Harlem Globetrotters celebrate 90 years of bringing smiles

Julian “Zeus” McClurkin is not the first person to have ever been cut from a basketball team, but his might be among the more unusual reasons for getting the ax. McClurkin, all 6-feet-8-inches of him, was cut every year from seventh to 10th grade, and it had little to do with his athletic ability. He did well in just about every other sport, including football, baseball, swimming and soccer.

“I was cut because I didn’t have this mean streak or killer instinct,” he says. “I was the type of player, if I fouled you, I would apologize. At the free-throw line, I’d talk to guys and ask them if they were having a good day.

“My friend said, ‘Man, all you want to do is smile and dunk.’ I wish I could find him today and tell him I’m getting paid to smile and dunk,” says McClurkin, who’s now in his second season with the Harlem Globetrotters.

The world-famous exhibition basketball team, whose players are known as much for their theatrical and comedy skills as their athleticism, will play an afternoon game Sunday, Jan. 17, at McKenzie Arena.

Since joining the team, McClurkin has immersed himself in the history of the now 90-year-old organization. Before joining the team, however, he didn’t ever realize they were a real entity.

“I had never heard of them until I joined the Washington Generals,” he says. “I remember seeing them on ‘Scooby-Doo,’ but I didn’t know it was a real team. I just thought it was guys who looked like me with superhuman abilities.”

Now, McClurkin can reel off the quick history of the team with ease, recounting how Abe Saperstein founded the team in Chicago in 1926.

“People think we are from New York, but it started in Chicago,” McClurkin says. “They made a name for themselves beating teams all over Chicago. He used the popularity of the Harlem renaissance in the name and called them the Globetrotters so people would think they were an international team.”

McClurkin says no matter where in the world they play, people turn out. These days, all want to talk about the recently deceased Meadowlark Lemon, perhaps the team’s most famous veteran. Lemon died last month.

“I was able to go to Meadowlark’s funeral in Arizona,” McClurkin says. “It was amazing to be a part of that. All the past players and even Charles Barkley was there.”

As if McClurkin’s good-guy image needed any more polishing, he says it was milk that finally got him onto his high school team.

“I drank a lot of milk my 10th-grade year and grew 5 inches,” he says.

He played well enough to get noticed by coaches at North Carolina A&T State University, where he ended up playing. A friend told him about the Generals, the Globetrotters’ regular foil, and he tried out. Eventually, he played well enough to earn a tryout with the big team.

“My friend said the Generals would be perfect for me because I don’t like defense, and neither do they, and just want to shoot or dunk. I said, ‘I’m down with that.'”

Dunking is his specialty. In fact, he is now the Guinness World Records holder for most dunks in one minute with 15. To set the record, he had to dunk one ball at a time and had to cross the free-throw line after every attempt.

What he really likes doing, however, is making people smile.

“It’s great to be able to do that,” he says.

Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.