Harlem Globetrotters Celebrate 100 Years of Basketball, Laughter, and Global Magic

Six men split $8 after their first road game. That is the unglamorous financial origin of what would become one of the most recognized sports franchises on the planet. On January 7, 1927, the team that would one day be known as the Harlem Globetrotters played in Hinckley, Illinois, and walked away with exactly $1.33 each. One hundred years later, they are playing Madison Square Garden sellouts, holding 60-plus Guinness World Records, and touring more than 125 countries to celebrate a milestone no other entertainment-sports brand has reached.

From the South Side of Chicago to the World

The Harlem Globetrotters are neither from Harlem nor were they globetrotters when they started. The team was born in 1926 on Chicago's South Side, at the Giles American Legion Post #87, where all the original players were raised and attended Wendell Phillips High School in the Bronzeville neighborhood. They first performed as the Savoy Big Five, playing basketball exhibitions before dances at the Savoy Ballroom beginning in January 1928, specifically to help reverse the ballroom's declining attendance.

The architect behind the brand was Abraham Michael Saperstein, an English-born Jewish Chicagoan born in 1902, who had coached semipro basketball in the Chicago area before acquiring and renaming the team. In those Depression-era barnstorming years, Saperstein was simultaneously the team's coach, driver, booking agent, PR director, and occasional substitute player, hauling players across the Midwest in a single car to wherever a game could be booked. The name "Harlem" was a calculated marketing decision: since Harlem was the recognized epicenter of African-American culture at the time, the label immediately communicated to Midwestern towns that the team was all-Black. "Globetrotters" was designed to amplify prestige and reflect their restless, touring identity. The team would not actually set foot on a court in Harlem until 1968, more than four decades after adopting the name.

A Century of Records, Rivals, and Icons

The numbers alone are staggering. Over 100 years, the Globetrotters have played more than 26,000 exhibition games across 124 countries and territories, performing for more than 450 live events worldwide every year. The team is enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and holds more than 60 Guinness World Records, including 18 set in 2024 alone, the most records set in a single year by any team in any sport.

Their longtime foil, the Washington Generals, has been the setup act for Globetrotters' magic since 1953, with the rivalry continuing today. The on-court theatrics have always been the main attraction, but the roster has also produced genuine basketball legends. Wilt Chamberlain suited up for the Globetrotters during the 1958/59 season, a year that included a sold-out tour of the Soviet Union. Meadowlark Lemon became an international celebrity through the team's prolific 1970s television appearances and animated specials, cementing the franchise's identity as equal parts athletics and entertainment.

No piece of the Globetrotters' identity is more instantly recognizable than their theme music. Brother Bones' whistled rendition of "Sweet Georgia Brown" was adopted as the team's warm-up music in 1952 and has been synonymous with the team's pregame spectacle ever since. Their mascot, an anthropomorphized globe named Globie, joined the roster in 1993. The team's executive offices are now based in Peachtree Corners, Georgia, an Atlanta suburb. Herschend Family Entertainment is the current owner, and President Keith Dawkins leads the organization.

The 100 Year Tour

To mark the centennial, the Globetrotters launched "The 100 Year Tour presented by Sprite," described as a once-in-a-century celebration. The North American leg kicked off on December 14, 2025, at Madison Square Garden in New York City, with the tour extending across 125-plus countries throughout 2026.

The visual identity of the tour received a significant upgrade. Celebrated sports designer Jeff Hamilton created three distinct red, white, and blue uniform designs, branded as the 100 Year jerseys, which rotate on a daily alternating schedule. Spalding produced a special Golden Basketball exclusively for centennial events, and fans can purchase a pre-game Magic Pass that includes player meet-and-greets as part of the new fan engagement offerings.

Recent tour stops have delivered memorable moments. At the February 15 game at Brooklyn's Barclays Center, the Globetrotters beat the Washington Generals 105-103 on a game-winning putback dunk. An April 2 stop brought the celebration to the Rio Rancho Events Center in New Mexico. The centennial has also drawn media attention beyond the court: CBS News national correspondent Jericka Duncan, anchor of the CBS Weekend News, caught up with the team, and Fox Nation produced a special hosted by Lawrence Jones.

The Players Carrying the Torch

The centennial roster brings together a new generation of performers continuing the tradition. Cherelle "Torch" George represents the next wave of Globetrotters showmanship. Joey "Hot Rod" De La Rosa, from the Bronx, and Jason "Buckets" Barrera, from Westchester County, bring a New York-area flair to the tour. "Spice" Sidney rounds out the featured centennial lineup. These players are the living continuation of a lineage that stretches from a $8 payday in Hinckley, Illinois, through the courts of the Soviet Union, through Saturday morning cartoons, and into arenas on six continents.

One hundred years of basketball, laughter, and global reach did not emerge from a polished corporate plan. It grew from a ballroom in Chicago, a visionary founder who also drove the team bus, and players skilled enough to turn a sport into a universal language. The second century has already begun.