Marques Haynes (March 10, 1926 – May 22, 2015) was an American professional basketball player and member of the Harlem Globetrotters, notable for his ability to dribble the ball and keep it away from defenders.
[4] In a February 1945 conference tournament game, Haynes showed off his dribbling skills for more than two minutes, running down the clock on a solid lead to ridicule an opponent, Southern University, which had run up the score against an inferior team (Sam Huston College, later Huston–Tillotson University, coached by a young Jackie Robinson) in a previous round.
[5][6] Haynes' own coach, the legendary Zip Gayles, threatened to kick him off the team for his showboating display,[7] but it got an immense response from the crowd at the game.
In that game, Haynes led Langston to a 4-point win, catching the eye of team owner Abe Saperstein in the process.
[3][9] Prior to joining the Globetrotters, Haynes briefly played for the Kansas City Stars of the Black Professional Basketball League.
[5][10] He also toured South America with the Globetrotters and played a series of exhibition games against some of the top college basketball teams in the United States.
[5] Despite a series of legal battles with Saperstein, Haynes attended his funeral in 1966, although he later joked he was only there to "make sure he didn't jump out of the casket".
[12] Haynes retired in 1992 after a 46-year professional career, and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1998,[13] the first Globetrotter to be so honored.