Chicago Legion post that helped establish future Harlem Globetrotters still active today.
The South Side of Chicago, as with other old city districts, is full of the history of its residents and immensely proud of it. There are namesake memorials, roads, bridges – and, more recently, honorary street signs to accompany official names.
A new one was added on May 6 at the corner of Giles Avenue and Pershing Road: Honorary Harlem Globetrotters Way. Wendell Phillips Academy High School, located on that corner, was the home of the original group of basketball players who formed a semi-pro team in 1926 and later became the world-famous Globetrotters. And their first sponsor was another South Side institution: Giles American Legion Post 87.
A pre-dedication ceremony was held in the school gym. Present were current students, players’ family members, school alumni and Globetrotter alumni, some of whom did their famous ball tricks to the delight of the crowd. David Ali of the Wendell Phillips Alumni Association served as emcee and described his feelings on not seeing the school – or Chicago – represented in talk of the Globetrotters’ upcoming centennial: “99 years … and you’re not in the yearbook!” [The team has never been based in Harlem – the name was adopted by agent Abe Saperstein, to borrow from the New York neighborhood’s cultural cachet.]
“Eight guys that came from this school,” Ali stated, concluding on the original idea before everyone went outside to unveil the sign, “I thought the Globetrotters should have a sign on Giles.”
Among those seated behind the podium were two Post 87 members: Ken Smith Sr., a past commander, and Frances Johnson. The post and the avenue are named for the same man: Lt. George Giles, killed by shrapnel in France in October 1918. The new basketball team first played under Post 87’s banner as the South Side Giles Team before gaining their fame. While the post – today located about 3 miles south of the school – prepared for an open house after the dedication, Smith said that even decades after the Globetrotters took off members would stop by, as Chicago remained a travel hub.
Post 87 was founded in 1919 and met at members’ houses until 1942, when American Legion founder Earl Dickerson helped buy an 1892 horse stable that was converted into the post’s current home; Dickerson asked them to name the post after his friend Giles rather than himself. Both have portraits at the post, and both are honored at the Victory Monument – as members of the Eighth Regiment of the Illinois National Guard, an African American unit that served in France – at 35th Street and Martin Luther King Drive, which Legion representatives place a wreath at every Memorial Day.
Another past commander, Ashley Shine, said the post currently has about 170 members, 80% of whom are over 65, and is working on acquiring a lift to be able to access their second floor and expand their current activities. COVID heavily affected those activities, which included free meals for veterans on the fourth Sunday of the month, the presentation of school ROTC medals, and coat drives and other assistance for children in the public housing down the street. “I don’t think in 1919 they thought we’d still be here in 2025,” he commented, “but we want to still be here in another 100 years.”
Del Marie Carr and her party were early arrivals at the open house. Carr is from Detroit; her father, Ernest Wagner, was a Globetrotter in the 1950s and 1960s. He went on USO tours of Korea and other locations and was a visitor to Post 87. Carr said of her trip, “I’m just glad to be able to see the history.”
- Honor & Remembrance