Former Harlem Globetrotters bring lessons to Minnesota kids

(KMSP) - It's basketball season, and gyms everywhere are buzzing with games, practices and tournaments.

In a small church in Brooklyn Park, two former college basketball players with experience in the professional leagues are teaching kids about the sport.

Reggie Perkins and Tim Williams have been playing or coaching basketball their entire lives, and they both still work at high schools. Williams is a Behavior Interventionist at Patrick Henry High and Perkins is Athletic Director at Washburn High.  They also have a small company called Super 60 Sports where they teach skills, drills and a lot about life.  

They've lived a lot of basketball and they lived the Harlem Globetrotter experience for a few years, too. Perkins played for the Globetrotters, and Williams was a Harlem Ambassador. Knowing that history and their own love of the game, they wanted to pass that along. "[Basketball] teaches you so many life lessons - how to interact with people, character building, social skills," Williams said.  

The Globetrotters themselves changed the face of basketball with an interesting connection to Minneapolis. In 1948, the Globetrotters played the all-white Minneapolis Lakers (the future Los Angeles Lakers) and beat them, and that was the beginning of de-segregation in the sport.