Harlem Globetrotters "chute" their way back to the Hall of Fame

(PHOENIX, Aug. 6, 2009) – The world-renowned Harlem Globetrotters, who have already left their indelible mark on 120 countries and six continents during their 83-year history, added to their legacy today, when team mascot Globie skydived on to the grounds of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., with the first professional basketball ever sent into space.

Globie parachuted down from an airplane 3,000 feet above the shrine of basketball to present the Hall with the authentic Spalding Harlem Globetrotters basketball that accompanied NASA’s Space Shuttle Atlantis crew in May on its final mission to the Hubble Space Telescope.
   
NASA has taken pieces of historical and pop culture significance on an array of voyages in their 50-plus-year history, including a piece of the Wright Flyer in 1969 and the golf balls astronaut Alan Shepard famously hit while on the moon in 1971, but never a basketball from a professional team.

The team’s signature red, white and blue ball was presented to the Hall in a special ceremony with Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno, and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Vice Presidents Paul Lambert and Scott Zuffelato.  The ball will be placed in the Globetrotters' permanent exhibit at the Hall of Fame, where the Globetrotters are one of only six teams ever to be inducted.

“It is only fitting that the team that has seen more of the world than any other in history would have a presence beyond the stratosphere,” stated Globetrotters CEO Kurt Schneider. “This Globetrotters basketball will serve as an intergalactic symbol of accomplishment.”

Sponsored by Campbell Soup Company, IHOP, Spalding, and America’s Best Contacts and Eyeglasses, the Original Harlem Globetrotters have entertained over 130 million fans, crossing barriers between cultures, societies and people from all walks of life. 

Click here to view a photo gallery from this historic event, and check out the video on the home page or at the Globetrotters' YouTube page.