Harlem Wizards
| Harlem Wizards | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Leagues | Independent | ||
| Founded | 1962 | ||
| History | 1962-present: Harlem Wizards |
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| Arena | Barnstorming team | ||
| Location | Harlem, New York | ||
| Team colors | Purple, Black, Gold, and Red | ||
| President | Todd Davis | ||
| Ownership | Todd Davis | ||
| Website | Official website | ||
| Uniforms | |||
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The Harlem Wizards are a basketball team whose history goes back to 1962 when it was created by sports promoter, Howie Davis. Unlike most basketball teams, the Harlem Wizards are not primarily focused on winning matches - instead, their aim is to entertain the crowd using a variety of basketball tricks and alley oops. They perform fundraisers at local schools for the students and the rest of the community, displaying their fancy trickery through dribbling, passing, shooting, and dunking. Through these fundraisers, they have raised millions of dollars for "charitable organizations, schools, and foundations across the world." The audience is not only there to watch the Wizards, but also to participate in the show. The Wizards get the crowd involved, often bringing children out onto the floor to be part of a basketball trick or a comedic act.
Their antics are very similar to those of the Harlem Globetrotters, who were created in 1926.
The Wizards, Globetrotters and Ambassadors are the only show basketball teams left. The theme for the Wizards' 2010-2011 campaign is the "Basketball and Beyond Tour." They hold the longest known winning streak in all of professional sports - over 2,800 games.
According to harlemwizards.com, in 1943, Harlem Wizards creator Howie Davis was working as a Sports Promoter and the Sergeant and Recreation Director at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. The World Championship of Basketball Tournament in Chicago asked Davis to provide an emergency 8th team to compete in the tournament. Within one week, Davis assembled the Dayton Dive Bombers. The Dive Bombers' first round opponent in the tournament was the previous World Champion, the Harlem Globetrotters. The Dive Bombers pulled the upset and the Globetrotters' manager, Abe Saperstein, refused to even shake Davis' hand after the game. Davis was intrigued by this event, and twenty years later, he decided to create his own show basketball team, the Harlem Wizards.
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