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.
It’s not quite what the OP had in mind, but it’s an amazing annual match:
Soccer Aid is an English annual charity event that has raised over £137 million in aid of UNICEF UK, through ticket sales and donations from the public. The televised event is an exhibition-style football match between two teams, England and the Soccer Aid World XI (formerly Rest of the World (ROW) until 2018), composed of celebrities and former professional players representing their countries
It’s not quite the same, but future PGA star Lee Trevino started as a a golf hustler who specialized in trick shots, most famously using a 32-ounce soda bottle instead of a club. He could get a decent short drive with the bottle and then held it like a pool cue to putt using the butt end.