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Amazing Race: From shucking oysters to Globetrotter
Published: 4/8/2010 9:50 AM
Last Modified: 4/8/2010 10:07 AM

From the whatever-happened-to-that-guy department:

The Harlem Globetrotters are making a return trip Friday to the BOK Center and one of the guys in red, white and blue played the last game of his college career in this state.

Nate “Big Easy” Lofton led Southeastern Louisiana to its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 2005 and the Lions were essentially thrown to the lions, drawing second-seeded Oklahoma State in a first-round game at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City.

Lofton was Southeastern Louisiana's best player and best story.

A New Orleans native, Lofton intended to go to a Mississippi junior college following high school, but he put basketball on hold after learning that he was going to be a dad. He got a job shucking oysters at Acme Oyster Company in the French Quarter. Oyster shuckers use knives to open shells and scoop out the soft bodies of the oysters for customers. Oyster shuckers also entertain those who sit at an oyster bar by telling jokes or doing tricks, like flipping an oyster into another shucker's mouth.

"I was coming home smelling like shrimp and fish and stuff," Lofton said during a pre-tournament interview at the Ford Center. "But I had to do whatever I needed to do to take care of my family."

Besides shucking oysters, Lofton bused tables, washed dishes and cooked.

"It made me realize that I didn't want to do that," he said. "I wanted to work hard, but not busting my butt for pennies, you know? I just wanted to go back to school and get my degree and hopefully have a chance to play professionally."

Lofton played at two junior colleges and turned down offers to go to “bigger” schools so he could attend Southeastern Louisiana and be close to his family. He was a 6-foot-10 point center, if there is such a thing. He was the nation’s fourth-leading rebounder as a junior and led his team in assists as a senior.

Lofton’s collegiate career ended with a 63-50 loss to OSU on March 18, 2005. His life has only gotten more interesting since.

Hurricane Katrina hit five months later. When the levees broke, Lofton took his two babies and piled in – with 10 others – his father’s pickup truck so they could get to dry ground. They took refuge in Houston and settled in a single room at a Motel 6, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Lofton hoped to play overseas, but, while in Houston, he got an invitation to audition for the Globetrotters.

“They signed me the same night that I tried out,” Lofton told the Chronicle. “It was unbelievable to go from flat broke to having enough money to put everybody on their feet.”

Now Lofton is designated as a team showman for the Globetrotters, which means that he is a star attraction for the world’s most famous traveling basketball team.

A publicist said Lofton is among the Globetrotters (and there are a lot of them) who are expected to perform in Tulsa, although rosters are subject to change.

If you don’t recognize Lofton from 2005, maybe you’ll recognize him from a TV appearance.

Lofton and Trotters teammate Flight Time Lang teamed for a top-four finish during season 15 of the reality show “The Amazing Race.”

Regardless of where they finished, wouldn't you classify Lofton as a winner?




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Tulsa World sports writer Jimmie Tramel is a former class president at Locust Grove High School. He graduated magna cum laude from Northeastern State University with a journalism degree and, while attending college, was sports editor of the Pryor Daily Times. He joined the Tulsa World on Oct. 17, 1989, the same day an earthquake struck the World Series. He is the OSU basketball beat writer and a columnist and feature writer during football season. In 2007, he wrote a book about Oklahoma State football with former Cowboy coach Pat Jones.

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