Abe Saperstein facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Abe Saperstein
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Saperstein, circa 1950s
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| Born | July 4, 1902 |
| Died | March 15, 1966 (aged 63) |
| Resting place | Westlawn Cemetery Norridge, Illinois, U.S. |
| Occupation | Coach, basketball executive, businessman |
| Known for | Owner of the Harlem Globetrotters and Commissioner of the American Basketball League |
| Awards | Elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1971 Inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame and the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame |
Abraham Michael Saperstein (born July 4, 1902 – died March 15, 1966) was a very important person in basketball and baseball. He is best known as the founder, owner, and first coach of the famous Harlem Globetrotters basketball team.
Abe Saperstein was a key figure in black basketball and baseball from the 1920s to the 1950s. This was a time before these sports allowed players of all races to play together.
Saperstein changed the game of basketball. He helped the Globetrotters become a top team. They started as an unknown group playing in small towns. Later, they even beat the best team in the all-white National Basketball Association (NBA). He also helped introduce the three-point shot, which is now a big part of modern basketball.
Saperstein was honored in the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1971. He was 5 feet 3 inches tall, making him the shortest male member. He was also added to the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1979. In 2005, he joined the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.
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Abe Saperstein's Early Life
Saperstein was born in London, England, in 1902. His family was Jewish and came from Poland. When Abe was five, his family moved to Chicago, United States, in 1907. They lived near a Jewish neighborhood where many immigrants struggled.
Abe's father, Louis, was a tailor. He found a job ad that said "No Jews allowed." So, Louis changed his last name to Schneider, which is German for "tailor." Years later, he bought the business. Then, he changed the shop's name back to Louis Saperstein's Tailor Shop.
At age 10, Abe found his love for sports. He played basketball at the YMCA and baseball for a school team. At Lake View High School, he played nine different sports. These included baseball, basketball, football, and track.
Saperstein went to the University of Illinois. But he left early to help his family. He decided not to become a tailor like his father. Instead, he wanted a career in sports. He knew he wasn't tall enough or athletic enough to be a pro player.
Saperstein later became a playground supervisor for the Chicago Park District. He watched kids play basketball for hours. This inspired him to create his own team, the Chicago Reds. This was a semi-pro basketball team for lighter players. Saperstein even played point guard for them.
As a player, manager, and coach for the Chicago Reds, Saperstein met Walter Thomas Ball. Ball was a famous baseball player in the Negro leagues. He hired Saperstein to book games for his black baseball team.
The Harlem Globetrotters Story
Saperstein started booking games for other basketball teams too. In the late 1920s, he formed his own team. He called them the New York Harlem Globetrotters. His team had no real connection to Harlem. They didn't even play there until 1968.
Saperstein chose "Harlem" to show that his players were black. Harlem was a center of African-American culture. Many towns where the Globetrotters first played were all white. Saperstein wanted people to know his team was black before they arrived.
The Globetrotters played their first game in Hinckley, Illinois. The team earned only $8 that night. This money was split among the six team members, including Saperstein. For the next few years, during the Great Depression, Saperstein did everything. He was the coach, driver, booking agent, and sometimes even a player.
In one game in 1926, a player got hurt. Saperstein stepped in to play. A newspaper reported about "Four clean-limbed young colored men and a squat bandy-legged chap of Jewish extraction." They were "styled the Harlem Globetrotters."
In their early years, the Globetrotters had to play every night to earn enough money. They often made less than $50 a night. Finding places to stay was hard. Many hotels would not allow black people. Once, in Des Moines, Iowa, the players couldn't find a hotel. They snuck up a fire escape and slept in Saperstein's room.
Saperstein worked tirelessly to book games. In the team's first seven years, they played over 1,000 games. Saperstein drove the players to small towns in his unheated Ford Model T.
From the beginning, the Globetrotters mixed basketball skill with amazing showmanship. They were also very talented players and won most of their games. In 1940, they beat the famous black basketball team, the New York Renaissance.
A bigger win came in the 1948 Globetrotters-Lakers game. The Globetrotters defeated the Minneapolis Lakers. The Lakers were the best team in the all-white NBA, which had started two years earlier. The Lakers' star was George Mikan, known as "Mr. Basketball."
Even though the Lakers were much taller, the Globetrotters won 61–59. Ermer Robinson made a dramatic long shot at the buzzer. After the game, the players lifted Saperstein onto their shoulders.
This game happened when sports were still divided by race. Many fans and team owners thought black athletes weren't smart enough or competitive enough for pro leagues. The Globetrotters' victory proved them wrong. It showed that African-American players had the skill to play in professional leagues.
In 1950, two years after the Globetrotters-Lakers game, the NBA started allowing black players. Chuck Cooper, who had played briefly for the Globetrotters, was the first black player to sign an NBA contract. Two other early black NBA players, Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton and Hank DeZonie, were also former Globetrotters.
Also in 1950, the Globetrotters played their first game at Madison Square Garden. It was the first time the venue sold out for a basketball game. After these successes, the Globetrotters became even more popular. Saperstein created two more teams in the U.S. and an international team. The Globetrotters have now played in over 123 countries.
Even after the NBA integrated, top black players still joined the Globetrotters. In 1958, Wilt Chamberlain played for the Globetrotters for a year. He then went to the NBA and became one of its greatest players. Wilt Chamberlain once said that being a Globetrotter was "one of the most rewarding times of my life."
