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Friday, March 29, 2024

Globetrotter “Zeus” visits Hayes Taylor YMCA

Special to the Peacemaker / March 25, 2022

Second grader Shylar Shuffner spins a basketball while Globetrotter Zeus McClurkin applauds her accomplishment. Photo by Joe Daniels/Carolina Peacemaker.

(L-R) Hayes-Taylor YMCA Board Chairman Paul Jones presents a plaque to Harlem Globetrotter Julian “Zeus” McClurkin. Larry Burnett, YMCA Director (right). Phot by Joe Daniels/Carolina Peacemaker.

A member of the World Famous Harlem Globetrotters for the past 10 seasons, Julian “Zeus” McClurkin gave a basketball handling drill and empowerment speech Tuesday afternoon to children at Hayes-Taylor YMCA.

McClurkin’s biggest message to the children was to never give up on your dreams.

McClurkin is a testament to not giving up or letting obstacles get in the way of achieving one’s dreams. He was cut from every basketball team he tried out for from seventh grade through tenth grade, but he kept pushing and finally made his high school team his junior and senior seasons. He played his first couple of years of college ball at a Division II program, but the departure of the head coach left McClurkin on the outside looking in.

Undeterred, he enrolled at North Carolina A&T State University, and he made the basketball team as a walk-on, beating out 30 other hopefuls in the process. McClurkin earned an undergraduate degree in business management at North Carolina A&T and then a master’s degree in marketing and communications from Franklin University, based in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio.

McClurkin is also one of the most decorated athletes on the Globetrotters roster holding six Guinness World Record titles. McClurkin has set the mark for most basketball slam dunks in one minute, with 16 (2017), most bounced three-pointers in one minute, with five (2017), and most behind-the-back three-pointers, with three baskets made (2018).




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Since 1967, the Carolina Peacemaker has served as North Carolina’s leading news weekly with a national reputation. Founded by Dr. John Kilimanjaro, the newspaper is published by Carolina Newspaper, Inc.

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