On 5 January 1971, Louis Herman Klotz did something that no basketballer has dared repeat.

In front of a disbelieving audience in the city of Martin, Tennessee, the man known as Red broke one of the most sacred unwritten rules in sport. As player-coach for the Washington Generals, Klotz shot the winning basket against the Harlem Globetrotters.

Everybody knows the Generals arent supposed to beat the Globetrotters.

"They looked at us like wed just killed Santa," Klotz would claim, as jeers rang around the university gymnasium.

Over more than 50 years since, the Globetrotters have been ruthless in meting out their revenge. To the unmistakable melody of Sweet Georgia Brown, theyve showboated their way to victory at the expense of hapless Generals whove never again beaten their illustrious opponents.

In contrast to the universal adulation enjoyed by the Globetrotters, those wearing the Generals infamously unsuccessful green jerseys are booed, ridiculed, and dunked on during defeat, after defeat, after defeat.

They are the rarest of sporting commodities: the underdogs youre not supposed to root for. So why would anyone want to play for the Washington Generals?

"I had the time of my life playing with this team," recalls Antoine Maddox, a Generals shooting guard between 2007 and 2010. "Youre travelling with one of the most famous teams in the world. Thats pretty awesome."

Maddoxs first memory of the Washington Generals was on a career placement day at his high school in LaGrange, Georgia. Having told his teachers he wanted to be a basketballer, Maddox was given the opportunity to shadow Sweet Lou Dunbar, the legendary Harlem Globetrotter. Before long, chasing Globetrotters shadows would be the eager schoolboys day job.

"I went to a game and I remember looking at the Washington Generals and thinking: Man, I wonder how those guys got that job," Maddox says.

Hed find out soon enough when he was recruited at a post-college combine. The next NBA stars are often discovered at these open trials, though many players attend with more modest hopes of a professional career overseas. Those left behind are prime targets for Generals scouts.

"I still had some aspirations of going to play pro somewhere," says Maddox, who now works for a Californian tech company. "I figured at least I would be travelling and maybe thered be some opportunity to get seen in front of some other teams."