‘Magical Memories’

Globetrotter makes dream a reality

By JOHN BENSON

vindicator correspondent

Not only is “Magical Memories” the name of the latest Harlem Globetrotters show, which comes to Youngtown for a Saturday performance at Covelli Centre, but that’s exactly what Globetrotter Herb “Moo Moo” Evans experienced when he saw the famed entertainment basketball troupe in action as a youngster roughly 15 years ago at Memphis’ Mid-South Coliseum.

“When I went to see them I was 10 or 11 years old, and those guys had me laughing the whole time,” said Evans, who performs with the Globetrotters as well as works as a public-relations spokesman for the organization. “Sweet” Lou Dunbar was the showman, and he was hilarious. He’s actually our coach now, and he just had me laughing from ear to ear. At that point, I was telling my dad that I wanted to be a Globetrotter when I grew up.

“Then I went home afterwards and was doing all of these crazy things like dunking on the wall because we didn’t have a goal inside of the house. But I had my little ball, and I was pretending I had a hoop on the wall. We had the square up there and, basically, had to hit the same spot to get your two points. I was pretty good. And I had home-court advantage every time when my cousin came over, so I knew where to stand and where to shoot the ball. It was a fantastic time for me.”

Hmm, it sounds like what was fantastic for Evans was the fact he acted like a Globetrotter while he positioned his cousin as a member of the Washington Generals, who seemingly lose every game they ever play against the all-star traveling basketball squad.

“You could say that,” Evans said. “And watching the Globetrotters and the kind of tricks they did, I would mess with my cousin and hide the ball in my shirt. Just stuff like that, having fun and playing.”

That fun eventually earned Evans a scholarship to Troy State in Alabama, where he led the Trojans to the school’s first NCAA tournament appearance in 2003 (the team fell to Xavier in the first round). When the NBA didn’t come calling, Evans, who graduated with a degree in business information systems, started to pursue his master’s degree.

“One day, a former teammate told me, ‘You’re too good to be sitting at home,’” Evans said. “So he got me a tryout with the Globetrotters when they came through town, and then two weeks later, they called me up and said they wanted me to go to Phoenix to try out again among 20 guys. I was the shortest guy there. Everybody was 6-5, 6-7, and I’m just 6-3. So they said, ‘OK, he’s going to be a guard or dribbler.’ They didn’t know I could really get up and dunk.

“So I let them dunk, and they were all missing. Then I got in the dunking line, and everybody was looking at me like, ‘What are you doing?’ And when they threw the alley-oop and I caught it, they were just like, ‘Are you serious? You can jump?’ I was like, ‘I was just waiting.’ So I think it was just I saved my best tricks for last, and that solidified my spot for the Globetrotters.”

While Evans admitted he still thinks about the NBA (he feels Cleveland Cavaliers point guard Mo Williams could easily bring his dribbling skills to the Globetrotters), the Tennessee native said he enjoys traveling the globe and providing future generations with “Magical Memories.”

“We just want the young kids today to have those same magical memories that Curly Neal and Meadowlark Lemon gave to parents and grandparents decades ago,” Evans said. “This year, we changed up the show, but we still do have the same antics with the water-bucket confetti and all of that. So it’s a family-oriented show. There aren’t that many shows where you can spend under $100, have an enjoyable time and leave with memories you can talk about for a lifetime.”