Louis "Red" Klotz, who assembled the teams that spent decades losing to the Harlem Globetrotters touring comedy basketball squad, has died at age 93.
Klotz spent more than six decades organising such long-time losers as the Washington Generals, Boston Shamrocks and New York Nationals to act as comic foils for the trickster Globetrotters in routines played out on basketball courts worldwide.
But Klotz, who died Saturday at his home in New Jersey, was also an NBA champion, helping the Baltimore Bullets win the 1948 crown in only the league's second season of existence.
It was Klotz himself as a 50-year-old player-coach who scored the winning basket in a 100-99 victory over the Globetrotters on January 5, 1971 at Martin, Tennessee - the last of a rare few times that one of his squads ever managed to defeat the Globetrotters over the team's 88-year history.
"Red was truly an ambassador of the sport and as much a part of the Globetrotters' legacy as anyone ever associated with the organisation," said Globetrotters chief executive Kurt Schneider said on Monday.
"He was a vital part of helping the Globetrotters bring smiles and introduce the game of basketball to fans worldwide."
In 2011, Klotz became the first non-Globetrotter to have his number retired by the team.
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