Generals
Klotz had played for the Philadelphia Sphas of the ABL. In an exhibition game, the Sphas defeated the Harlem Globetrotters, Klotz's first game against them.
Klotz later bought the Sphas, and changed the name to the Washington Generals. In 1953 Abe Saperstein, owner of the Globetrotters, approached Klotz about having his team tour with the Globetrotters and play them on a regular basis. From 1953 until 1995, the Generals played exhibitions against the Globetrotters, winning only six games, the last in 1971, and losing more than 13,000. Klotz played with the team as a point guard until the age of 62, and at 50 years old hit the game winning shot for the New Jersey Reds with 3 seconds left in their final win. "The crowd wanted to kill me", he said.
In 1995 Klotz "disbanded" the Generals and formed the New York Nationals to take their place, to erase their record and "change their luck". The team remained the Nationals until 2007, when they reverted to the "Generals" name. The Generals remain a separate organization from the Globetrotters. Klotz claims the team still tries to win every game.
Read more about this topic: Red Klotz
Famous quotes containing the word generals:
“Most benefactors are like unskillful generals who take the city and leave the citadel intact.”
—Sébastien-Roch Nicolas De Chamfort (1741–1794)
“It’s always the generals with the bloodiest records who are the first to shout what a hell it is. And it’s always the war widows who lead the Memorial Day parades.”
—Paddy Chayefsky (1923–1981)
“These semi-traitors [Union generals who were not hostile to slavery] must be watched.—Let us be careful who become army leaders in the reorganized army at the end of this Rebellion. The man who thinks that the perpetuity of slavery is essential to the existence of the Union, is unfit to be trusted. The deadliest enemy the Union has is slavery—in fact, its only enemy.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)