Curly

Frederick "Curly" Neal was born on May 19, 1942 in Greensboro, North Carolina

He was one of the most memorable basketball players who played with the Harlem Globetrotters. Following in the footsteps of Marques Haynes, Neal became the Trotters' featured ballhandler, a key role in the team's exhibition act.

Born in Greensboro, North Carolina, Neal attended James B. Dudley High School and Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, North Carolina from 1959 to 1963. At Smith, he averaged 23.1 points a game and was named All-Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) guard.

Neal played for 22 seasons (from 1963 to 1985) with the Globetrotters, appearing in more than 6,000 games in 97 countries. His shaved head earned him his nickname, a reference to the Three Stooges' Curly Howard. In the 1970s, an animated version of Neal starred with various other Globetrotters in the Hanna-Barbera animated cartoon Harlem Globetrotters as well as its spinoff, The Super Globetrotters, The New Scooby-Doo Movies and Gilligan's Island. On March 26, 2020, Neal died at his home outside Houston at the age of 77.