By Nico Van Thyn, Journal Sports
The globetrotting man from Minden is making news … again.
Louis Dunbar, or as he has been known to the world of basketball for more than five decades, “Sweet Lou” Dunbar.
This is the 100th-year anniversary of the Harlem Globetrotters — who were in Bossier City on Tuesday night, beating their always hapless opponent — and the February issue of Sports Illustrated honors the occasion with a story titled, “Still Hot to Trot.”
The featured Globetrotter — as he has been for about half of their existence — is Sweet Lou Dunbar, who remains a legendary star.
The story by SI senior writer L. Jon Wertheim — who also is a regular television correspondent for CBS’s 60 Minutes — includes a three-page question-and-answer with Dunbar.
When Wertheim lists “familiar faces” with the ‘Trotters, he writes, “None more than Lou Dunbar. ‘Sweet Lou’ was a hell of a player in his day, a 6’9” forward named Mr. Basketball in his home state of Louisiana. He then played for the University of Houston shortly after the Elvin Hayes era, averaging more than 22 points a game. He was a fourth-round pick by the Sixers in the 1975 NBA draft, but when he wasn’t given enough minutes for his liking in NBA training camps, he decided to join Meadowlark Lemon, Geese Ausby, Curly Neal, et al., on the Globetrotters. He’d not only have more fun, he’d make more money.
“Marrying his basketball skills with an irrepressible smile, Dunbar would become a fixture for 27 seasons, one of only eight Globetrotters to have his jersey retired. (He’s also done turns on The Love Boat and Family Feud.)
“Almost a half century later, he’s still a front-facing figure. At age 72, he is currently the director of personnel and a coach of one of the teams, which sometimes includes overseeing his son, Lou Dunbar Jr., d/b/a Sweet Lou II, who wears his father’s No. 41 jersey.”
In this story, Wertheim asks Sweet Lou, “Where are we catching you?” The answer: London. Lately, though, the answer would be back in Louisiana as the Globetrotters makedd the rounds here.
But, of course, he’s been all over the world. He notes, deep into the Q-and-A, that he’s been to about 95 countries. But he’s still on the move, still traveling, although his home base has been Houston for decades.
It’s a long road from Minden, where he first drew notice as a high school star at old Webster High in the late 1960s/early 1970s. As he said to Wertheim, “I wasn’t bad.”
Put together a short list of the greatest male basketball talent from across North Louisiana, and Dunbar has to be on it.
In the Minden days is where his rivalry — but a very friendly one — began with Robert Parish. They were born 22 days apart in August 1953 (Dunbar is older) — and as players they were only three inches apart, Parish a 7-footer.
They faced each other in seven games, first in the all-black high school organization (LIALO) — Webster vs. Union High — and then in college — Houston vs. Centenary.
And while Parish is a Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer, Dunbar also has many Hall of Fame honors, including the Globetrotters’ Hall and the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame (Class of 2020).
Dunbar for many years was the Globetrotters’ “clown prince,” the main source of entertainment on (and often off) the floor.
As John James Marshall wrote in a 1992 Shreveport Times story, “the one thing that Dunbar has always had is the personality. That smile. That chatter.”
“It was probably meant for me,” Dunbar said then of his ‘Trotters’ role. “Performing has always come natural.”
In the current Sports Illustrated story, Sweet Lou provides a history of the Globetrotters and discusses the foundation of what keeps them popular.
“… We’ve got the lights, we’ve got the glitter, and we still got the tradition running,” he said. “We’re still good, clean, wholesome entertainment, and that’s what kept us around 100 years.”
Contact Nico at nvanthyn@aol.com