Then-Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, center and, from left, Hammer Harrison, Handles Franklin, Paul ‘Tiny’ Sturgess, TNT Maddox and Cheese Chisholm of the Harlem Globetrotters pose after crossing the Brooklyn Bridge using pink basketballs to show their support for National Breast Cancer Awareness on Oct. 3, 2012. Photo by Bryan Bedder/Invision for Harlem Globetrotters/AP Images
He was not an All American — and he proudly admits it.
Yet, he captained his collegiate basketball team.
“I sacrificed for the role of the team,” Cheese Chisholm told the Brooklyn Eagle. “I played point guard and was not the shooter.”
Chisholm — his real first name is Brawley — played basketball at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind.
And, for the last 13 years. Chisholm has been a member of the Harlem Globetrotters. That is quite a trip from P.S. 237 in Brownsville.
“It’s been a journey,” says the man with the smile that lights up a room. “There was two years at a junior college in Texas before entering Ball State.”
High school in New York for Chisholm consisted of one day at De Witt Clinton in The Bronx. “My mom pulled me after that day,” he remembered. “It was a small school in Mississippi after that.”
It was basketball that remained the common thread throughout the journey. His touring the country attending school prepped him for his life with the Trotters.
But when he graduated Ball State with a degree in communications, well, he thought basketball might be a thing of the past.
“I sent my tapes and resume overseas,” he said, “No luck. And I knew I had no chance with the NBA.”
But then, fate intervened in the persons of the Globetrotters.
“I asked a local basketball scout about trying out for the Trotters,” he said, “And was told the tryouts were the very next day.
“If anything,” he says, “besides my basketball skills, I have personality.” The Globies thought the same, and he’s been a member since 2011.
“I’ve had…
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