Robert "Showboat" Hall (September 30, 1927 – December 24, 2014) was an American

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player and member of the

Harlem Globetrotters The Harlem Globetrotters are an American exhibition basketball team. They combine athleticism, theater, and comedy in their style of play. Created in 1926 by Tommy Brookins in Chicago, Illinois, the team adopted the name ''Harlem'' because of i ...

. He attended and played basketball at the former Miller High School in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

. He joined the Globetrotters in 1949, and in 1955 succeeded

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

as the team's primary showman. In 1968 he became player-coach, and played in more than 5,000 games before his retirement in 1974. Hall died in his hometown of Detroit on 24 December 2014. He was 87.

References

1927 births 2014 deaths Basketball players from Detroit Harlem Globetrotters coaches Harlem Globetrotters players American men's basketball players 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American sportspeople {{1920s-US-basketball-bio-stub