Albersheim's 2014 Winter Auction
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/20/2014
Stan Chico Burrell played for the Harlem Globetrotters from 1946-59 on and off during that time period. He also played with the Washington Bears and the New York Rens with some time away from basketball for military service. He was 6’4” and 185 lbs with a blazing speed and killer basketball skills. He was featured in the 1954 movie about the Globetrotters, “Go Man Go.”
Bobby Knight attended Weaver High School, but because of the lack of college opportunities available to black people at the time, he was picked from the streets of Hartford's North End to play for the Harlem Globetrotters in the late 1940s and early 1950s, during the era of Marques Haynes and "Goose" Tatum. He had a brief stint with the Knicks in 1955.
He was often called "magical" and "a basketball genius" because of his wizardry with the ball, especially the no-look pass, mastering it long before it was fashionable.
Josh Grider accepted a scholarship to Tennessee A&I in 1945 and played as a Tiger during an undefeated 24-0 season his senior year. He then received an offer to play with the Harlem Globetrotters and joined former TSU teammates Clarence Wilson and Boyd Buie, the one-armed sensation. In his first and second seasons with the Globetrotters, Grider went to Europe and played before tremendous crowds. They played in the Olympia Stadium in Berlin with 75,000 attending. In his second season, the team played in the World Series of Basketball against the College All-Americans, and Grider was elected the MVP. He had another great season in 1952-1953, being runner-up to Marcus Haynes for MVP in the World Series. In 1957 Grider left the Globetrotters to join Haynes and Goose Tatum on the team they had jointly formed, called the Harlem Magicians. He played with the Magicians for thirteen years before returning to Nashville in 1971. Grider wore the #45 for the Globetrotters in the 1951 College All-Star game vs. the College All-Americans. He is considered by many to be one of the Top 25 Globetrotters of all time.
The Warm-up Suit
We offer a game worn warm-up that was sourced from a family member of Chico Burrell. We believe that it was also worn by Josh Grider (the pants were definitely his) and Bobby Knight who definitely wore the jacket. This complete warm-up was later issued to Chico Burrell.
The blue satin warm-up pants are decorated with a red/white/gold trim along each pant leg, with the bottom of each featuring a zippered flap. “Grider” is chain stitched in white along the interior waistband with the notation of 34-31–R no. 38 chain stitched to the right of his last name. Directly to the right of the chain stitching is a “Wilson” label (matches up to late 40’s - mid 60’s Wilson tagging). The pants appear to be original and unaltered and display measurable game wear throughout. These pants were worn by Josh Grider, Chico Burrell, and possibly Bobby Knight.
The heavy satin warm-up jacket has the "Wilson" label (with the name Knight written in faded black laundry marker) sewn into the lining of the jacket on the lower left interior. On the lower right interior of the jacket is the chain stiched 45 (for number) and below that is 44 Reg plus 2 chain stiched. On the left breast of the jacket is the circular chenille "Harlem Globetrotters" logo patch, and on the reverse is the large red & white-striped "cape" that hangs from the collar. This zipper on the front of the jacket is starting to come off, but since this was probably used over a 10 year period, this jacket was most likely worn in over 100 different countries for 1000’s of games.
The jacket was originally worn by Josh Grider and passed on to Chico Burrell after being worn by Bobby Knight. This was worn throughout the 50’s. Photos can be found on the internet of Wilt Chamberlain wearing this exact style warmup.
Museum quality piece!
Letter of Authenticity from Richard Albersheim
For more background and historical information about this item, please see the article on our blog page.