RIP Red Klotz

[silverscreenselect]

I missed this one at the time, but this man is a coaching legend who holds a sports record that I feel certain will never be beaten.

Red Klotz was the long, long, longtime coach and owner of the Washington Generals (the team occasionally was called other names as well, including, in his honor, the New Jersey Reds), the team that usually provided the opposition for the Harlem Globetrotters. Since Klotz founded the team in 1952, the Generals beat the Globetrotters six times against over 14,000 losses. Their most memorable (and apparently last) win came in 1971 in Martin, TN, on a buzzer beater by Klotz himself, who also played point guard for the Generals for many years (the fans did not appreciate Klotz's heroics). The rather short Klotz frequently became the comic foil in Globetrotter routines, often being drenched with water and having his uniform shorts pulled down. The Globetrotters officially retired his jersey in 2011, joining such players as Curly Neal, Wilt Chamberlain, and Meadowlark Lemon, whose Trotter jerseys were also retired.

Before forming the Generals, Klotz played in the NBA and won a title with the Baltimore Bullets in 1948 (he is unofficially considered to be the shortest player ever to play on an NBA championship team).

Age 93.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/11213 ... d-klotz-93

[Vandal]

Great article on Red written by Joe Posnanski:

http://joeposnanski.com/joeblogs/rip-red-klotz/

The Washington Generals always lose: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. They lose on indoor basketball courts and outdoor courts. They lose on ships, they lose on aircraft carriers,they lose in prisons, and they lose on the back of trucks. They lose in front of popes, in front of kings, in front of queens, in front of dictators, in front of presidents. They lose in Beijing, and they lose in Moscow, and they lose in Rio, and they lose in Mumbai, and they lose in Tulsa. They lose as the Washington Generals, mostly, but they also lose under different names like the Boston Shamrocks or the Atlantic City Seagulls or the Baltimore Rockets or the Chicago Demons or the New Jersey Reds or New York Nationals or an all-encompassing name of losers: The International All-Stars. In the end, aren’t we all International All-Stars just trying to win one time? They even lose on ice. Last year, the Generals played the Harlem Globetrotters in a basketball game on an ice pond in Central Park, and before the game their coach and founder Red Klotz, perhaps rashly, boasted: “We excel on ice.” They lost, of course. The Washington Generals always lose.

[zachhoran1]

He lived in Margate, NJ(the town I lived in for 30 years, next to Atlantic City and shares the Mar-Ven Gardens(not Marvin as spelled in Monopoly) border with Ventnor for most of his adult life, and his kids grew up here.

[littlebeast13]

He lived in Margate, NJ(the town I lived in for 30 years, next to Atlantic City and shares the Mar-Ven Gardens(not Marvin as spelled in Monopoly) border with Ventnor for most of his adult life, and his kids grew up here.

So he was living at the Water Works?

lb13