He’s ‘Too Tall’ and he’s having a ball
At 159cm, the shortest Harlem Globetrotter basketball player in history, ‘‘Too Tall’’ Hall, proves short men can jump.
‘‘Too Tall’’, aka Jonte Hall, 32, has been a Globetrotter for five years, starting his basketball career at the age of nine and taking the sport seriously from the start to get ahead.
‘‘I’m short. I had to work harder than everyone else,’’ Hall said.
His first trick was learning how to spin a ball on his finger and his specialty tricks now are his dribbling skills, which he can do while sliding on the floor, and shooting ‘‘four-point shots’’.
A four-point shot was one that went in from more than 10.5 metres from the basket.
‘‘It’s a difficult shot but I can shoot them very well,’’ Hall said.
The Harlem Globetrotters are the world’s most famous basketball team, mixing athleticism, theatre and comedy into their games, and have played more than 20,000 exhibition games in 120 countries since being established in 1926.
This is their first visit to Queenstown and Invercargill.
Hall said Earl Boykins, a former United States professional basketball player who stands at 1.65cm, was a sporting figure that inspired him.
Hall, who is from Baltimore, played in basketball minor leagues before spending a year and a half as a member of the Washington Generals, the team the Globetrotters often played against.
He said he cleaned bathrooms for a living before being given his shot to play in the global team that travelled the world.
‘‘Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would ever be in New Zealand.
‘‘I’m very excited to be here. I heard it’s cold. I heard the atmosphere was awesome.’’
Hall and the rest of his teammates, as well as members of the Generals, touched down in Auckland yesterday morning.
While some of the players were excited to get to Queenstown to try some of the adventure tourist activities on offer, Hall said he was afraid of heights and would likely be keeping his feet firmly on the ground.
The team will spend some downtime in Queenstown from Monday before playing at the Queenstown Events Centre as part of their New Zealand tour on Wednesday.
They will then travel to Invercargill for a game at Stadium Southland on June 11.