The Trailblazing Legacy of Abe Saperstein: Shaping the Future of Sports

When basketball superstar Stephen Curry sunk a series of three-point shots to help Team USA clinch the Olympic gold medal in Paris this summer, it's unlikely the four-time NBA champion was thinking about Abe Saperstein. However, as a new biography of the trailblazing Jewish basketball executive suggests, Curry had plenty of reasons to be grateful to Saperstein, who is best known as the founder and longtime head coach of the Harlem Globetrotters.

Uncovering the Untold Story of a Sports Visionary

Pioneering the Three-Point Shot and Beyond

Saperstein, who at 5-foot-3 is the shortest man in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, is credited with introducing the three-pointer to the game. But his imprint on basketball, and sports more broadly, extends far beyond Curry's signature long-distance shot. In a new book, "Globetrotter: How Abe Saperstein Shook Up the World of Sports," brothers Mark and Matthew Jacob explore Saperstein's far-reaching legacy, which they say is still under-appreciated 58 years after his death. In addition to the three-pointer, they contend, Saperstein played a crucial role in elevating basketball from a second-tier American sport to a professionalized global powerhouse.

Revolutionizing the Business of Sports

Saperstein's impact on the sports industry went beyond the court. He pushed the NBA to expand to the West Coast years before the Minneapolis Lakers moved to Los Angeles in 1960. As early as the 1950s and '60s, Saperstein warned about the slow pace of play in baseball, a live issue in MLB debates in recent years, and urged team owners to charge more for games against better teams. "I think if Abe Saperstein, figuratively speaking, could be looking down from heaven, he would be smiling to see that the NBA doesn't just have an All-Star Game, they have an All-Star Weekend with the slam dunk contest," said Matthew Jacob. "He was just a great advocate for fans, and he wanted sports and sports teams to constantly reassess how they were operating, to put fans first."

Overcoming Adversity and Discrimination

Saperstein's identity as an outsider — a Jewish immigrant from London — helped him take on the role of a go-between for his Black players and the still mostly white world of professional sports. The book "Globetrotter" details how Saperstein and his family faced antisemitism time and again, in London, in Chicago, and as Saperstein traveled the world promoting his Globetrotters, Negro League baseball teams, and other Black athletes. Saperstein's Jewish identity was especially front and center during the Globetrotters' first European tour in 1950, when he expressed his disdain for a venue in Paris where 30,000 Jews had been held before being deported to Nazi camps. The book also recounts a powerful anecdote about Saperstein's daughter Eloise encountering deep-seated antisemitism in post-war Germany, and how Saperstein responded by ordering a Star of David necklace for her, a gesture that exemplified his unwavering pride in his Jewish identity.

Elevating Black Athletes and Challenging Racial Barriers

The Globetrotters' famous style of play — an entertaining combination of impressive athleticism, comedy, and theatrics — has earned the team, and its founder, both celebration and consternation. While the Globetrotters are credited with elevating players such as Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton, who was one of the first Black players in the NBA, and future Hall of Famer Wilt Chamberlain, the team also took heat for what some considered to be playing into racist stereotypes. However, the authors argue that the Globetrotters, and Saperstein, were far more nuanced than the team's sometimes circus-like style would suggest. In 1948, the Globetrotters won an exhibition game against the vaunted Minneapolis Lakers, a victory that "showed that Black athletes could compete with anyone, at a time when a lot of white people didn't think that was true." This game, the authors contend, was a "real impetus for the integration [of the NBA] and making it, in fact, inevitable that Black players would be allowed in the NBA because they could prove they could play."