Reece "Goose" Tatum (May 31, 1921 – January 18, 1967) was an American Negro league baseball and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player. In 1942, he was signed to the Harlem Globetrotters and had an 11-year career with the team. He later formed his own team known as the

Harlem Magicians Harlem Magicians was a basketball enterprise founded in 1953 by Lon Varnell through his Varnell Enterprises, that was similar in fashion and activities to the famous exhibition basketball team the Harlem Globetrotters. The full name of the barnsto ...

with former Globetrotters player

Marques Haynes Marques Haynes (March 10, 1926 – May 22, 2015) was an American professional basketball player and member of the Harlem Globetrotters, notable for his ability to dribble the ball and keep it away from defenders. According to the 1988 film ''Harl ...

. He is a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the

Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame is the hall of fame and museum for sports in Arkansas, United States. The hall of fame inducted its first class in 1959. The hall's museum is located on the west end of the Verizon Arena in North Little Rock, Arkansas. ...

. Tatum's number 50 is

retired Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload. Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their j ...

by the Globetrotters.

Biography

Reece "Goose" Tatum was born in El Dorado,

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...

on May 31, 1921 to Ben and Alice Tatum. Ben Tatum was a farmer and part-time

preacher A preacher is a person who delivers sermons or homilies on religious topics to an assembly of people. Less common are preachers who preach on the street, or those whose message is not necessarily religious, but who preach components such as ...

. Alice Tatum was a domestic cook. Reece Tatum was the fifth of seven children. He attended Booker T. Washington High School in El Dorado, Arkansas, but it is unknown if he graduated. He was a three-sport star in

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

and football during high school. After high school, Tatum pursued a career in

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

and joined the Louisville Black Colonels in 1937. He played for the

Memphis Red Sox The Memphis Red Sox were an American Negro league baseball team that was active from 1920 to 1959. Originally named the Barber College Baseball Club, the team was initially owned and operated by Arthur P. Martin, a local Memphis barber. In the la ...

and the

Birmingham Black Barons The Birmingham Black Barons were a Negro league baseball team that played from 1920 until 1960. They shared their home field of Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama, with the white Birmingham Barons, usually drawing larger crowds and equal pr ...

in 1941 and 1942, respectively. Tatum served in the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Harlem Globetrotters owner and coach Abe Saperstein signed Tatum in 1942. Tatum was released by the Globetrotters in 1955 after 11 seasons. At the time of his release, he was making a reported $53,000 per year, which ''The Detroit Tribune'' noted was the highest salary made by a professional basketball player. Saperstein told the press Tatum's release was due to his violation of team rules and repeated absences from games. Tatum and

, who were both Harlem Globetrotters players, formed a barnstorming basketball team of their own: The Fabulous Harlem Magicians.

Dempsey Hovland Dempsey Hovland (December 11, 1918 – 1979) was a baseball and basketball barnstorming entrepreneur and promoter and multiple sports team owner. He founded the 20th Century Booking Agency, a sports booking management for arranging and marketing of ...

, owner of 20th Century Booking Agency, was recruited to book the Harlem Magicians' games. Hovland earlier had managed the barnstorming House of David basketball team.

Personal life and legal incidents

In February 1955, Tatum filed a lawsuit against the owners of the

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

based Pan-American Bar for refusing to serve him, his wife and three companions on account of their race. Tatum was asking for $13,000 in damages. Tatum was arrested in

Gary, Indiana Gary is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The city has been historically dominated by major industrial activity and is home to U.S. Steel's Gary Works, the largest steel mill complex in North America. Gary is located along the sou ...

in November 1955 for non-payment of

alimony Alimony, also called aliment (Scotland), maintenance (England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Wales, Canada, New Zealand), spousal support (U.S., Canada) and spouse maintenance (Australia), is a legal obligation on a person to provide financial sup ...

. He allegedly owed his ex-wife $7,000 in alimony and was ordered by Judge Anthony Roszkowski to pay $60 a week pending a final judgment. Tatum was married briefly to Lottie 'the Body' Graves who he met in

Death and legacy

In 1966, Tatum's son, Goose Jr., was killed in a car accident. Soon after, Tatum began drinking heavily which led to a series of hospital visits. He died at his home in

El Paso El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the seat of El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the 23rd-largest city in the U.S., the s ...

, Texas on January 18, 1967, at the age of 45. The official autopsy stated that he died of natural causes. Tatum was interred in the

Fort Bliss National Cemetery Fort Bliss National Cemetery is a United States National Cemetery in West Texas, located at Fort Bliss, a U.S. Army post adjacent to the city of El Paso. Administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs, it encompasses , and as of 2014, had o ...

. Tatum is considered to be the original "clown prince"—a term first applied to seminal Chicago Crusader/Philadelphia Giant Jackie Bethards in 1933—of the Trotters. He wove numerous comic routines into his play, many of which achieved

cult status A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...

. Some of these routines were based on his stature—at 6'4", it is reported that he had an arm span of about 84 inches (210& cm) and could touch his kneecaps without bending. Tatum is credited with inventing the

hook shot In basketball, a hook shot is a play in which the offensive player, usually turned perpendicular to the basket, gently throws the ball with a sweeping motion of the arm farther from the basket in an upward arc with a follow-through which ends ov ...

. While playing for the Harlem Magicians, Tatum was billed as having scored the most points in the history of basketball, but the assertion is dubious. In 1974, Tatum was inducted into the

. His number 50 jersey was retired by the Harlem Globetrotters on February 8, 2002 and his name was placed on the Globetrotters' "Legends Ring" at Madison Square Garden in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. Tatum was the fourth player to have his number retired by the Globetrotters. In 2011, Tatum was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Footnotes

* Some sources list Tatum's birth date as May 3, 1921 in Hermitage, Arkansas.

References

External links

an
Seamheads
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tatum, Reese 1921 births 1967 deaths African-American baseball players African-American basketball players United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II Baseball players from Arkansas Basketball players from Arkansas Birmingham Black Barons players Cincinnati Clowns players Detroit Stars players Harlem Globetrotters players Indianapolis Clowns players Memphis Red Sox players Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees People from El Dorado, Arkansas United States Army Air Forces soldiers African-American United States Army personnel American men's basketball players 20th-century African-American sportspeople African Americans in World War II