By Jon Weisman
I was in a Harlem Globetrotters rabbit hole last weekend when I stumbled upon this connection between famed Harlem Globetrotter Marques Haynes and famed Dodger Jackie Robinson.
… It’s 1946 and Haynes, a Sand Springs native, is a senior at Langston University. He’s playing in the championship game of a national tournament and he’s got a bone to pick with the opponent, Southern University.
Southern routed Sam Houston earlier in the tournament and was less than polite about it, going into showtime mode once the outcome had been decided.
“It didn’t sit too well with me,” Haynes said.
Haynes felt sorry not only for the humiliated players, but also for a Sam Houston assistant coach he had just met. The coach’s name — he gained fame in a different sport — was Jackie Robinson.
