From the moment Patrick “Flip” Atkins walked into North Lawndale College Prep wearing his iconic Harlem Globetrotters warm-up suit, he found himself the focus of snapping cellphone cameras, autograph requests and exuberant hugs.
Not from the students, though. They had been gone for hours.
The rock star reception came from the high school faculty, the people who helped the hardworking, studious teen become a member of one of the world’s most recognizable teams.
Atkins returned to his alma mater recently for the first time since joining the Globetrotters in October. It also marked his first visit since earning his college degree — an achievement that meant more to his former teachers and coaches than playing for the clown princes of basketball.
The North Lawndale educators, without exception, congratulated him on his diploma first, then talked about his studies at Trinity International University in Deerfield. But there was clearly excitement over his new job, too, as the teachers asked him to pose for photos and sign pictures. Several also giddily requested lessons on how to spin the Globetrotters’ trademark red-white-and-blue basketball on their index fingers.
Atkins grinned and obliged everyone, even as it grew dark outside and he still had some work obligations to fulfill.
“I’ll smile for as many pictures as they want,” he said. “These teachers helped make me who I am. They view my success as their success, and I can’t ever forget that.”
At 22, Atkins is the youngest member of a team whose storied history dates to 1926 on Chicago’s South Side. Though the Globetrotters may no longer dominate pop culture as they did decades ago — when they had their own Saturday morning cartoon and visited “Gilligan’s Island” — the team’s popularity has endured as it broke its own attendance records in 2010 and 2011 by attracting more than 1 million fans each year.
The team scouts a few hundred college players each year, looking for those with the right mix of basketball skills and showmanship. A roster spot represents more than just a job. It’s a chance to both see and entertain the world, with the Globetrotters slated to play more than 370 games in North America, Europe and Asia this year.
As the team embarked on its 86th world tour last week, Atkins found himself reflecting more and more on the people who helped make this upcoming journey possible. Every little boy on the West Side dreams of a bigger, better life, he said. And he understood early on that he could not realize those dreams by himself.
Always an athletic child growing up in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood, Atkins’ life took a critical turn at age 12 when his mother, Trixie Smith, caught him doing a flip off a garage roof. In an effort to find a safer outlet for his fearless energy, Smith encouraged him to try out for the Jesse White Tumbling Team. He won a spot and, like all members, agreed to maintain good grades and keep out of trouble as a condition of performing with the troupe.
The Tumblers offered Atkins, whose father had moved to Texas, a safe haven at an age when some Austin boys are swept away by the seedier side of inner-city life. The squad also gave him a male role model, as Atkins regularly turned to the team’s founder, Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White, for advice and discipline.
After a few years with the team, Atkins assumed the troupe’s “Superman” position, the show-stopping acrobat who ends the performance by flipping over a line of 20 tumblers. He loved to hear the crowd gasp at the feat, then break into wild, appreciative applause.
“Patrick was always a playful, joyful boy,” White said. “He liked to play pranks. He was mischievous but never caused any real trouble.”
Atkins transferred to North Lawndale Prep, a charter school that serves underprivileged communities, as a junior and joined the basketball team. He was a defensive specialist on a squad that finished second in the state his senior year.
Coach Lewis Thorpe, however, was more impressed by Atkins’ off-court actions. He recalled once asking his star player to share tumbling tips with his niece. Atkins ended up spending more than three hours — about 10 times longer than Thorpe expected — helping the young girl with her routine.
“He was a hardworking, respectful kid,” Thorpe said. “If you asked him to run through a wall, he’d do it as fast and as hard as he could.”
Inspired by an entrepreneurship class he took in high school, Atkins enrolled at Trinity International University after high school and majored in business. He helped pay his tuition with money he received from the Jesse White Tumblers’ scholarship program.
He also was a standout on the school’s basketball team, where he scored more than 1,000 career points. In addition to leading the Trinity Trojans in rebounds and assists his junior and senior years, the 5-foot-9 Atkins ranked No. 1 in steals in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Conference.
With his collegiate eligibility winding down, Atkins turned his attention to the Globetrotters. He had worked out at a local basketball gym with then-Globetrotter Jermaine “Hi Rise” Brown when he was a sophomore, and Brown encouraged him to consider the team once he graduated.
At the time, Atkins only vaguely knew about the team. He had never attended a game or seen them on television. He searched for videos on YouTube and couldn’t believe what he saw: skilled athletes playing hard, pulling pranks and wowing crowds with seemingly impossible tricks.
The videos showed his two passions — basketball and entertaining crowds — combined in a way Atkins never knew existed. He wanted to be a part of it.
After a two-day tryout in September, which focused far more on basketball skills than tricks, Atkins was one of 10 rookies offered a spot. As part of the team’s tradition of giving nicknames to its players, he was dubbed “Flip” by the organization.
“It’s like a dream come true,” he said. “I have a job where I can put smiles on people’s faces and make families happy wherever we go.”
Atkins already has traveled with the team to Guam and Japan to entertain U.S. troops. Though the team appeared in Chicago on Friday, Atkins was playing in Baltimore that night. Tickets sales are strong enough in North America that the team can support two squads touring at once.
The closest he will get to home is Jan. 17, when he plays in Valparaiso, Ind. Though he wishes he could have played in Chicago, Atkins said it’s hard for Globetrotters to feel homesick.
“We’re the world’s home team,” he said. “Every place we play feels like home because the fans are always cheering for us.”
As he travels around the country, Atkins plans to stay in touch with White, who has taken a pragmatic approach to his protege’s success. When Atkins first told him about making the Globetrotters, White laid out some expectations for him: Spend your money wisely, be safe and give back to the community.
“I expect him to help others just like people helped him,” White said. “He did not get here on his own.”
Atkins appeared to take those words to heart on his visit to North Lawndale Prep. After greeting teachers, he learned the school plans to have geography classes track his travels with the Globetrotters, a move that will teach the students about new places and show them what’s possible if they apply themselves.
“Really?” Atkins asked, as tears sprung to his eyes and he stopped to collect his emotions. “If I can inspire these kids, I’ll feel like I’m repaying everyone who inspired me. That makes me want to go out and play even harder.”
