Abraham Michael Saperstein (Yiddish: אברהם מיכאל סאפערשטיין; July 4, 1902 – March 15, 1966) was the founder, owner and earliest coach of the Harlem Globetrotters.

Saperstein was born in the East End of London, England, to a Jewish family originally from Łomża, Poland.

They settled just north of the city's Jewish area, often called the “Poor Jews' quarter” because of the many struggling immigrants living there.

At Lake View High School, he played nine different sports, including baseball, basketball, football, boxing, and track.

The Chicago Reds were a semi-pro lightweight (135 lb limit) basketball team, and Saperstein played point guard.

Over the next several years, in the midst of the Great Depression, Saperstein served as the team's coach, driver, booking agent, PR director, and occasional substitute player.

On one occasion, when the players could not find a hotel in Des Moines, Iowa, they sneaked up the fire escape and slept in Saperstein's room.

[1] Following these successes, interest in the Globetrotters grew and Saperstein created two more teams in the United States, as well as an international squad.

To differentiate the ABL from the NBA – and to promote the new league – Saperstein introduced several innovations that have endured as features of modern basketball.

As commissioner of the short-lived ABL, Saperstein wanted a way to add excitement to the game and provide players with additional challenges.

"[16][17] To determine the distance the new shot line should be from the basket, Abe Saperstein and longtime DePaul University coach Ray Meyer went onto a court one day with tape and selected 25 feet as the right length.

[17] After the ABL shut down in 1963, the American Basketball Association made the three-pointer a central part of its image, creating enough competition for the NBA that the two leagues merged in 1976.

At various times, he owned the Chicago Brown Bombers, the Birmingham Black Barons, and the Cincinnati Crescents baseball teams.

At Saperstein's suggestion, Veeck eventually signed Luke Easter, Minnie Minoso, Suitcase Simpson, Satchel Paige, and Larry Doby, the American League's first black player.

[23] In a time of racial segregation and bigotry in professional sports, Saperstein proudly showcased the talents of the nation's best black basketball players.

As the integrated NBA became recognized as the country's highest level of basketball, Saperstein focused the Globetrotters on entertainment, creating a popular act that played to audiences worldwide.

[24] In the years following World War II, the Globetrotters embarked on a “goodwill tour.” Among the more memorable of those games took place in Berlin's Olympic Stadium and featured Jesse Owens, who was traveling with the team.

Owens returned to the stadium where he had won four gold medals 15 years earlier, after which Hitler famously refused to shake his hand.

Although Saperstein worried about bringing the team into the racially charged atmosphere of Berlin, Owens and the Globetrotters were greeted by 75,000 cheering fans.

"[27] In 1999, the City of Chicago erected a historical marker dedicated to Saperstein in front of the home he lived in at 3828 N. Hermitage Ave. in the Lakeview neighborhood.

In the early years, Saperstein's then-teenage brother Harry worked as a typist and secretary, sending out press releases and game schedules.

Jerry ran the international unit of the Globetrotters in the 1960s, founded the New York Sets, a charter franchise of World Team Tennis, and owned the San Francisco Shamrocks of the Pacific Hockey League.

[29][30] He then served as the first vice president at Madison Square Garden Corporation, reporting directly to the then-Chairman Sonny Werblin.

Eloise established a non-profit organization, the Abe Saperstein Foundation, designed to advance opportunities through sports for Chicago's youth, and she also was the first woman ever certified as an NBA player representative.

"He had more energy than the Grand Coulee Dam," wrote Chuck Menville in The Harlem Globetrotters: An Illustrated History.