{"id":2233585,"date":"2026-01-13T22:06:25","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T22:06:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2233585"},"modified":"2026-01-13T22:06:25","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T22:06:25","slug":"harlem-globetrotters-celebrate-100-years-of-entertainment-with-gainesville-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/harlem-globetrotters-celebrate-100-years-of-entertainment-with-gainesville-show\/","title":{"rendered":"Harlem Globetrotters celebrate 100 years of entertainment with Gainesville show"},"content":{"rendered":"

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On Monday night at the Stephen O\u2019Connell Center, the Harlem Globetrotters stopped in Gainesville to perform as part of their \u201cThe 100 Year Tour.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gainesville Mayor Harvey Ward was in attendance to present the Harlem Globetrotters with a proclamation, recognizing Monday, Jan.12, 2026, as \u201cHarlem Globetrotters Day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since 1926, the Harlem Globetrotters<\/a> have been providing family entertainment for generations. Originally established as an exhibition team in the South Side of Chicago by Abe Saperstein, the Globetrotters would grow to be the world\u2019s most famous team, bridging gaps in the world of racial segregation, sports, and the belief that a team could.<\/p>\n

Today, the Globetrotters are an organization that uses the principles established 100 years ago to push forward the sport of basketball.<\/p>\n

\n
Photo by Tim Rodriquez<\/span> The Harlem Globetrotters entertained fans at the Stephen O\u2019Connell Center on Monday night.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The last time an opposing team beat the Globetrotters was in 1971. With over 28,000 total wins, the record the Globetrotters hold makes them the most \u201cwinningest team in history.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Become A Member<\/h2>\n

Mainstreet does not have a paywall, but pavement-pounding journalism is not free. Join your neighbors who make this vital work possible.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

You can\u2019t mention the Harlem Globetrotters without mentioning their longtime rivals, the Washington Generals, who have been battling against the Globetrotters since 1952. The Harlem Globetrotters beat the then all-white NBA Champions, the Minneapolis Lakers, in 1948 on a last-second buzzer beater. To prove it was no fluke, they did it again in 1949, cementing their position as a real basketball squad.<\/p>\n

The following year, the NBA drafted the first Black athlete into the league, Nat \u201cSweetwater\u201d Clifton, a Harlem Globetrotter. The 1960s and 1970s truly saw the Globetrotters hit mainstream fame, with stars like Meadowlark Lemon and Fred \u201cCurly\u201d Neal, making appearances on \u201cThe Ed Sullivan Show,\u201d \u201cGilligan\u2019s Island\u201d and \u201cScooby-Doo.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1985, the team added its first female, and since then, fewer than 30 women have shared the same title as Globetrotter. The Globetrotters drafted the first woman before the WNBA even existed. Lynette Woodard pioneered women\u2019s involvement in the sport of basketball after leading the United States women\u2019s basketball team to a gold medal in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. The Olympian would later be drafted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, along with the entire organization. <\/p>\n

In 1951, the U.S. State Department named the Harlem Globetrotters \u201cAmbassadors of Goodwill.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The
Photo by Tim Rodriquez<\/span> The Harlem Globetrotters are celebrating their 1926 creation with a 100 Year Tour that stopped in Gainesville on Monday night.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The
Photo by Tim Rodriquez<\/span> The Harlem Globetrotters perform basketball tricks at the Stephen O\u2019Connell Center on Monday night.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The
Photo by Tim Rodriquez<\/span> The Harlem Globetrotters preparing to perform at the Stephen O\u2019Connell Center on Monday night.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.mainstreetdailynews.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Monday night at the Stephen O\u2019Connell Center, the Harlem Globetrotters stopped in Gainesville to perform as part of their \u201cThe 100 Year Tour.\u201d Gainesville Mayor Harvey Ward was in attendance to present the Harlem Globetrotters with a proclamation, recognizing Monday, Jan.12, 2026, as \u201cHarlem Globetrotters Day.\u201d Since 1926, the Harlem Globetrotters have been providing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2233586,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2233585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Harlem-Globetrotters-celebrate-100-years-of-entertainment-with-Gainesville-show.-12-2026-as-Harlem-Globetrotters-Day-when.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2233585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2233585"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2233585\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2233587,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2233585\/revisions\/2233587"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2233586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2233585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2233585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2233585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}