September 21, 2005

Kline\'s world travels bring him home to Hall of Fame

When Johnny Kline was, well, globetrotting with the Harlem Globetrotters in the 1950s, he didn\'t realize what he was a part of. When you\'re in your 20s, you\'re thinking about having fun and little else. It wasn\'t until years later, when NBC\'s Tim Russert reported that China \'s Madame Chiang Kai-Shek had died at the age of 105, that Kline knew life had taken him on a special trip. "I told my brother, who I was watching TV with, that I knew that lady,\" Kline said Tuesday. \"I had lunch with her and her husband in 1953 and 1956."We were in their temple or castle, whatever you call it, as members of the Harlem Globetrotters. Looking back, this was a tremendous adventure.\" Kline, now 73, fully realizes the impact of his latest accomplishment. On Thursday night, Kline, an All-American basketball player at Wayne University (now Wayne State ) before his Globetrotters days, and eight others will be inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame at Cobo Hall.

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