A Redlands Connection is a concoction of sports memories emanating from a city that once numbered less than 20,000 people. From pro football’s Super Bowl to baseball’s World Series, from dynamic soccer’s World Cup to golf’s and tennis’ U.S. Open, major auto racing, plus NCAA Final Four connections, Tour de France cycling, more major tennis like Wimbledon, tiny connections to that NBA and a little NHL, major college football, Kentucky Derby, aquatics and Olympic Games, that sparkling little city sits around halfway between Los Angeles and Palm Springs on Interstate 10. — Obrey Brown.
REDLANDS – Mike Darnold was a curious “connection.”
Throw in football’s Jim Weatherwax and Brian DeRoo.
Villanova basketball coach Jay Wright showed up here, with his team, one Saturday morning in 2003.
“Black” Jack Gardner left here in 1928.
Jerry Tarkanian lifted off from here in 1961.
How many Redlands Connections can there be?
It’s a basis for that Blog site, www.obreybrown.com. Dedicated to an idea that there’s a connection from Redlands to almost every major sporting event, athletic lovers should check on it.
The afore-mentioned have already been featured. There have been others. Plenty of others.
Golf. Track & field. Tennis. Baseball and basketball. Softball and soccer. The Olympic Games and the Kentucky Derby. The Super Bowl? Yes.
For a city this size, connections to all of those are remarkable.
Softball’s Savannah Jaquish left Redlands East Valley for Louisiana State, later made Team USA.
Bob Karstens was just shooting a few baskets, using a few balls, shooting entertainingly at those outdoor Redlands High courts. Turned out he was one of three white men ever to play for the usually all-black Harlem Globetrotters.
Brian Billick coached a Terrier Hall of Famer. Together, they won a Super Bowl.
Brian Billick, a key Redlands Connection.
Speaking of Super Bowls, not only was a former Redlands High player involved in the first two NFL championship games, there was a head referee who stood behind first championship QBs Bart Starr and Lenny Dawson. That referee got his original start in Redlands.
One of racing’s fastest Top Fuel dragsters is a Redlands gal, Leah Pritchett.
Leah Pritchett has punched her Top Fuel dragster over 330 mph many times.
Greg Horton forcefully blocked some of football’s greatest legends for a near-Super Bowl team.
At a high school playoff game at Redlands High in 1996, Alta Loma High showed up to play a quarterfinals match. It was Landon Donovan of Redlands taking on Carlos Bocanegra, future teammates on a USA World Cup side.
Karol Damon’s high-jumping Olympic dreams weren’t even known to her mother. She wound up in Sydney, 2000.
There are so many more connections.
A surfing legend.
Besides Landon Donovan, there’s another soccer dynamo.
When this year’s Indianapolis 500 rolls around, we’ll tell you about a guy named “Lucky Louie.”
Fifteen years before he won his first Masters, Tiger Woods played a 9-hole exhibition match at Redlands Country Club.
University of Arizona softball, one of the nation’s greatest programs, was home to a speedy outfielder.
As for DeRoo, he was present for one of the pro football’s darkest moments on the field.
In 1921, an Olympic gold medalist showed up and set five world records in Redlands.
The Redlands Bicycle Classic might have carved out of that sport’s most glorious locations – set in motion by a 1986 superstar squad.
Distance-running sensation Mary Decker was taken down by a onetime University of Redlands miler.
Collegiate volleyball probably never had a greater athlete from this area.
As for Darnold, consider that the one-time University of Redlands blocker is the father of Sam Darnold, a USC quarterback who was the NFL’s 2018 No. 1 draft selection.
Jaquish, that REV star, became a first-ever 4-time NCAA Division 1 All-American at talent-rich LSU.
Jacob Nottingham, drafted a few years ago by the Houston Astros, probably never knew he’d be part of two “Moneyball” deals.
Gardner, who coached against Bill Russell in the collegiate ranks, tried to recruit Wilt Chamberlain to play at Kansas State. Gardner graduated Redlands High way, way back.
Wright, whose team went into the March 31-April 2 weekend in 2018 hoping to win an NCAA championship for the third time, brought his team to play the Bulldogs as sort of a warm-up test for a pre-season tournament in Hawaii.
Tarkanian? Few might’ve known that legend, Tark the Shark, started chewing on towels while he was coaching at Redlands High.
Norm Schachter was head referee in three Super Bowls, including Green Bay’s inaugural championship win over Kansas City.
Norm Schacter, wearing No. 60 (not his normal official number), synchronizes with Kansas City Chiefs’ Hall of Fame coach Hank Stram during halftime of the inaugural Super Bowl in 1967.
