BASKETBALL

Miles for smiles: Globetrotters to honor Little Rock's Hubert 'Geese' Ausbie

Former Harlem Globetrotters player Geese Ausbie, of Little Rock, spent 24 years with the team before retiring in 1985. Tonight, he’ll become the seventh player to have his jersey number retired by the Globetrotters at halftime of their game against the World All-Stars at Verizon Arena in North Little Rock.
Former Harlem Globetrotters player Geese Ausbie, of Little Rock, spent 24 years with the team before retiring in 1985. Tonight, he’ll become the seventh player to have his jersey number retired by the Globetrotters at halftime of their game against the World All-Stars at Verizon Arena in North Little Rock.

When Hubert "Geese" Ausbie of Little Rock has his jersey retired by the Harlem Globetrotters today, he said it will represent what his 24-year career with the traveling basketball team was all about.

"It's going to be fun," Ausbie said. "I told my wife and my kids the other day, they're not going to retire my jersey. They're retiring our jersey. My fans, my friends, my family.

"It's not a Geese Ausbie retirement. It's our jersey retirement."

The Globetrotters will retire Ausbie's No. 35 in a halftime ceremony today at Verizon Arena in North Little Rock. They'll face the World All-Stars at 7 p.m.

Ausbie is the seventh player to have his number retired, joining Wilt Chamberlain (No. 13), Marques Haynes (No. 20), Meadowlark Lemon (No. 36), Reece "Goose" Tatum (No. 50), Fred "Curly" Neal (No. 22) and Charles "Tex" Harrison (No. 34).

Red Klotz, the founder and former player with the Washington Generals, who for 60 years played the willing role as straight men to the showboating Globetrotters, had his No. 3 retired by the Globetrotters in 2011.

Ausbie, 78, was born in Crescent, Okla., on April 25, 1938. He graduated from Douglas High School in Crescent in 1956 and accepted a basketball scholarship to Philander Smith College in Little Rock.

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Ausbie traveled to Chicago to try out for the Harlem Globetrotters after completing his education at Philander Smith, after turning down a major-league contract with the Chicago Cubs.

The NBA's Cincinnati Royals and Los Angeles Lakers showed interest in Ausbie, but instead he was chosen from an open tryout of more than 500 players from around the country to join the Globetrotters. When he first joined the Globetrotters, Ausbie said he was paid $600 a month.

"I thought I was rich," Ausbie said. "I told my wife [Awilda], we're rich. We were making more than some of the guys in the NBA were making and in baseball, too."

Ausbie's first appearance in Little Rock as a Globetrotter came on April 4, 1968 -- the same day civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis.

Ausbie scored 47 points in a 110-95 victory over the New York Nationals in front of more than 5,000 fans at Barton Coliseum that night, according to Arkansas Gazette archives.

But with news of King's death already spreading, Ausbie's first game in Little Rock took on greater significance.

"It was a sad day," Ausbie said. "It was hard to play. But people starting smiling. We lifted up their spirits. We had to go make people happy."

Ausbie, who at 6-5 was celebrated for his basketball skills and natural flair, took over as the Globetrotters' "Clown Prince of Basketball" when Lemon retired in 1980.

Ausbie held the position until his retirement in 1985.

Ausbie said everybody wanted to play for the Globetrotters in the 1960s and 1970s. Playing for the Globetrotters, though, was about having fun and making people happy, Ausbie said.

"We love the people," Ausbie said. "Once you see a smile on a child's face, that was it. I played for the crowd. I let them enjoy themselves."

Ausbie is gracious when it comes to what today's ceremony will mean for him.

"I'd like to thank everybody for what they've done for me," Ausbie said. "The people of Arkansas have been good to me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart."

Ausbie was involved after retirement in the "Drug-Free Youth Program and Traveling Museum Showcase" (a collection of Globetrotters memorabilia). The program was presented to hundreds of students in Arkansas and other states. He's also served on the National Youth Sports Program advisory committee.

The Globetrotters are in their 91st season of touring the world playing basketball and entertaining fans. Ausbie said the impact of the Globetrotters has been felt over the past couple of decades and it will continue going forward.

"As long as basketball is around, the Globetrotters will be around," Ausbie said.

Sports on 01/31/2017

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