PHOENIX (AP) Billy Ray Hobley, a Harlem Globetrotters fixture for 22 years, has died of an apparent heart attack. He was 48.

Hobley, who retired in 1998, died Wednesday while playing tennis in New Orleans, the Phoenix-based team said.

"We are shocked and saddened by the news," Globetrotters owner Mannie Jackson said. "Billy Ray always lived up to his nickname of Supertrotter. He was the ultimate Globetrotter, full of energy and life."

Hobley joined the team in 1977 as a rookie from Dillard University in New Orleans, where he averaged 14.9 points during a 99-game college career and graduated with a degree in health and physical education.

At 6-foot-8, he was a renowned ballhandler and backboard-rattling dunk artist.

Hobley circled the world six times with the Globetrotters and took part in the landmark tour of South Africa in 1996.

"Billy Ray could light up any room in the world," former teammate "Sweet" Lou Dunbar said. "He always had a story to tell. He will really be missed."

The Rhodes Funeral Home of New Orleans, which is handling services, said funeral arrangements are pending.

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