Harlem Globetrotters out to make some memories in Salt Lake City

As a kid, Anthony "Buckets" Blakes didn't necessarily dream of one day playing for the Harlem Globetrotters, but like many who grew up in the 1980s, they were a source of entertainment for him given their omnipresent pop-culture status.

"Well, I think everybody was a Globetrotters fan, growing up," Blakes said Wednesday. "I watched 'em on 'Wide World of Sports,' 'Scooby Doo,' they were on 'Gilligan.' I thought they were doomed. I thought, 'There are going to be no more Globetrotters,' 'cause I didn't think they were gonna get off 'Gilligan's Island.' "

The basketball entertainment troupe did, in fact, return to civilization and continue to tour locations worldwide. It will make a stop in Salt Lake City at Vivint SmartHome Arena on Monday.

The Globetrotters are still making TV appearances, but these days they're on shows such as "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?" ("Actually, my teammates were smarter than a fifth-grader! I was surprised!" Blakes joked), "Amazing Race," "The Price Is Right" and "The Bachelorette."

But the point remains, as always, Blakes said, to entertain the public.

"Well, the Globetrotters are one of those family-entertainment entities where the whole family is on the same page," he said. "It's hard to get the kids, the parents and the grandparents to laugh — real hard — at the exact same thing."

Blakes grew up a three-sport star in Phoenix, ultimately focusing on hoops because "basketball was air-conditioned!" After two years of juco ball at Arizona Western College, then two more at the University of Wyoming, he went undrafted by the NBA, but still fulfilled his childhood goal of being a professional athlete by signing deals to play in the now-defunct Continental Basketball Association, the NBA Development League and various European teams.

It was at that point, he said, that a scout saw him play and reached out to his agent with an offer of a 10-day contract with the Globetrotters.

He's now been with them for 15 years.

Making the switch from purely competitive basketball to the Globetrotters' more entertainment-oriented style was a challenge at first. Learning all the tricks, the gags, an individual skills routine and the plays — yes, they run plays — was a lot to absorb, he said.

"Well, you're kinda thrown in the fire. … There's a training camp, and they'll dedicate a little bit of time to it, but most of the time is kinda remembering the plays. We have an elaborate playbook, there's a lot of intellectual aspects to it, and it's very cerebral. If you don't remember the plays or run them correctly, you're definitely gonna get hit in the nose and the face and the head with the basketball," Blakes said. "… You gotta learn your own routine, so the rookies are required to take a ball with them to their hotel rooms. … You knock over a lot of lamps and pictures trying to figure it out!"

In the end, the toughest adjustment, Blakes said, "is learning how to turn on and turn off, meaning being competitive and then entertain. … You gotta switch that multiple times during the game. You can't really have as much fun if you're losing."

Given his "Buckets" moniker, it's no surprise that Blakes' specialty is shooting. He earned a Guinness World Record by making six underhand halfcourt shots in 46 seconds. He also is known for hitting shots from places hundreds of feet above the basket.

These were also — believe it or not — skills he did not possess naturally but came to master over time.

"Obviously, I wasn't shooting halfcourt shots at the University of Wyoming or any other professional team, or actually going to the top of the Arena-Auditorium at Wyoming and shooting off the top of it. So after a while you just develop this sense of confidence that you can make any shot that you take," Blakes said. "… There's a lot more pressure, too. … You're expected to be perfect as a Globetrotter. You're not supposed to miss a thing when you're a Harlem Globetrotter."

As a former Mountain West Conference player in college, Blakes has vivid memories of games against the University of Utah and Brigham Young University, specifically when his "left pinkie toe popped out of socket" vs. the Utes, and "that bouncy floor" at the Cougars' Marriott Center, which messed up a dunk attempt, causing him to "hit the ball off the back of the rim because I'd jumped a little further and a little higher!"

These days, he said, he and his Globetrotters teammates are in the business of making vivid memories for others, even if the team isn't quite the cultural phenomenon it was in his youth, and even if there are more entertainment options to choose from than ever before.

"Most kids don't get a chance to get on a professional basketball court and dribble, take shots, make a pass, get a ball spinned on their finger, and hang out with professional teams. And also, you never know when you're gonna get pulled out of a crowd into a Globetrotters basketball game. … We sign autographs before we head into the locker room after every single game. And that's 250 cities, 48 states and 10 Canadian provinces on our North American tour where you'll get that opportunity," Blakes said. "And so I think we set ourselves aside, not only as ambassadors for the game of basketball, building bridges between cultures and countries, but getting out into the community and visiting schools and hospitals and things like that before we even come to those particular venues and play. So, all in all, that's more than enough reason to come out and watch some entertaining basketball."

ewalden@sltrib.com

Twitter: @esotericwalden

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Harlem Globetrotters

When • Monday, 7 p.m.

Where • Vivint SmartHome Arena, 301 W. South Temple, Salt Lake City

Tickets • $20-$135, Smith's Tix