Editor
It will be the first-time in the history of Lincoln Land Community College that an alumnus will wear a Washington Generals jersey.
The Washington Generals have beenthe well-known opponents of the Harlem Globetrotters for more than 60 years. Both teams are separately owned and consist of former (men and women’s) college basketball players from around the globe.
Blake Burgess, a 2012 graduate of LLCC, signed a contract in September to get paid to play with the Washington Generals from December to April.
He will be “re-evaluated” after that point to see if he will continue playing with the team.
“It’s pretty exciting,” said Burgess, a Jacksonville High School graduate. “The whole atmosphere of getting ready to play with them is pretty exciting. Playing the (Harlem) Globetrotters is pretty exciting.”
“Even though the Harlem Globetrotters are a basketball team, there’s a big show that goes with it,” said Chad Jones, the coach of LLCC’s men’s basketball team who coached Burgess.
The Globetrotters are a professional team, but periodically suspend the normal basketball rules. For example, they may stop the clock, throw confetti into the crowd, play football (on a basketball court with a basketball), pull a General’s shorts down, or even perform their famous “weave” play.
Nick Totta, the head coach of William Woods University men’s basketball team, does not expect Burgess to win many games with the Generals.
Burgess, a graduate of Jacksonville High School, transferred to William Woods after he graduated from LLCC.
The last time the Globetrotters lost was on Jan. 5, 1971, when former player and coach Louis “Red” Klotz made a 20-foot jumper with 10 seconds left.
“Let me tell you,” wrote the Washington Post, quoting Klotz, “beating the Globetrotters is like shooting Santa Claus.”
Klotz played on the Generals until he was 63 and coached the team until he was 75 years old. He holds the record for most losses in professional basketball history.
“I don’t want anyone on my team that doesn’t play to win,” he told the Kansas City Star in 2007. “I always tell my players that every time you lose, you should learn something. … We should have learned quite a lot.”
He died on July 12 at the age of 93.
Although the Globetrotters and Generals play for entertainment, a player must be talented to be on one of those teams.
“In order to get to that point, you’ve got to be a player, and you have to go to (basketball) combines,” he said. “They don’t care about your dribbling skills and showmanship; they teach you that after the fact.
“You have to be a player, and you have to compete and show that you can play the game like it’s supposed to be played. And then they pick their people, and they teach them all the crazy, fun skills. … You got to play and compete, and Blake fits that.”
Totta said he thinks the Generals liked Burgess because of his talent and personality.
“He has a good motor, and I think they like him, because he’s a good guy,” said Totta, who watched his former forward/guard win the Hustle Award in both season with the Owls. “He’s fun to be around, and he’s generally in a good mood. I think that’s important to those people. I think he’s a guy with high character.”
The Generals’ manager John Ferrari sends out an email to all college basketball coaches in the country asking for players. Totta then recommended Ferrari look at Burgess.
“An ideal prospect for the Washington Generals can strike a balance between sports and entertainment. He must be an intelligent and fundamentally sound player,” the General’s website says.
Jones said Burgess’s work ethic helped him become a General. Burgess averaged 6.5 points per game in his two-year stint on the Loggers’ men’s basketball team.
“Blake was a better than average basketball player here for us (at Lincoln Land), but he certainly wasn’t the best player we had on the team,” Jones said. “He was the hardest working kid without a doubt, and I think that’s what got him where’s he at.”
The 6-foot-3-inch former Logger then had career-highs in points per game (14.1), rebounds per game (5.9), field goal percentage (45.9) and free throw percentage (75.7) in his senior year with the Owls. He won the team MVP for the 2013-14 season.
The head coach of the Owls’ men’s basketball team said Burgess spent a lot of time in the weight room and improved his ball handling skills for his last year on the team.
That season, though, he played in 31 games. The Generals often play hundreds of games each year. In some cases, Jones said, they play every night. Two or three of the team’s 15 players rotate to rest each game.
On top of that busy schedule, the Generals and Globetrotters are one of the most traveled basketball teams in history. They could play in up to 100 countries each year.
“It’s exhausting and awesome (at the same time),” Jones said. “It’s one of those things where it sounds like it’s awesome and you start getting into that grind, and it’s very mentally and physically demanding.
“But at the same time, he’s the type of kid who’s going to look on the positive. … In all honesty, he’s the perfect person do something like that.”
Ryan Wilson can be reached at 217-786-2311 or [email protected].