Two movies have been made about the Globetrotters: The Harlem Globetrotters (1951) and Go, Man, Go (1954). Several documentaries have also told their story.
The Three-Point Rule Idea
Saperstein wanted to own an NBA team, possibly in California. But his hopes were dashed when the Lakers moved from Minneapolis to Los Angeles. He was also denied ownership of the Warriors when they moved.
Instead, Saperstein started the American Basketball League (ABL) in 1961. He was its commissioner and owned the Chicago Majors team. To make the ABL different from the NBA, Saperstein added new rules. These rules are still part of modern basketball.
He made the free throw lane wider (18 feet instead of 12). He also created the three-point shot. As commissioner of the ABL, Saperstein wanted to make the game more exciting. He hoped the three-pointer would be like a home run in baseball. "We must have a weapon," Saperstein said, "and this is ours."
To decide how far the three-point line should be, Abe Saperstein and coach Ray Meyer went onto a court. They used tape and chose 25 feet as the right distance. His son, Jerry Saperstein, said there was "no scientific basis." It was just "two Hall of Fame coaches getting together and saying: ‘Where would we like to see the line?’"
Later, in June 1961, other ABL owners voted to shorten the line to 22 feet. Saperstein had a lot of power in the league. He disagreed and ignored the ruling. Games continued with the 25-foot shot. Saperstein later added a 22-foot line in the corners of the court.
The ABL closed in 1963. But the American Basketball Association (ABA) made the three-pointer a main part of its game. The ABA competed with the NBA, and the two leagues merged in 1976. The NBA then adopted the three-point shot in 1979.
Other Sports Teams
Saperstein was also important in black baseball leagues. At different times, he owned the Chicago Brown Bombers, the Birmingham Black Barons, and the Cincinnati Crescents baseball teams.
He also created new leagues, like the Negro Midwest League. With Olympic track star Jesse Owens, he started the West Coast Negro Baseball League.
When Saperstein's friend Bill Veeck bought the Cleveland Indians baseball team, he hired Saperstein. Abe became his main scout for African-American players. Saperstein suggested signing players like Luke Easter, Minnie Minoso, Suitcase Simpson, Satchel Paige, and Larry Doby. Larry Doby became the American League's first black player.
Saperstein also founded the white New York Nationals baseball team. He also started the Boston Brownskins, a basketball team that was like a minor league team for the Globetrotters. He also booked games for the Hong Wah Kues, a basketball team of Chinese Americans from San Francisco.
Saperstein's Legacy
During a time when professional sports had racial segregation, Saperstein proudly showed off the skills of the best black basketball players. Four years after the all-white NBA was formed, black players were finally allowed into the league.
As the integrated NBA became the top level of basketball, Saperstein focused the Globetrotters on entertainment. They became a popular act that played for audiences all over the world. After World War II, the Globetrotters went on a "goodwill tour."
One memorable game was in Berlin's Olympic Stadium. Jesse Owens traveled with the team. Owens returned to the stadium where he had won four gold medals 15 years earlier. At that time, Hitler famously refused to shake his hand.
Saperstein worried about bringing the team to Berlin. But Owens and the Globetrotters were greeted by 75,000 cheering fans. The mayor of Berlin greeted Owens. He famously said, "In 1936, Hitler refused to shake your hand. Today, I give you both of mine."
As the civil rights movement grew, some people said Saperstein didn't do enough for his black players' equality. In the 1950s and 60s, some players felt upset. Because of prejudice, they had to stay in "colored" hotels in black neighborhoods. Meanwhile, players on Saperstein's white teams supposedly stayed in first-class hotels.
Some Globetrotters also felt that Saperstein paid white players on his other teams higher salaries. Others criticized the Globetrotters' on-court tricks. They said these acts played into racial stereotypes.
However, in 1978, Jesse Jackson said: "They did not show blacks as stupid. On the contrary, they were shown as superior." Meadowlark Lemon, a famous Globetrotter, also defended the team. He said the team had "done more for the perception of black people, and the perception of America, than almost anything you could think of."
Personal Life
Abe Saperstein was the oldest of nine children. Several of his siblings helped with the Globetrotters. His brother Harry worked as a typist and secretary in the early years. His youngest sister, Fay, helped Abe with paperwork and ran the New York office.
After Abe's death in 1966, his brother Morry Saperstein helped run the business. Later, it was sold for $3.7 million.
On May 6, 1934, Saperstein married Sylvia Franklin. They had two children, Jerry and Eloise. Jerry managed the Globetrotters' international unit in the 1960s. He also founded the New York Sets tennis team and owned the San Francisco Shamrocks hockey team.
Eloise started a non-profit group called the Abe Saperstein Foundation. It helps young people in Chicago through sports. She was also the first woman to be certified as an NBA player representative. Eloise passed away on July 15, 2018, at age 81.
Saperstein was a very hard worker. He took only one day off a year, for Yom Kippur (a Jewish holiday). He worked until he died from a heart attack in March 1966. Chuck Menville wrote that Saperstein "had more energy than the Grand Coulee Dam."
The news of Saperstein's death shocked the Globetrotters. Star player Meadowlark Lemon was on the road at the time. Lemon said, "My mouth went dry. The 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.
Images for kids
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Saperstein's grave at Westlawn Cemetery
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See also
In Spanish: Abe Saperstein para niños
