'Smile and dunk'

Even though some fans might argue, God probably doesn't affect the outcome of basketball games.

But Zeus McClurkin believes God -- or his faith in God -- prepared him to be a Harlem Globetrotter.

"When I was 8 years old, my pastor looked at my feet and said, 'Wow, you're going to be tall one day -- probably 6-8,'" McClurkin remembered. "He didn't know it, but after he told me that, every night I would pray that I would be tall one day.

"Currently, I'm the tallest person in my entire family: My mother is 5-foot-4, and my dad is 6-foot-2. Today, I am 6-foot-8 exactly. I don't know if I was supposed to be this tall, but I know faith has something to do with it."

It took awhile. It wasn't until the summer before his sophomore year in high school that McClurkin shot up 5 inches and finally made his first basketball team.

"However, I received a lot of criticism for the style of play that I exhibited," he said. "Many players and coaches said that I was too nice to be successful in basketball. They told me I had to be mean and have a killer instinct."

"All you ever want to do is smile and dunk," McClurkin remembered being told.

"Faith is what helped me through many hard times. And today the Harlem Globetrotters pay me to be that nice person that I am, and everything has worked out -- so I'm glad I never changed and my faith keep me going!"

McClurkin grew up in Columbus, Ohio, and said he had "great influences" in his younger life. His parents took him to church, and his older brother, Robert, took him with him when he played basketball around town. "I was never good enough to be on the court with him," he recalled. But he pursued basketball for that very reason.

"I was dominating at volleyball, good at soccer. Baseball was one of my first loves," he remembered. He also played tennis and football. "Basketball was the only sport I wasn't good at. I hate it when people tell me what I can't do. So I wanted to take it all the way to the top."

After he left a Division II program -- he doesn't say which one -- McClurkin walked on at North Carolina A&T State University, made the Class of 2012 Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, played professional ball abroad and played with the Washington Generals against the Globetrotters. But he said he truly found his niche with a team that loves his trademark enthusiasm -- and his ability to dunk. In fact, he holds the Guiness Book of World Records record for most slam-dunks in one minute -- 15. That too required faith -- and an inhaler.

McClurkin has exercise-induced asthma, and the slam-dunk contest required him to run to the free throw line and back to the basket between shots. "I thought all I had to do was jump straight up and down!" But he once again accomplished his goal and uses it in his message to fans.

"I tell kids everywhere, you don't have to let your asthma -- or anything else -- be a hindrance. You can push through it."

Along with entertaining on the court, being a Harlem Globetrotter means a lot of community service. As part of a 10-year celebration leading up to the Globetrotters' 100th anniversary, a new initiative called the Great Assist has the team pledging to spread 100 million smiles over the next 10 years, bringing schools messages of bullying prevention, character and physical fitness, visiting children's hospitals, lending a hand after natural disasters, helping build homes for the needy and volunteering at soup kitchens.

At a recent stop in Kansas City, Mo., the team visited Faxon Elementary School.

"Our program that we're going to do today is the ABCs of bullying prevention for the kids ... the A is action, the B is bravery, and the C is compassion," Buckets Blakes told Fox4KC. "Just some simple ingredients to give the kids to help them get over some bullying obstacles in their school, eventually to help eradicate bullying so they have a carefree learning environment."

"Professional athletes, somebody that's been on TV -- they think that's super cool. The Harlem Globetrotters said bullying is not cool, so bullying is not cool!" added rookie Ace Jackson.

For McClurkin, the message always comes back to faith -- faith in themselves that helps children stand up to bullying and be who they are and faith that there is a plan for one's life, something reflected in McClurkin's favorite Bible verse.

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

-- Romans 12:2

"I feel like my whole life, God has been preparing me to be a Harlem Globetrotter, through my upbringing," McClurkin said. "The Globetrotters represent everything I have stood for over my 29 years on this earth. To be an ambassador of goodwill is an extension of myself, and that makes me love what I do even more.

"You run in to somebody who sees this red, white and blue, it takes them back to a happier time. They invite me into their lives and into their hearts without really knowing who I am," he explained, and he takes that responsibility seriously -- during both the six months a year he's on the road and when he's home in Columbus, where he is a minister at The Pool of Bethesda: Church of the Living God International, founded by Joseph White.

"Honestly I get more nervous behind the pulpit than I do performing in front of thousands of fans."

NAN Religion on 01/23/2016