Marques Haynes

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Marques Haynes (born October 3, 1926) is an American former professional basketball player and member of the Harlem Globetrotters, notable for his remarkable ability to dribble the ball and keep it away from defenders. According to Harlem Globetrotters: Six Decades of Magic(1988)[1], Haynes could dribble the ball as many as six times a second.

Haynes learned to dribble the basketball from his sisters, and perhaps was aided by the skill of handling the ball on the dirt courts of his hometown. A native of Sand Springs, Oklahoma, he joined the Globetrotters after four years at Langston University (1942-46). While at Langston, he once dribbled out the clock in a conference tournament game to ridicule an opponent who had run up the score against an inferior Huston State team coached by a young coach. Haynes' own coach reprimanded him for the showboating display, but it helped draw the attention of the Globetrotters, always on the search for trick ballhandlers.

Haynes left the Globetrotters in 1953 (after turning down a $35,000 a year offer from the Philadelphia Warriors that would have made him the second-highest paid player in the NBA), founding his own barnstorming team, the Harlem Magicians. Boxing legend Sugar Ray Robinson sometimes played exhibitions with this team. Haynes later rejoined the Globetrotters as a player/coach. He also played for the Harlem Wizards. He retired in 1992 after a 46-year professional career, and was inducted to the Basketball Hall of Fame on October 2, 1998. He now resides in Dallas, Texas. Many consider him the premier ballhandler who ever lived, and his game influenced players such as Bob Cousy, Pete Maravich, and Fred "Curly" Neal. It is possible that Haynes has played more professional basketball games than anyone in history, staying active well into his sixties.