Washington Generals

Washington Generals
Founded	1917
History	Philadelphia Sphas (1917–52) Washington Generals (1952–present) Boston Shamrocks (1971-72) New Jersey Reds (1971-72) Baltimore Rockets (1971-72) Atlantic City Seagulls (1971-72) New York Nationals (1995-2006)
City	Washington, DC
Team colors	Green and Yellow
Owner(s)	Red Klotz
Head coach	Red Klotz
Championships	ABL: 7 (1933-34, 1935-36, 1936-37, 1939-40, 1940-41, 1942-43, 1944-45)
Division titles	None
Official website	washingtongenerals.com

The Washington Generals are an American exhibition basketball team, best known for their spectacular losing streak in exhibition games against the Harlem Globetrotters.

History

The Generals were created in 1952 by Louis "Red" Klotz as a redesignation of the Philadelphia Sphas basketball team. Globetrotters’ owner Abe Saperstein had invited Klotz to create a squad to accompany his team on their tours. With a nod to Dwight D. Eisenhower, the team was named the Washington Generals.

The Generals provided deliberately ineffective opposition as a foil for the Globetrotters' comedy routines. The Globetrotters' acts often featured incredible coordination and skillful handling of one or more basketballs, such as passing or juggling balls between players, balancing or spinning balls on their fingertips, and making unusual, difficult shots. The Generals on the other hand would try to play a game of "serious" basketball in return.

During the 1971-72 season, the Generals' name was alternated with the Boston Shamrocks, New Jersey Reds, Baltimore Rockets, and Atlantic City Seagulls. It was actually the same team of players but they would change uniforms between games to give the appearance of more teams. The team would rotate between these identities for a few seasons before going back to the Generals identity full-time.

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 eventually "disbanded" the Generals in 1995, forming a new team, the New York Nationals, which also has achieved an impressive losing streak. In reality, of course, it was the same team; Klotz merely retired the Washington Generals identity. The Nationals remain a separate organization from the Globetrotters. Harlem claims its exhibition games are "real" and "competitive" contests.

After a 12-year hiatus, the Generals returned on October 9, 2007, playing against the Globetrotters at the 369th Harlem Armory. The Globetrotters won 54-50.

Just prior to the 2011-12 World Tour the Washington Generals underwent yet another name change. They began facing the Harlem Globetrotters as both the "International Elite" and the "Global Select", alternating between the two from game to game.

Current roster

Washington Generals roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight DOB (YYYY-MM-DD) From USA ! Birch, David 77 !6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) – KS Ottawa University USA ! Breslin, Kevin  – – Washington College USA ! Brown, Dominique  – – Voorhees College USA ! Faust, Shawn 76 !6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) – University of West Florida USA ! Giles Jr., Brice  – – SUNY Suffock CC USA ! Gunderson, Ryan  – – University of St. Francis USA ! Howell, Dwayne 76 !6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) – Snead College USA ! Jackson, James 80 !6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) – Bellarmine University USA ! Lowder, Gabriel  – – Guilford College USA ! Omolade, Moses  – – San José State 1.5 !G USA ! Owens, Qadr 73 !6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) – University of St. Francis USA ! Samuels, Dwane 71 !5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) – Virginia State University USA ! Simpson, Zachary  – – Elmira College USA ! Smith, Anthony 74 !6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) – Robert Morris University USA ! Tornincasa, Trent  – – Hawaii Pacific University USA ! Vilsaint, James 75 !6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) – University of West Florida USA ! Woodlin, Andre  – – Kutztown University	Head coach Louis Klotz (Villanova) Assistant coach(es) Ben Augustine (Misericordia College) Ammer Johnson (Idaho State) Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured Roster • Transactions Last transaction: 2012-10-08

Beating the Harlem Globetrotters

The Reds defeated the Globetrotters 100-99 on January 5, 1971 in Martin, Tennessee. It ended a 2,495-game winning streak. Klotz credits the overtime win to a guard named Eddie Mahar, who was team captain. 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 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 and couldn't. 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. The Reds celebrated by dousing themselves with orange pop instead of champagne. Lemon was furious, saying "You lost, I didn't lose," but still visited the opposing team’s locker room to congratulate the Reds.

Retired numbers

• 3 Red Klotz

Cultural references

• In The Simpsons episode "Homie the Clown," Krusty bets all the money he earned franchising his name—ultimately 48 dollars—against the Globetrotters, telling his financial adviser, "I thought the Generals were due!" In another episode, entitled "Lisa the Tree Hugger," Homer refers to the Luftwaffe as "the Washington Generals of the History Channel."
• In the Futurama episode "Time Keeps On Slippin'," in a basketball game against the Harlem Globetrotters, Professor Farnsworth's Team of Atomic Supermen are dressed in Washington Generals colors. They do well at first and then lose inexplicably during a "time slip" during which one of the Atomic Supermen dies and Phillip J. Fry is substituted for him.
• On the September 28, 1991, Michael Jordan/Public Enemy episode of Saturday Night Live, there was a sketch entitled "The First Black Harlem Globetrotter." The Globetrotters were depicted as a white team, and in a dispute over Jordan's character joining the team, Mike Myers's character proclaims, "Let's quit, we can start our own team, we can call it...the Washington Generals."
• Various unflattering comparisons have been drawn between the poor play of the Washington Nationals baseball team and the Generals, most notably by Chris "Mad Dog" Russo. ESPN commenters did the same with DC's NBA franchise, the Washington Wizards.
• In the season five finale of How I Met Your Mother, Ted remarks to Robin, "Never ending battle? Career's been trouncing romance for years now. It's like the Globetrotters versus the Generals, career's sinking hookshots from half court, romance is just a bunch of slow white guys who couldn't make it in the Italian League."
• In the Supernatural episode "Lucifer Rising," Dean says to Zachariah, with reference to all but one seal being broken, "That's an impressive score. That's... that's right up there with the Washington Generals."

See also

• Harlem Globetrotters
• Philadelphia Sphas

External links

• Washington Generals - Official Website.
• Crothers, Tim. "The General Whose Army Never Wins," Sports Illustrated, February 20, 1995.
• Branch, John. "When the Generals Lose to the Globetrotters, Everyone Wins," The New York Times, Friday, February 13, 2009.