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Globetrotter fans enjoy performance
YOUNGSTOWN
For the Knupp family of Hubbard, coming to see the Harlem Globetrotters display their whacky style of basketball and court comedy Saturday was not only a family affair, but continued a family tradition that began when Bruce, 62, was a boy.
Bruce and his wife, Linda, were joined at the Globetrotters’ 2 p.m. performance at the Covelli Centre by their daughter, Kristen Knupp and their 8-year-old grandson, also named Bruce, who plays in the Mahoning Valley Youth Basketball Association.
Bruce senior said he remembers seeing the Globetrotters at the Struthers Field House and at Youngstown State University’s gymnasium.
“I don’t know the new Globetrotters, but the old ones were fantastic,” said Bruce senior, speaking before the afternoon game between the Globetrotters and the World All-Stars. The team they used to “compete” against was the Washington Generals.
Globetrotter Zeus McClurkin, who grew up in Columbus, played at a couple of Division II programs, then at North Carolina A&T State University and then overseas until a friend told him about the Washington Generals, the team that formerly traveled with the Globetrotters, before joining the ‘Trotters.
Among the audience at the Globetrotters’ afternoon performance were some 130 students involved in the Youngstown YMCA’s after-school program.
“I’m excited for my kids. The Globetrotters are pretty amazing,” said Joshua Carpenter of Warren, YMCA after-school program coordinator, who was seeing the Globetrotters in-person for the first time.
Another group of young people at the afternoon performance were participants in United Way of Youngstown and Mahoning Valley’s Success after 6 program at Youngstown Community School and Youngstown City Schools Taft Elementary School.
The students enjoyed a meet-and-greet session with the Globetrotters before the performance. They got to shake hands with the players and take a lot of pictures with them, said Brenda Scott, program director.
“The Globetrotters performance changes, but it doesn’t get old,” said Robert Hannon, United Way of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley president, who said he has probably seen the Globetrotters 20 times over the years.
He noted that the Success after 6 children had to earn their invitation to see the famous team.
“Not everybody in Success after 6 was invited. It depended on attendance, grades and behaviors,” Hannon said.
The kids in the audience did a lot of jumping around, cheering and interacting with the players.
Allison Mansfield, 7, of Warren – who “loves sports,” according to her mom, Greta Mansfield – took a special memory away from Saturday’s performance during the “Time Out for Kids” segment.
Wearing an “Ant” jersey, No. 12, worn by one of the female members of the Globetrotters team, Allison and two others were brought to center court and, with the help of a Globetrotter, spun basketballs on their index fingers, afterwards high-fiving her Globetrotter partner.
“Allison was very excited and was hoping to get her basketball autographed,” her mother said.
William Young of Southington and his granddaughter, Jenna Reppart, 13, were both seeing the Globetrotters in-person for the first time.
Jenna, who plays basketball on the LaBrae Middle School team, said she was “amazed by the big guy,” who was clearly over 7 feet tall, and who came out to play with the World All Star team for the second half.
“It’s really good,” said Erin Murray of Niles, who comes to their performance at the Covelli Centre every year.
This year, Murray was with her sister, Morgan, 9, who performed with the Free Style Karate Demonstration Team at half-time. The Spirit Baton of Hermitage, Pa., performed before the game.
It’s true, long-time Globetrotter fans did not see Marques Haynes, Meadowlark Lemon, Goose Tatum or Fred “Curly” Neal, famous Globetrotters of the past. But the team still has the “bucket gag” in which front-row people don’t know whether they are going to get hit with confetti or water, and the famous weave that leaves the defense dizzy and inevitably leads to an uncontested lay-up or dunk. And they also have instituted a 4-point line – which is 30 feet from the basket – to challenge their great shooters.
While the routines are much the same and the gags are well-known, the audience still enjoys them, as evidenced by their laughter and applause.