There was a white Harlem Globetrotter? [View All]

[CatWoman]

gadzooks!! where have "I" been?

Bob Karstens, one of first white players for Harlem Globetrotters, dead at 89

Associated Press

REDLANDS, Calif. - Bob Karstens, who created the Harlem Globetrotters' pre-game "Magic Circle" and other routines as the first white player under contract with the team, has died. He was 89.

Karstens died Dec. 31 of natural causes, the team announced on its Web site.

He created routines and tricks while including a behind-the-back, backhand shot. He also developed a yo-yo basketball and another filled with off-center weights that made it bounce erratically.

Born in Davenport, Iowa, Karstens began playing basketball at age 6 and became a star player for the Iowa Central Turner Gym and St. Ambrose College in Davenport. He played with the Globetrotters from 1942 to 1943, and stayed as manager until 1954.

He once said being the only white player on the team was "never a problem ... I had the skills to fit in and do the tricks. Everybody respected that and that's all there was to it."

Playing for the all-black Globetrotters eight years before the NBA was integrated led him to situations including being ousted from the team's all-black railroad car while talking with track star Jesse Owens.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/breaking_news/10590213.htm?1c