After 75 years of existence, the Basketball Hall of Fame will give a long-overdue honor by placing the Harlem Globetrotters into its halls this week. It's also about time for the NBA to honor this trailblazing squad in some fashion, because much of what the league is today came from the Globetrotters.

With the 1950s just years away, American pro basketball was devoid of African-American players. The Minneapolis Lakers crowned themselves as world champions after winning the National Basketball League title in 1948. While this Laker team -- led by legend George Mikan -- was considered the world's greatest, the Globetrotters begged to differ.

	Meadowlark Lemon offers a pretzel to a referee during a game at Madison Square Garden.

To prove who was the best, the all-black Globetrotters and all-white Lakers played in front of 17,823 fans at Chicago Stadium on Feb. 19, 1948. While the Lakers had their championship reputation on the line, Harlem put a 103-game winning streak in jeopardy. At the tipoff, the Lakers looked like they would put the "Crown Princes of Basketball" in their place. Along with Mikan, the Lakers had several players taller than the Trotters' 6-foot-3 starting center, Reese "Goose" Tatum.

The Lakers held a slim 32-33 halftime lead in large part due to 18 points from Mikan while Tatum was scoreless. But after Mikan was limited to just six second-half points, the Trotters were poised to make history. With the game tied at 59, Harlem's Ermer Robinson tossed up a potential game-winning set shot at the buzzer. Robinson's shot did fall, but there was controversy on whether it was taken before the buzzer. One timer said yes, another said no. The final verdict went in favor of the Globetrotters, who stunned the Lakers 61-59.

To prove it was no fluke, the Globetrotters accepted a rematch against the then-Basketball Association of America champion Lakers in 1949. This time, Harlem won 49-45 in front of a standing-room-only crowd of 20,046 in Chicago Stadium. In the fourth quarter, the Trotters performed some of their antics, including a dribbling showcase from legendary ball-handler Marques Haynes. Two weeks later, the Lakers got revenge by cruising past Harlem and showing off dribbling antics of their own. Even so, the point was already made by the Trotters that African-American players could compete with whites and deserved to be on the same hardwood.

During the summer of 1949, the National Basketball League and Basketball Association of America merged to form the NBA. Of much larger significance was the long overdue integration of black players into the NBA.

On April 25, 1950, the Boston Celtics selected Duquesne University's Chuck Cooper in the second round, making him the first black player to be drafted in the NBA. Globetrotters center Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton became the first African-American to sign a contract, inking with the New York Knicks. Earl Lloyd became the first black player to play in an NBA game, scoring six points during the Rochester Royals' win over the Washington Capitols on Oct. 31, 1950.

With the doors open to the NBA for African-Americans, the Globetrotters' talent-base was devastated. At the same time, the Globetrotters could feel proud that they played a major role in helping open those NBA doors.

"The Harlem Globetrotters beat the so-called world champion Minneapolis Lakers two years in a row," current Globetrotters owner Mannie Jackson said. "I believe that integration was accelerated because it was realized the best basketball players weren't in the NBA."

The NBA struggled to get the seats filled during the 1960s and early '70s. So to help attract fans, the NBA called on the Globetrotters on several occasions to play exhibitions before its own contests. With the Globetrotters in the house, the stands were packed. Once the Globetrotters left, so did thousands of fans for the exits instead of waiting for the second act. While the seats may have been empty for the second game, the pockets of the NBA team owners were filled with money thanks to their friends from Harlem.

Today's NBA has rap music blaring from the arena speakers. During timeouts, gorgeous cheerleaders dance to entertain the fans. There are also mascots doing comedic routines and stunts to add more entertainment than just tall guys dunking in shorts.

While the NBA may be the leader in entertaining fans now, the Globetrotters have been doing it for years. Remember the bucket-of-confetti trick? How about the elastic basketball? Dancing girls. Music. The Globetrotters had that and entertained fans from the time they walked into the door of any venue all over the world since they started as "The Savoy Big Five" back in 1927.

"When the Globetrotters showed up, you had music, you had a peg-legged bass, you got Cab Calloway, you got dancers," Jackson said. "You see much of what you see that (is now) popularized in the NBA. Broadway dancers traveled with the team. The Harlem Globetrotter game was a major event. The production of sports and entertainment, night in and night out, came from the Harlem Globetrotters."

The Globetrotters have also thrilled fans with movies, television shows and cartoons for years. Now, taking a page from the Trotters, the NBA has its own entertainment with shows like "Inside Stuff'," its own cable television channel, NBA.com TV, and its own production company, "NBA Entertainment."

"Everybody went to the movies to see the Globetrotters," said Jackson, a Phoenix Suns season ticket holder. "Sidney Poitier (in "Go Man Go" in 1953) once played the lead role in one movie."

Said longtime Globetrotter "Sweet Lou" Dunbar: "Meadowlark Lemon and Curly Neal were so popular because they were on TV. We'd be on ABC Wide World of Sports, although you had to endure a little bowling first."

	“	It is long overdue. The Globetrotters have meant so much to basketball. Sometimes it takes a little time to get where you are supposed to be. ”
		— "Sweet Lou" Dunbar

Man, there isn't anything much sweeter than an Allen Iverson or Tim Hardaway crossover dribble. NBA fans definitely go wild during alley-oop passes to Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady or Vince Carter. And boy, those behind-the-back passes by Jason Kidd and Jason Williams are surely pretty. Again, the NBA has the Globetrotters to thank for that. When it came to dribbling, there weren't many better than Haynes and Neal. From seeing some very old tape of the Globetrotters recently, they were throwing alley-oops in the '50s. Passing? Look no further than the famed "Magic Circle" at midcourt with "Sweet Georgia Brown" playing in the background.

"We changed the way basketball was played and the way people thought about basketball," Jackson said.

Columbia Pictures will honor the Globetrotters soon with a movie about their history directed by Penny Marshall. A Broadway play featuring the Harlem squad is in the works, too. Rappers such as L.L. Cool J are now wearing Globetrotters jerseys in music videos, and the clothing line FUBU recently signed the team to a contract. And Jackson, Haynes, Globetrotters founder Abe Saperstein's daughter Eloise, the first female Globetrotter Lynette Woodard and Rev. Jesse Jackson are among those expected to be on hand in Springfield, Mass., on Friday for the team's Hall of Fame induction.

"It is long overdue," said Dunbar. "The Globetrotters have meant so much to basketball. Sometimes it takes a little time to get where you are supposed to be."

And it's long overdue that the NBA should honor the Globetrotters as well. One perfect moment could happen during halftime of the 2003 NBA All-Star Game in Atlanta.

For those of you who ask why, just imagine what the NBA would be like if there were no Globetrotters. Maybe there would be no NBA at all.

Marc J. Spears covers the Denver Nuggets and the NBA for The Denver Post.