Speaking of Tarkanian, Weatherwax played hoops for him at Redlands. Eight years later, Weatherwax wore jersey No. 73 at Green Bay. It makes him the only man to ever play for Tarkanian and Vince Lombardi.
A Redlands Connection is a concoction of sports memories emanating from a city that once numbered less than 20,000 people. From pro football’s Super Bowl to baseball’s World Series, from dynamic soccer’s World Cup to golf’s and tennis’ U.S. Open, major auto racing, plus NCAA Final Four connections, Tour de France cycling, more major tennis like Wimbledon, tiny connections to that NBA and a little NHL, major college football, Kentucky Derby, aquatics and Olympic Games, that sparkling little city sits around halfway between Los Angeles and Palm Springs on Interstate 10. It is a reality that almost every major sport, plus a bunch of others, can be connected to Redlands. This story’s connector has connected in a far away expectation anyone could imagine. – Obrey Brown
BACK IN THE LATE 1990s, an older man was spotted shooting baskets at the outdoor courts at Redlands High School. A few feet away, a high school baseball game was about to take place. The man shooting baskets, who looked around his 80s, was shooting hook shots from half court. Repeat that: Hook shots from half court. A man in his 80s? Remarkably, if they didn’t swish through the net, his shots at least hit the rim.
It was startling to meet Bob Karstens.
There he was, from the top of the key, he hiked the ball through his legs – in the manner of a football center – at the hoop. Again, if his shots didn’t go in, they were close.
At one point, he broke out three basketballs, dribbling them simultaneously, as if he were a hoops-playing magician. I was waiting to cover a high school baseball game a couple hundred feet away. Something was up with this elderly man, though. I couldn’t take my eyes off his activity.
Friendly. Outgoing. Gentle. The man spoke in respectful terms.
“I’m Obrey Brown. I write for the local newspaper, about to cover that baseball game over there. Saw what you were doing and decided to come over.”
Bob Karstens, photographed around 1942 and ’43, during which time he was one of three white men to play for the all-Black Harlem Globetrotters. (Photo by Harlem Globetrotters.)
Yes, he introduced himself. “Bob,” I told him, “it’s nice to meet you.”
“Thanks. Likewise.”
There was something different. I had an eerie, inner sense. We continued to chat, this smallish man who stood a couple inches shorter than my 5-foot-10 height, seemed to brighten up when I told him I was from the local newspaper.
“You might be interested in this …” he started saying.
After three decades in the newspaper business, it’s a phrase I heard often enough from folks seeking publicity. Usually, it might come from a pushy parent, or a publicity-seeking coach, or a public relations/Sports Information Director informing me about a once-in-a-lifetime story that I just couldn’t miss. Hey, I came after him, though. Okay, Bob, finish what you were saying. “I might be interested in this – in what, Bob?”
Karstens, who was standing in front of me, was not Black. As a matter of fact, without his shirt on, I could tell that he needed a little sun. It pays to listen, though. Outwardly, his sunless white guy mentioned he spent a season playing for the Harlem Globetrotters.
In case you’re wondering, the Globies were a dedicated Black man hoops squad.
“I spent a year with them back in the 1940s,” Karstens explained, “during the war.” It was, he told me, legendary Reece “Goose” Tatum was taken into the Army. The Globetrotters needed a clown prince.
Harlem Globetrotters’ Clown Prince Reece “Goose” Tatum went into the military in 1942, opening up a spot for Bob Karstens, who became one of three white players ever to suit up for basketball’s magicians. (Photo by Blackthen.com.)
Abe Saperstein, the Hall of Fame founder and orchestrator of the ‘Trotters, apparently tapped Bob on the shoulder and said, “You’re it.”
Abe Saperstein, the Hall of Fame founder of the Harlem Globetrotters, was the man who signed Bob Karstens to fill in for Goose Tatum during the 1942-43 season. (Photo by Wikipedia Commons.)
Karstens himself had been a gifted ball handler from the House of David (Benton, Mich.), the famous traveling bearded baseball team that barnstormed the country. Not much known for anything in sports beyond baseball, Karstens told me, the House of David had dabbled in some hoops play during the late 1930s and into the 1940s.
Here’s the rub: I didn’t necessarily believe Bob, not at first. In my business, you’ve got to hold people at arm’s length when they tell you curious stories. I could, literally, share experiences about people that turned out to be half-true. Or true for a week, but not the next. Or outright false. Still, there was something genuine about Bob.
