Вашингтон Дженералс: История вечного поражения

Exhibition basketball team known for losing

The Generals were created in 1952 by Louis "Red" Klotz, a former player for the Philadelphia Sphas, a former ABL team that became one of the Globetrotters' exhibition rivals. Globetrotters owner Abe Saperstein had invited Klotz to create a squad to accompany his team on their tours, in part because the Sphas had beaten the Globetrotters on more than one occasion while serving as one of the Globetrotters' exhibition teams. With a nod to Dwight D. Eisenhower, the team was named the Washington Generals. The Generals remained a continuous presence in the Globetrotters act from then on, but to give the illusion of variety they played under a variety of different names with changes of uniform. During the 1971–72 season, the Generals' name was alternated with the "Boston Shamrocks", "New Jersey Reds", "Baltimore Rockets", and "Atlantic City Seagulls". The team rotated between these identities for a few seasons before going back to the Generals identity full time. In 1995 Klotz "disbanded" the Generals and formed the "New York Nationals" which again was only a nominal change. John Ferrari, the son in law of Klotz, took over as general manager of the team in 1987. The monikers of "International Elite" and the "Global Select" were adopted prior to the 2011–12 World Tour. For the 2013–14 Harlem Globetrotters World Tour, the team took on the moniker of the "World All Stars". The Generals would occasionally play teams other than the Globetrotters. Among these games, which were competitive, they managed to record victories against the Taiwanese national team and a low level Red Army team. Overall, the Generals had lost to the Globetrotters more than 16,000 times in their combined history while winning a mere 3–6 games. As a reintroduction for the team, they were entered in ESPN's The Basketball Tournament 2017. Despite having a rare opportunity to play serious, competitive basketball, their long losing run continued with a first round loss.

Figures vary as to exactly how often the Generals have beaten their rivals. Some reports say six, while the team's official website reports having three victories over the Globetrotters, one each in 1954, 1958 and 1971. The 1971 win is the most storied of these, and is sometimes reported as the team's sole victory. Harlem's captain, Curly Neal, did not play in this game. While the Globetrotters were entertaining the crowd that day, they lost track of the game and the score. They found themselves down 12 points with two minutes left to go. Forced to play normal basketball, the Globetrotters rallied but could not recover. The Reds secured their victory when the 50 year old Klotz hit the winning basket with seconds left. Then, Meadowlark Lemon missed a shot that would have given the game back to the Globetrotters. The timekeeper tried to stop the clock but could not. When the final buzzer sounded, the crowd was dumbfounded and disappointed. Klotz described the fans' reaction: "They looked at us like we killed Santa Claus." Some children in the stands cried after the loss. and Jonte "Too Tall" Hall made the transition in 2011. Paul Sturgess made the opposite transition. The former Globetrotter, after a few seasons playing for other teams, transferred back into the setup as part of the arranged opposition. The 7 feet (2 m) Sturgess adopted the persona of "Cager", a masked adversary who adopts a villainous role.