LOUIS “RED” KLOTZ

 Louis “Red” Klotz, the man who has coached in over 13,000 games against the Harlem Globetrotters, is the first non-Globetrotter in the team’s storied history to receive the “Legends” award.

For more than half a century, Klotz has put together a team to face the Globetrotters, including the widely known and popular Washington Generals, who have returned to face the Globetrotters for the first time since 1995. The partnership began in 1953, when Globetrotters’ Owner Abe Saperstein offered Klotz the opportunity to form a team to play the Globetrotters.

Before coaching, Klotz perfected his set shot and dribbling as a standout player at South Philadelphia High School, where he led the team to city championships in 1939 and 1940, both times earning Philadelphia Player of the Year honors. Klotz attended Villanova on a basketball scholarship from 1942-1944 and went on to play for the Philadelphia SPHAS of the American Basketball League from 1944-1947. Klotz joined the NBA’s Baltimore Bullets midway through the 1947-48 season, a season in which the Bullets went on to defeat the Philadelphia Warriors in six games to win the NBA title.

Klotz once waxed that, “Like Fred Astaire had Ginger Rogers, the Harlem Globetrotters have always had a dance partner…but I’ve always been dancing backwards.” Klotz’s teams have played games in front of popes, kings and queens; on aircraft carriers, in bullrings, and on soccer fields; and in over 100 countries and hundreds of cities across North American. Klotz’s last victory over the Globetrotters came in 1971, when Klotz, age 50 at the time, hit the game-winning shot to defeat the Globetrotters 100-99.

Klotz, the 26th person to be honored with the “Legends” distinction, was presented with his award on March 10, 2007, at the Liacouras Center, during the Globetrotters’ annual visit to Philadelphia.