Hoop Dream Recalled Isolated Alaska Town Took On Globetrotters

When the Harlem Globetrotters played in the Tri-Cities on Tuesday night, it was a trip down memory lane for Larry Brandt.

It was a soggy afternoon in 1950 when Brandt first encountered the famous team in Petersburg, Alaska.

The tiny island town had been pounded with rain, and the Globetrotters were trapped there by weather while traveling from Ketchikan to Juneau, Brandt recalled.

“I was at Ernie Haugen’s cafe with a couple of friends that day when this group of people walked in,” said the 82-year-old Walla Walla man. “These guys were huge, and they stuck out like a sore thumb.”

Brandt and his chums decided the town’s basketball team should play the Globetrotters.

“I went and introduced myself to the owner, Abe Saperstein, who was sitting in a booth with that little fellow Goose Tatum,” Brandt said.

Saperstein, who died in 1966, had organized the Globetrotters in 1926.

When Brandt challenged Saperstein’s team, the owner at first declined. But Tatum interrupted and told Saperstein there wasn’t much else to do that night.

“Abe looked at me then and said he didn’t run a charitable organization, and that it would cost him $500 just to have his guys suit up,” Brandt said. “That’s when I told him I’d give him $500 if his team would play our town team that night.”

The game was on.

“I remember as I shook Goose’s hand, he laughed and asked if I realized just how badly we were going to get beat,” Brandt said. “I didn’t care because I knew we would all have a good time anyway.”

News of the game spread by word of mouth throughout the town of 2,000. The high school gym was packed by showtime.

“We had a great time that night with all their antics throughout the game,” Brandt recalled.

The final score was Globetrotters 88, Petersburg 44.

“They were a remarkable bunch of fellows, and Abe even went out with a few of us after the game,” Brandt said.