Harlem Globetrotters invite fans to help them break world records for 100th anniversary
The Harlem Globetrotters are hoping to celebrate their 100th anniversary in style by breaking two new Guinness World Records titles – and they need their fans’ help.
The legendary basketball team from USA is coming to The O2 in London, UK, for a special show on Tuesday 26 May, and want the crowd to help them make history.
They need 100 pairs of fans – a number chosen to mirror their centennial – to stand in two parallel lines and join hands overhead to form a human archway.
Globetrotters star Cherelle “Torch” George will then dribble a basketball for the full length of the tunnel, passing underneath the joined hands of fans in a bid to claim the record for longest basketball dribble through a human archway.
At the same time, the 200 fans will hopefully earn the record for longest sports fan tunnel as Globetrotter Lucius “Too Tall” Winston runs through the middle handing out high-fives.
Audience members will be selected at random on the day to form the tunnel, and Guinness World Records Adjudicator Will Munford will be there to oversee the attempts.
Torch became the first female Globetrotter to earn a Guinness World Records title in 2018.
Torch attempting a record
To this day, she still holds the following titles:
- Most stand up sit downs with a Guinness World Records Book balanced on the head in 30 seconds – 28
- Most basketball under the leg tumbles in one minute (female) – 32
- Most dribble turns between the leg with one hand in one minute (female) – 80
- Most behind-the-backboard basketball shots in one minute (female) – 19
- Most consecutive transfers of a spinning basketball with one continuous spin (team) – 10, shared with Fatima "TNT" Lister and Arysia "Ace" Porter
Torch said: “This is what the Globetrotters are all about, bringing people together and creating moments that last a lifetime. To set a Guinness World Records title with 200 fans, in the same year we celebrate 100 years, at one of the world's greatest arenas, there is nothing bigger than that.”
Read about more records like these ones in our Sports and Fitness section.
Too Tall currently has six records to his name:
- Most consecutive basketball alley-oop slam dunks – 24, shared with Julian “Zeus” McClurkin
- Most basketball alley-oop slam dunks in one minute – 14, shared with Julian “Zeus” McClurkin
- Most basketball layups in three minutes – 66
- Most basketball three pointers made in one minute (team) – 35, shared with Rochell "Wham" Middleton and Latif "Jet" Rivers
- Most alternate one-handed basketball bounces in one minute (two balls) – 310
- Most alternating basketball three pointers in one minute by a pair (male) – 32
Fans hoping to take part in the record attempts next week don’t need to do anything in advance, they just need to be at the show for the chance to be selected.
If the records are broken, everyone who formed the human tunnel will have the chance to buy an official Record Participant Certificate to commemorate the occasion.
Tickets for the Harlem Globetrotters 100th Anniversary show are on sale from various outlets, including The O2’s official website.