Hubert "Geese" Ausbie

Hubert Eugene Ausbie was born on 25 April 1938 in Crescent, Oklahoma. As a boy he was known as Goose. At Douglas High School he played basketball and baseball, and in one tournament in his senior season he averaged 40 points a game, scoring 70, 54 and 62 points in three consecutive games.

He received more than 200 scholarship offers but chose Philander Smith College in Little Rock, Arkansas, partly because his brother was already there. He played there from 1956 to 1960, earned All-Conference and All-American honours and became one of the leading scorers in the NCAA College Division, averaging 30 points a game. In the 1959 to 1960 season he finished as the nation's third-leading scorer in that division. At Philander Smith he met his future wife, Awilda Lee.

After college Ausbie was offered a professional baseball contract by the Chicago Cubs and attracted interest from NBA teams. Instead, he set his sights on the Harlem Globetrotters, and his wife sent letter after letter about his play to the team's founder, Abe Saperstein. In 1961 he attended an open tryout at the team's training camp in Chicago and was chosen from more than 500 players. Because the Globetrotters had long been led by another Arkansan, Reece "Goose" Tatum, the team changed his nickname to Geese.

Ausbie played for the Globetrotters from 1961 to 1985, appearing in more than 100 countries. He was known for his dazzling play and irrepressible pranks; one of his best known routines was to go into the crowd, take a woman's handbag and bring her down to dance on the court. After Meadowlark Lemon left in 1978 he became the team's lead entertainer and its Clown Prince of Basketball.

He retired as a player in 1985. In 1994 he received a Globetrotters Legends ring, an honour given to only a few former players, and the following year he became the team's head coach and manager of operations. On 31 January 2017 the Globetrotters retired his number 35 jersey during a game at the arena in North Little Rock, and Philander Smith named him to the inaugural class of its Panthers Hall of Fame.

Ausbie married Awilda Lee, whom he met at Philander Smith College; they were married for 61 years until her death in 2020, and had four children. He made his home in Little Rock, Arkansas, where he was a deacon at Greater Archview Baptist Church and a Mason.

After leaving the Globetrotters he devoted much of his time to young people, running a Drug-Free Youth Program and a travelling museum of Globetrotters memorabilia that he presented to hundreds of students in Arkansas and other states. He also served on the advisory committee of the National Youth Sports Program.

Hubert Ausbie died on 8 November 2026, aged 88. The Harlem Globetrotters announced his death on 9 November, and it was reported by KATV, White River Now and other outlets. The team did not give a place or cause of death.

In a statement the Globetrotters said: "It is with great sadness that we mark the passing of Hubert 'Geese' Ausbie, one of the most influential and remarkable players in Harlem Globetrotter history. 'Geese' exemplified everything the Globetrotters are known and recognized for, and he set the standard that our stars live by today." Funeral arrangements had not been announced at the time of the reports.

For a quarter of a century Ausbie was one of the faces of the Harlem Globetrotters, carrying the team's blend of athletic skill and comedy to audiences in more than 100 countries during and after the civil rights era. His retired number 35, his Globetrotters Legends ring and his places in the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame and Arkansas Black Hall of Fame mark his standing in the sport, while his long work with young people in Arkansas made him a respected figure in his adopted home of Little Rock.