New York Renaissance | |
---|---|
Nickname | The Big "R" Five |
Leagues | World Professional Basketball Tournament 1939-1948 |
Founded | 1923 |
Folded | 1949 |
Arena | