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Did you know the legendary -- and perenially amazing -- Harlem Globetrotters basketball team started way back in 1924? They were called the Savoy Big Five then, after Chicago's Savoy Ballroom, morphing to The Harlem Globetrotters three years later. Now celebrating their 85th consecutive season, the thoroughly modern Globetrotters bring their dazzling 2011 show, 4 Times the Fun World Tour to Bridgeport's Harbor Yard on Feb. 12.
Here's another surprise about the team. One of the all-time greats of basketball, the late Wilt "The Stilt" Chamberlain, was a Harlem Globetrotter before he joined the NBA. True! The seven foot, one inch, University of Kansas basketball genius was signed by the Globetrotters in 1958, kicking off his professional basketball career. The following year, the team took their show on the road, to Moscow, as in Russia, meeting Nikita Khrushchev and showing that country some exciting all-American full court highjinks. Shortly after, the NBA came calling and signed Chamberlain. For 14 years, he dominated, accumulating 31,419 points and 23,924 rebounds during his career,
More than a basketball team, the Globetrotters are stellar atheletes and super showmen who love to get an audience's collective jaw to drop. Catch them at Harbor Yard when when they pull out all the stops and then some. Their shows take place at 2 and 7 p.m. Tickets are $21.25-$130.25. For more information, visit the Arena's website.
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