Goose Tatum
Reece "Goose" Tatum was a prominent African American athlete best known for his time with the Harlem Globetrotters. Born around 1921 in Arkansas, his early life remains largely undocumented, reflecting the challenges faced by many African Americans in that era. Tatum earned his nickname during his football days, which paved the way for a diverse athletic career including stints in the Negro League as a baseball player for teams like the Birmingham Barons and the Indianapolis Clowns. His basketball journey began when he was signed by Abe Saperstein to join the Globetrotters in 1942, where he quickly became known as the "Clown Prince of Basketball" for his blend of humor and skill.
In addition to entertaining fans, Tatum's athletic prowess was evident as he played a key role in the team's victories against collegiate players and professional teams, including notable wins against the Minneapolis Lakers. Despite achieving fame and a lucrative salary, Tatum faced personal struggles, including financial difficulties and a brief prison sentence due to tax issues. He later founded his own basketball team, the Harlem Road Kings, but struggled with health problems until his death in 1967. Tatum's legacy endures as a symbol of excellence in sports during a time of segregation, though questions about how much greater he could have been in a different era remain unanswered.
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Subject Terms
Goose Tatum
Basketball Player
- Born: May 3, 1921
- Birthplace: New Jersey
- Died: January 18, 1967
- Place of death: El Paso, Texas
Sport: Basketball
Early Life
As for so many African American athletes born in the first decades of the twentieth century, the early life of Reece “Goose” Tatum is hidden in obscurity. Even the date of his birth is in dispute, with most commentators claiming it probably occurred several years before the given date of 1921. The son of an itinerant Methodist minister, Goose attended segregated schools in small-town Arkansas. While playing football, someone said he looked like a goose, and the nickname stuck.
By the late 1930’s, after several years of sandlot and semiprofessional baseball, Goose was playing professional baseball for the Birmingham Barons and later the Indianapolis or Cincinnati Clowns in the popular but segregated Negro League. Generally a first baseman or pitcher, Goose, with his 84-inch reach, was an imposing threat out on the pitching mound. He was a gifted natural athlete who also excelled at football and, eventually, basketball.
The Road to Excellence
In 1942, Abe Saperstein signed Goose to play for his legendary Harlem Globetrotters exhibition basketball team. Saperstein had created the Globetrotters in Chicago in 1927—at its inception, the team had nothing to do with the real Harlem. By the end of the 1930’s, the team had achieved considerable popularity at a time when professional sports was still segregated and African Americans were barred from competing with white athletes. Goose was an instant star with the Globetrotters. His physical abilities were combined with a madcap sense of basketball humor. Soon Goose was crowned “the Clown Prince of Basketball.”
After serving in the Army Air Corps in World War II, where he refined his basketball skills, Goose returned to the Globetrotters. By the end of the 1940’s, the Globetrotters had become one of the United States’ most recognizable athletic attractions. Some, however, doubted that the Globetrotters really were as excellent as the team’s on-court record indicated, inasmuch as the Globetrotters’ victories were inevitably won against all-white traveling opponents, also owned by Saperstein, who were cast as the stooges and foils for the talented Globetrotters.
The Emerging Champion
The Globetrotters were more than mere entertainment and Goose was much more than just a famous clown, though he was noted for stunts like hiding the basketball under his jersey while the opposing players wandered confusedly around the court, or falling down, apparently seriously injured, only to vault upright with a smile, his eyes flashing. He borrowed eyeglasses from spectators and placed them on the referee’s nose or attached a long rubber band to the basketball, then shot it toward the basket, only to have it return to his enormous hands. In 1948 and 1949, the Globetrotters defeated one of the premier professional basketball teams, the Minneapolis Lakers. In 1950, the Globetrotters engaged in a series against the best college and university players, with the Globetrotters winning eleven of the eighteen games in the so-called World Series of Basketball. The following year the Globetrotters won fourteen of eighteen games against the college all-stars, and Goose was selected as the series most valuable player. In 1952, the Globetrotters were again victorious against the collegians, eleven games to five, and again Goose was the most valuable player.
The Globetrotters also traveled widely, touring Alaska in 1949 and Central and South America in 1950, where the team played before 50,000 fans in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In 1951, 75,000 people saw them perform in Berlin, fifteen years after the 1936 Olympics made a star of Jesse Owens, whose accomplishments belied the pernicious racial theories of Adolf Hitler. The Globetrotters toured the world in 1952. Wherever they played, Goose was always one of the featured players. During his basketball career he set scoring records in the Chicago Stadium, with 55 points, and the Cow Palace in San Francisco, with 64 points. The clown had an accurate hook shot. Goose’s play was not all just for laughs.
Continuing the Story
The Globetrotters and Goose were featured in two films during the 1950’s: Harlem Globetrotters and Go, Man, Go. Goose was well paid by Saperstein, making more than $40,000 per year, which, at the time, was much more than most white professional basketball players made. However, he was always chronically out of funds, frequently having to borrow from Saperstein. Though he was a clown on the court, Goose was a loner, often restless and melancholy when off the court. He frequently refused to travel with the rest of the team, preferring to fly or take the train by himself.
In 1955, Goose left Saperstein and the Globetrotters and founded his own basketball team, the Harlem Road Kings, later known as the Stars and the Magicians, and he played with his team until his death. Money was one incentive: His income rose to approximately $65,000 per year after leaving the Globetrotters. Still, his financial problems continued and he served a short prison sentence in 1961, after a conviction for not paying $186,000 in income taxes. Returning to his first sport, he also purchased an interest in a Negro League baseball team, the Detroit Clowns, occasionally playing first base and center field. By the mid-1960’s Goose’s health began to fail. He died in El Paso, Texas, in 1967. He was supposedly forty-five at the time of his death, but many believed he was several years older.
Summary
Goose Tatum’s life was both a triumph and a tragedy. He achieved fame and financial success during his lifetime. His tragedy was that much of his athletic career took place in a segregated society. By all accounts, Goose was an excellent basketball player, but how great he might have become in a later era is impossible to know. Still, for most Americans of the mid-twentieth century, black and white, there was only one “Goose,” and he was a superstar.
Bibliography
Christgau, John. Tricksters in the Madhouse: Lakers Versus Globetrotters, 1948. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2004.
Rogosin, Donn. Invisible Men: Life in Baseball’s Negro Leagues. New York: Kodansha International, 1995.