The captivating biography of Abe Saperstein, creator of the Harlem Globetrotters The original Harlem Globetrotters weren't from Harlem, and they didn't start out as globetrotters. The talented all-Black team, started by Jewish immigrant Abe Saperstein, was from Chicago's South Side and toured the Midwest in Saperstein's model-T. But with Saperstein's savvy and the players' skills, the Globetrotters would become a worldwide sensation. Globetrotter: How Abe Saperstein Shook Up the World of Sports is the fascinating biography of Saperstein, a five-foot-three promoter who made an amazing impact in a sport where height is at a premium: basketball. After Saperstein founded the team in the 1920s, they battled everything from blizzards to bigotry, steadily building a reputation for talent and comedy until their footprint covered the entire world. Abe Saperstein's impact went well beyond the Harlem Globetrotters. He helped keep baseball's Negro Leagues alive, was a force in getting pitching great Satchel Paige his shot at the majors, and befriended Olympic star Jesse Owens when he fell on hard times. When Saperstein started the American Basketball League, he pioneered the three-point shot, which has dramatically changed the sport. Globetrotter reveals the tireless work and impressive achievements of a man and a basketball team that made millions of people laugh, gasp, and applaud at their astounding performances.
Mark Jacob is the co-author of the eight books about sports, history, and photography. He is former metro editor of the Chicago Tribune and created the newspaper's popular "10 Things You Might Not Know" history feature. Jacob's articles have been published in Library Quarterly, Chicago Reader, Chicago magazine and Chicago History magazine. He is a former adjunct professor at Northwestern University. Matthew Jacob is the co-author of What the Great Ate: A Curious History of Food and Fame with his brother Mark. He started his career as a journalist, working as a sportswriter and city council reporter, receiving awards from the Arkansas Press Association. Jacob is a member of the Society for American Baseball Research and has written for such outlets as the Boston Globe, Detroit Free Press, Los Angeles Times, and USA Today.
A beautifully written, nuanced portrait of one of America's most interesting, influential, and overlooked sports figures. Globetrotter dazzles with its fine writing and scores over and over again with its impressive research. It's a winner. --Jonathan Eig, New York Times best-selling author
