As a tenet of proof, Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton, who had spent many years toiling for the independent Harlem Globetrotters, ...

Nathaniel Sweetwater Clifton became the first Black player to sign a contract in the NBA when he signed with the New York Knickerbockers in 1950. Having already played for the New York Rens and ...

Learn about the significant contributions of African-Americans to basketball, including their rise to prominence in the NBA, ...

George Mikan and "Sweetwater" Clifton first met on the court in 1948. Mikan rejected Clifton's shot here, but the Globetrotters ultimately stunned the Lakers. But to Haynes and so many of his ...

The crowd came to see the basket ball spectacle known as the Globetrotters and thrilled again to gyrations of Tatum, Leon Hillard and Sweetwater Clifton. The Trotters’ own court was spread from ...

Although the Globetrotters put two and sometimes three men on Mikan, they could not stop the big fellow, and loose-jointed “Sweetwater” Clifton, the Trotters’ pivotman center, fouled out trying.

Nathaniel Sweetwater Clifton, hailed from their roster. In the 94 years since, the Globetrotters have broken countless barriers, set world records and entertained hundreds of millions of fans ...