Abe Saperstein

Abraham Michael Saperstein

• School University of Illinois
• High School Lake View High School (Chicago)
• Born July 4, 1903 in London England
• Died March 15, 1966 in Chicago, IL USA

Biographical Information

Abe Saperstein is most famous in the world of sports as the founder, owner and coach of the Harlem Globetrotters of basketball. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame for his work in that sport. The Globetrotters featured some baseball players, including Ted Strong.

Saperstein did a lot of work in black baseball. He helped Neil Churchill recruit Negro League stars for the Bismarck Churchills. He helped the first African-American players get deals in Nippon Pro Baseball with Jimmy Newberry and John Britton in 1952 and then helped Roberto Barbon become the first Latin American player in NPB.

Saperstein helped run the Birmingham Black Barons during the 1940s, was an officer with the Cincinnati Clowns and also was involved with the Chicago American Giants and Cleveland Cubs of the Negro Leagues. Saperstein was president of the minor Negro Midwestern League and the minor West Coast Negro Baseball Assocation.

Sources

• Great Jews in Sports by Robert Slater
• The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues by James Riley
• Japanbaseballdaily.com by Gary Garland

Further reading

• Mark Jacob and Matthew Jacob: Globetrotter: How Abe Saperstein Shook Up the World of Sports, Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham, MD, 2024. ISBN 978-1-5381-8145-4

Related Sites

• Abe Saperstein at the SABR Bio Project