The Harlem Globetrotters have a long and celebrated history. Eighty-five years ago in Chicago, a 24-year-old businessman named Abe Saperstein formed a small basketball team called the Savoy Big Five. He was just trying to promote the now-legendary Savoy Ballroom, but in just a few years the team had played more than 1,000 games around the country and became the Harlem Globetrotters.

The Harlem Globetrotters will kick off the North American leg of their 2012 World Tour in Ohio later this month. The world-famous team, who are just as much entertainers as athletes, will play Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena on Dec. 27, Columbus’ Nationwide Arena on Dec. 29 and Cincinnati’s U.S. Bank Arena on Dec. 30.

The Harlem Globetrotters have a long and celebrated history. Eighty-five years ago in Chicago, a 24-year-old businessman named Abe Saperstein formed a small basketball team called the Savoy Big Five. He was just trying to promote the now-legendary Savoy Ballroom, but in just a few years the team had played more than 1,000 games around the country and became the Harlem Globetrotters.

In 1941, just before the start of World War II, the Globetrotters signed Reece “Goose” Tatum, an all-time great who developed comedy moves and changed the direction of the team. By the end of the war the Globetrotters had played an astounding 30,000 games (losing only 2,190) and were featured on the cover of Life magazine. Those were remarkable achievements at a time when America was still deeply segregated by race.

The team toured the world, breaking cultural and social barriers along with basketball records. They were the first team to play in Europe. In 1950, a Globetrotter named Nathaniel “Sweetweater” Clifton became the first African-American player to be drafted by the NBA. In 1959, when the United States and the Soviet Union were enemies at the height of the Cold War, the Globetrotters went on a tour of Russia.

Over the next 50 years, tens of thousands of people around the world turned out for each of the Globetrotters games, including presidents, kings and popes. Their lineup has included some of the greatest players ever, including Wilt Chamberlain and Magic Johnson, and they’ve been inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Community outreach has been one of the pillars of the Globetrotters’ longevity. Before coming to Ohio, the team will entertain U.S. troops based overseas, having been named for the tenth time in eight years as Ambassadors of Goodwill as they embark on a holiday tour of military bases on several continents.

Past Globetrotter military tours have visited more than 30 U.S. military bases in Spain, Turkey, Guam, Cuba, Portugal, Japan, South Korea, Bahrain, Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Greece, the United Kingdom, Kuwait and Qatar as well as tours of Iraq in 2006 and 2009.

After nearly a century, the Globetrotters continue to expand their reach. They have appeared in movies and TV shows, once had their own Saturday morning cartoon and have been seen by hundreds of millions of people in 120 countries. The teams continue to evolve. They now have women on the team as well as teammates of other races.

For tickets and more information about the Globetrotters’ upcoming appearances in Ohio, visit Harlemglobetrotters.com.

CUTLINE:

The Harlem Globetrotters will bring their world tour to Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati in December.