BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY : AFRICAN AMERICAN " MARQUES HAYNES " IS A FORMER PROFESSIONAL BASKET BALL PLAYER AND MEMBER OF THE HARLEM GLOBETROTTERS : GOES INTO THE " HALL OF BLACK GENIUS "

                          BLACK                 SOCIAL              HISTORY                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Marques Haynes (born October 4, 1926) is an American former professional basketball player and member of the Harlem Globetrotters, notable for his remarkable ability to dribble the ball and keep it away from defenders. According to the movie Harlem Globetrotters: Six Decades of Magic(1988),^[1] Haynes could dribble the ball as many as six times a second.

Early playing days

Haynes learned to dribble the basketball from his sisters and brother William Joe Haynes, and perhaps was aided by the skill of handling the ball on the dirt courts of his hometown. A native of Sand Springs, Oklahoma, he played basketball for Langston University from 1942-1946. While at Langston, he once dribbled out the clock in a conference tournament game to ridicule an opponent, Southern University, which had just run up the score against an inferior team (Sam Huston College, later Huston-Tillotson University), which incidentally, was coached by a young Jackie Robinson.^[2] Haynes' own coach, the legendary Zip Gayles, reprimanded him for the showboating display, but it helped draw the attention of the Globetrotters, always on the search for trick ballhandlers; Langston was invited to play an exhibition game against the Globetrotters in Oklahoma City. In that game, Haynes led Langston to a 4-point win and was immediately invited to join the Globetrotters, and (after returning to Langston to complete his degree) his long professional career began.^[3]

Tenure with the Harlem Globetrotters

Haynes played with the Globetrotters from 1947-1953. Upon leaving in 1953, he turned down a $35,000 a year offer from the Philadelphia Warriors that would have made him the second-highest paid player in the NBA, to found his own barnstorming team, the Harlem Magicians. Boxing legend Sugar Ray Robinson sometimes played exhibitions with this team. Haynes later rejoined the Globetrotters as a player/coach and was a regular on the 1974-75 The Harlem Globetrotters Popcorn Machine TV show. He also played for the Harlem Wizards and Meadowlark Lemon's Bucketeers.

Retirement

He retired in 1992 after a 46-year professional career, and was inducted to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on October 2, 1998. He now resides in Dallas, Texas.

Legacy

Many consider him the premier ballhandler who ever lived, and his game influenced players such as Bob Cousy, Pete Maravich, and Fred "Curly" Neal. It is possible that Haynes has played more professional basketball games than anyone else in history, staying active well into his sixties.

Marques is known for his catch phrase, "I'm Marques Haynes, I'll show you how!"