Same here. I don’t think it’s exaggerating that, in the 1970s, the Globetrotters and some of their stars – Meadowlark Lemon, Curly Neal, Geese Ausbie – were the best-known professional basketball players in the U.S.
It was an era in which the NBA had a ton of issues: the war with the ABA had diluted their talent, they didn’t have many marketable stars, there were drug scandals, and their TV ratings were bad – to the point that NBA playoff games weren’t even shown on live TV, but were tape-delayed and shown on CBS late at night (after the late local news).
There was also The Queen and Her Court women’s fast-pitch softball team. I recall seeing footage of their pitcher striking out opposing batters when pitching from second base.