Thursday, April 14, 2011

Harlem Globetrotters: #40 Slick Willie Shaw

Willie Shaw started playing the game at the age of six. In his seventh-year as a Globetrotter after four years as a starter at St. John's University, Slick helped lead St. John’s to the NIT Championship in 2003, and he holds the school record for most career three-pointers. During the Globetrotters’ 2011 tour, he will be setting his sights even higher on the new 4-point shot.
Slick has been to dozens of countries during his years with the Globetrotters and has seen some incredible things, like the Eiffel Tower and the Great Wall of China. He’s had the honor of entertaining U.S. troops on the Globetrotters’ annual holiday military tour, and he performed for a national TV audience in Dec. 2010 on a Globetrotters’ special from the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Disney World.
Being born in New York, Slick loves the Yankees, Mets, Knicks and Giants. Even though he has close friends that are also sports stars, like NBA sharpshooter Ben Gordon, he was blown away when playing his very first game ever with the Globetrotters. “It was at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, it was sold out, and I will never forget how many celebrities were there. It was really an introduction to how many people love the Globetrotters.”

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Harlem Globetrotters: Big Easy Lofton #52

Big Easy Lofton gets his nickname from growing up in New Orleans and his easy-going nature, which helped him and teammate Flight Time Lang to a top-four finish during Season 15 of “The Amazing Race.”
The popular pair is getting another shot at the top spot, as Big Easy and Flight Time are competing in a special season of the Emmy Award-winning series, “The Amazing Race: Unfinished Business”.
Big Easy has also appeared on other popular TV shows such as “The Price is Right,” “The Bonnie Hunt Show,” and “Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?” He and Flight Time also walked the red carpet at, and appeared on, the 61st Annual Primetime Emmy Awards.Despite his nickname, nothing was easy about what Big Easy and 13 family members and friends went through when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005. Most of the group lived in the uptown projects, and when the levees gave way, everyone was looking to Big Easy and his late father to pull everyone together. With his father at the wheel, Big Easy and two friends pushed the group in a pickup truck from the middle of the projects to near St. John the Baptist Church. From there, they were able to make it out of the city and evacuate to Houston.
As luck would have it, it was in Houston where Big Easy was discovered by the Globetrotters’ scouting department. “One of the most difficult times in my life turned into an unbelievably positive twist of fate,” he says.
Big Easy, who still resides in his hometown, was a two-time All-Southland Conference selection at Southeastern Louisiana, and as a senior, he led the team in blocks, steals, rebounds and assists. During his two seasons, the Lions won consecutive conference titles and made their first ever NCAA tournament appearance in 2005.
His gregarious personality and thunderous dunks entertain Globetrotter fans young and old. He was 13 when he first dunked on an alley-oop…although he admits it was “kind of a baby dunk,” but a dunk nonetheless.
Big Easy took many life lessons from his father. “He worked really hard so we could have a roof over our heads, food in our stomachs and clothes on our backs,” says Big Easy. “Sometimes I did not see him for days, because he would leave at four in the morning and come back at eleven at night from work; all because he did not want my little brother and I to have to put in those kinds of hours later in life. Now that I'm a father, it’s the best thing in the world when I walk through the door. My two girls just see daddy; they don't care what I have or don't have, it's just their daddy.
“The day my first daughter was born, my father told me, ‘Work every day to feed your kids, put clothes on their backs and provide them with the finer things in life. Also spend as much time as you can with them. You don’t get an award for any of that; it’s what you do if you want to call yourself a father.’

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Harlem Globetrotters: Dizzy Grant, The General #2. The author of the first 4-point shot in basketball history

Dizzy Grant started playing basketball after he attended a Harlem Globetrotters game at the age of 7. The New Jersey Athletic Conference Player of the Year his senior season in college, Dizzy was also a first team all-conference selection in both his senior and junior seasons.

Dizzy holds the distinction of sinking the first 4-point shot in basketball history, when the Globetrotters unveiled their new game-changing rule during a nationally televised ESPN2 special on Dec. 5, 2010. The basketball and 4-point circle Dizzy utilized on the 35-foot shot will now be preserved for future generations at the mecca of the sport, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass.


Dizzy has developed into one of the team’s best ball handlers and has also gained a reputation as one of the biggest Globetrotter cut-ups. “He is funny all the time,” says Big Easy Lofton. “He can do impressions of anybody,” adds Flight Time Lang.

He compares being with his Globetrotter teammates to the sitcom, “The Office.” He says, “There are so many different personalities, but when you put them all together, they complement each other.”

Dizzy has been featured in several local TV, radio and newspaper interviews while promoting the Globetrotters, and his talents were on display for a national audience during two TV specials in 2010 from the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Disney World.


Being a Globetrotter has given Dizzy the opportunity to see and do things of which most people can only dream. For example, he has walked on the Great Wall of China, visited the Eiffel Tower and done ball handling atop the Space Needle. He has also experienced the satisfaction of helping build homes for Habitat for Humanity.

He wants to reach youngsters the way his father reached him. “He taught me what hard work is and how it can pay off,” says Dizzy. “I just hope I am doing the same for others out there in the world.”

Dizzy enjoys playing golf – he consistently shoots in the 80s – and bass fishing, which he does three to four times a week on his bass boat when he is at home.

Following his playing career, he aspires to become an airplane pilot.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Harlem Globetrotters: Airport Greenup #6

Airport Greenup was a Division II All-American at Shaw University in North Carolina, where Airport shot a mind-boggling 71 percent from the field during his junior and senior seasons to lead the nation. His many powerful dunks certainly played a part in that.



As a senior, he was the only player in Division II to finish among the top 30 in scoring, rebounding, blocked shots and shooting percentage. He was also the Central College Athletic Association Defensive Player of the Year for the 2003-04 season.

