Curly Neal, Globetrotters' Dazzling Dribbler, Dies at 77
He admittedly “didn’t know anything about being funny” when he joined the comedic basketball team, but he became one of its biggest stars.
Fred “Curly” Neal, whose dribbling wizardry made him one of the most well-known members of the beloved Harlem Globetrotters traveling basketball team, died on Thursday at his home near Houston. He was 77.
The team announced the death but gave no other details.
Nicknamed “Curly” upon joining the Globetrotters in a humorous nod to his shaved head, Neal played in more than 6,000 exhibition games for the Globetrotters from 1963 to 1985, mostly against the Washington Generals, their hapless foils.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/26/sports/basketball/curly-neal-dead.html
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Bring joy to those in the other realm, Curly! 
I got to see rhem live once, and they were a ton of fun. It wasn't lost on me, a white kid growing up in the Deep South, that their patsy opponents -- the Washington Generals -- were an all (or mostly all) white team.
Great entertainer and ambassador.
