Three Globetrotters get Hall of Fame call

SPRINGFIELD, Mass — Harlem Globetrotters alums Inman Jackson, Wyatt “Sonny” Boswell and Albert “Runt” Pullins will be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame along with the Class of 2022.

The three were added by the Early African-American Pioneer Committee, which recognizes Black players, coaches and contributors from the “Black Fives” era, before the game was integrated in the 1950s.

Jackson has been credited with bringing to the Globetrotters the comedic flair that transformed them from an ordinary barnstorming team into an entertainment icon. Among his contributions: The “Magic Circle,” in which the players show off their ball-handling skills.

At 5-8, Pullins was one of the original Globetrotters and the star attraction in their early days. Boswell was a long-shot artist in a career interrupted when he helped integrate the National Basketball League after many of its players went to fight in World War II.

Reece “Goose” Tatum (El Dorado) in 2011 and Nate “Sweetwater” Clifton (England) in 2014 are among the Globetrotters who have previously been selected for enshrinement by the Early African-American Pioneer Committee.

The Class of 2022 scheduled to be inducted in September also includes four-time NBA champion Manu Ginobili, five-time All-Star Tim Hardaway, longtime NBA coach George Karl, WNBA champion and two-time NCAA champ Swin Cash, long-time college coach Bob Huggins, WNBA champion and two-time Olympic Gold Medalist Lindsay Whalen, NCAA national championship coach Marianne Stanley, and former NBA official Hugh Evans.