Airport hopes to open a clothing store following his basketball career.

Position: F
Date of Birth: 11/08/1979
Height: 6' 8" Weight: 225 lbs
College: Shaw University (N.C.) '04
Hometown: Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Succes 2011: Mike Pender, original founding member of Merseybeat group The Searchers

Mike Pender (born on 3 March 1942 in Kirkdale, Liverpool) was an original founding member of Merseybeat group The Searchers. He is best known as the lead vocalist on many hit singles by The Searchers, including the song "Needles and Pins". He pursued a solo career after leaving The Searchers and released one solo single before forming his current band, Mike Pender's Searchers who perform songs from his many years with The Searchers in addition to all-new material and a blend of popular rock standards by classic artists such as Buddy Holly, The Drifters and Roy Orbison.
In his early years, Pender worked at a guitar shop as a day job in between playing nightly gigs with The Searchers. According to Pender, he is responsible for choosing the band name for The Searchers. "The Band was founded by myself and John McNally. In 1957 John and I went to see the movie The Searchers starring John Wayne. I was an ardent Western Fan and so I dragged John along with me to see it. I take the credit for choosing the name 'The Searchers' and for co-founding the Band in its original form."[citation needed] Some years ago,[when?] Mike Pender claimed to be a member of two fictitious groups he played in before his years with The Searchers. Hoping to build more credibility as a musician, Pender claimed to have played in early groups, The Wreckers and The Confederates.
Over the years, some of Pender's personal guitars have included his Gibson ES-345 with sunburst finish, the Burns Tri-Sonic in the colour of red with three pickups and the twelve-string Rickenbacker Rose Morris model 1993 coloured in a fireglo finish with deluxe features including the f-hole rather than the slash sound hole. Other guitars he has played include the Aria twelve-string guitar, his Danelectro Bellzouki twelve-string made from wood and hardboard, and the solid Rickenbacker 450/12 in an elegant mapleglo finish, which had a converter comb, which allowed it to be converted into either a 6-string or 12-string guitar. Pender's Rose Morris model 1993 was stolen several years ago; it had been used on many of The Searchers' studio recordings in addition to numerous live performances.
After The Searchers recorded the singles "Sweets for My Sweet" and "Sugar and Spice", Pender took over lead vocal duties from Tony Jackson. During the late 1970s, The Searchers were signed by Seymour Stein's Sire Records and recorded two modernised albums, including "The Searchers" and "Play for Today," which was retitled "Love's Melodies" outside the United Kingdom. The Searchers recorded what would become the final single with Pender, I Don't Want to Be the One. Pender left The Searchers in 1985 to pursue a solo career and in the 1980s,[when?] joined an all-star rock band known as The Corporation AKA "The Traveling Wrinklies", whose name was a parody of the popular rock group Traveling Wilburys. That band included Pender, Brian Poole, Clem Curtis, Tony Crane and Reg Presley, lead singer of The Troggs. With The Searchers continuing to perform, Pender was replaced by a new vocalist, Spencer James.
Selecting a group of talented musicians, Pender sought to re–create the unique sound that popularised The Searchers. Forming the band "Mike Pender's Searchers", they began touring in the late 1980s and re-recorded The Searchers hits plus 4 new tracks.Various CDs,featuring these new tracks and the re-recordings have been released in various countries around the world. Mike Pender's Searchers continue to book new shows and tour, targeting Britain, Australia, U.S.A., the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark and The United Arab Emirates.
In 1994 Mike Pender's Searchers were the very first 1960's band to be invited to play on board the QE2 as part of the world famous liner's 25th anniversary celebrations. During live performances, Mike Pender's Searchers use their own custom built lighting and sound equipment and Mike Pender uses several different guitars including his famous 12-string Rickenbacker.

Friday, April 8, 2011

Fotbal: Cláudio Taffarel, campion mondial cu echipa Braziliei (1994)

Cláudio André Mergen Taffarel (born 8 May 1966 in Santa Rosa, Rio Grande do Sul) is a Brazilian former football goalkeeper. He is of German and Italian descent, and played for Brazil in their victory at the 1994 World Cup.

At club level, Taffarel played for Internacional (1985–90), Parma (1990–93 and 2001–03), Reggiana (1993–94), Atlético Mineiro (1995–98), and Galatasaray (1998–2001).

He had a key role in Galatasaray's UEFA Cup triumph over Arsenal in 2000, and was named the man of the match in the final. He also helped Galatasaray defeat Real Madrid 2-1 to win the UEFA Super Cup in 2000 and reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League in 2001, performing at the top of his game in victories against clubs such as AC Milan and Real Madrid. While with Parma he won the Coppa Italia.

He left Parma in 2002, and retired after refusing an offer from Empoli in 2003; after having accepted such offer, he changed his mind after his car broke while he was going to sign the contract, defining such event as a "sign of God". International career


Taffarel was the starting keeper for Brazil at the 1994 FIFA World Cup, in which he conceded only one goal in the first round and two in the knock-out phases (excluding two penalty kicks in the final). In addition to USA 1994, Taffarel helped lead Brazil to second place in the 1998 World Cup in France. In the semi-finals against Netherlands, he played a central role in the 4-2 penalty kick victory, saving the last two attempts. Upon his retirement in 2003, coach Carlos Alberto Parreira offered to arrange a farewell match. Taffarel refused, stating that he was not interested in such fanfare. He did return to play alongside Romário in late 2004 against Mexico to commemorate the 1994 World Cup victory in Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

Taffarel is the most capped goalkeeper in their history, with 101 appearances. Other than the 1994 triumph, he also played in the 1990 and 1998 World Cup tournaments. Taffarel was also Brazil's keeper at their Copa America success in 1989 and 1997.