Suddenly, I placed covering that high school baseball game in my back pocket. Bob invited me over to his house a couple blocks away – down Roosevelt, across Cypress, over onto Lytle. When Bob opened his garage door, he led me to three huge boxes full of stuff.
It was full of Harlem Globetrotters’ memorabilia. Suddenly, all my doubts about this guy ended in a hurry. Karstens, I could see, was standing in photos with Saperstein, Tatum, Meadowlark Lemon, a bunch of well-known Globies … and WILT CHAMBERLAIN!
Suddenly, my notebook was produced. Pen in hand, scribbling madly, all the ramblings and utterings he’d voiced over at the high school – you know, when I didn’t originally believe him — started getting recorded. I had a lot of catch-up to do, including asking a bunch more questions.
“How long have you lived in Redlands?”
“Where’d you learn to play basketball?”
“What kind of money did you make?”
“Did you really start that pre-game Magic Circle routine?”
Truthfully, I didn’t have to ask many questions. Bob was spinning tale after tale. Just follow along, Obrey. Keep listening. Keep writing. What a story – and I had it! My pen just had to keep up with his stories. Reporters came along later and fabricated the idea that they’d uncovered this man, somehow sniffing out a story that I had handed to me by the man himself.
Karstens, who was from Davenport, Iowa, took over for that Army-bound Tatum on the ‘Trotters’ 1942-43 roster. Any memory of the ‘Trotters will instantly recall their legendary pre-game introductions at center court, dubbed the Magic Circle pre-game routine.
It’s recorded: This was Karstens’ invention. He organized this ritual. He played on the all-Black ‘Trotters eight years before even the NBA was integrated. Part of the ‘Trotters’ history is that playing doubleheaders with those early NBA teams, thus allowing this relatively unknown league to grow into prosperity.
Also this: Karstens invented the “goof” ball, the ball that bounces in all different directions because of various weights placed inside, plus he invented the “yo-yo” ball. Seasoned ‘Trotter fans know the routines well.
This guy lived in Redlands?
He loaned me some photos from his stash for my next day’s sports section. I had a gold mine of a notebook – quotes, stories, photos and prime history. I sent our photographer, Lee Calkins, over to Bob’s house for an updated mug shot of my new best friend; the guy I had originatedly cynically, though silently, doubted. I made up with myself, though.
Karstens. The Globetrotters. Tatum. Saperstein. Chamberlain. A bunch of brilliant players. Once Tatum returned from the service, Karstens returned to the sidelines. Leave it to the ‘Trotters, though, to promote someone on their all-Black team that wasn’t Black!
Karstens, for his part, stayed on as ‘Trotters’ team manager until 1954, having coached the infamous Washington Generals along the way. That team was the ‘Trotters’ nightly opponent. After leaving the ‘Trotters (changes in management, pay, plus family, always on the road), Karstens went into construction. By 1994, he was inducted into the ‘Trotters’ Hall of Fame.
At 89, Karstens died on Dec. 31, 2004. I covered his Redlands funeral that was attended by former ‘Trotter players Geese Ausbie and Govonor Vaughn. When that pair of retired Globies took their turn at Karstens’ services, Ausbie looked down at Bob’s widow, Pauline, asking, “Did anyone bring a ball?”
It was classic clowning, a special moment for a departed member of their legendary team. A wife, three sons and four grandchildren were among Karstens’ attending survivors in a fully side service. There were plenty of funeral onlookers. This man had quite a following at the Church of the Nazarene.
The ball? Vaughn smoked his former teammate, Ausbie, a shadow ball pass. To those in attendance at this church — corner of Citrus and Grove — this couldn’t have been a better sendoff. Shadow ball, incidentally, is an invisible ball. One guy pretends to throw it, another guy pretends to catch it. If the right group of guys are performing this, it’s highly entertaining. This was, apparently, Bob’s ball entry into Heaven.
Looking back, there were personal stories about track legend Jesse Owens and baseball’s amazing Jackie Robinson — Karstens right in the middle of everything. Bob told me that he ran into both of those sports legends on the railroad. A railroad conductor once asked him to depart from the Blacks-only section of the train. The Globetrotters were the most powerful basketball team in the world during the 1940s, long before the NBA produced its eventual gold mine of hoops-playing legends.
It was, of course, always a delight to watch them play. Probably few know the full history of Saperstein’s original creation from the 1920s.
The ‘Trotters are a full century old. A small portion of their rich history had surfaced about an hour’s drive east of Los Angeles, in Redlands – a long way from Harlem, a New York City suburb.
“I had the skills to fit in and do the tricks,” Karstens said.
Showed at an old age on that outdoor court at Redlands High.
