, directing intricate weaves and setting up spectacular displays of dribbling and high-flying dunks.
The ball-handling exhibition to "Sweet Georgia Brown" is still magic, and the balls under the shirts, the rubber-band trick and the half-court hook shots are as funny the fifth time as the first.
The Globetrotters started out as an all-black barnstorming squad playing serious basketball at a time when pro ball was white. They added the popular comedy routines to keep things interesting when they inevitably built big leads.
A half-century ago, they were good enough to beat the NBA champion Minneapolis Lakers in exhibition games two years running.
While it's mostly comedy these days, with two squads playing before millions of fans around the world each year, the Trotters still schedule an exhibition tour against good college teams in which they win far more often than they lose.
I would have loved to see if they could have used their teamwork to represent us better than the NBA's woeful "Dream Team" in the recent Olympics.
The Globetrotters still stick around after games to sign autographs.
Corwin waited in long lines to get signatures on his basketball, then promptly scuffed them off practicing between-the-legs dribbles in the Blaisdell parking lot.
But I could hardly criticize; I long ago erased the scrawls of Wilt and Meadowlark the same way.
David Shapiro, a veteran Hawai'i journalist, can be reached by e-mail at dave@volcanicash.net.
