William Watson was one of the first African-American basketball players to lead an integrated team to a championship.
[1] Watson's quintet won 18-4, and he was hailed by the black Chicago Defender newspaper as a hero, despite the newspaper's preference for the all-black Wendell Phillips club.
[2] Remaining in Chicago after high school, Watson went on to become a founding member of the Giles Post Legion squad and the Savoy Big Five, both direct precursors of today's Harlem Globetrotters.
Legendary GlobeTrotters owner Abe Saperstein created a 'mirror' Globetrotters club patterned after the team founded by Watson's friend and old Wendell Phillips rival, Tommy Brookins.
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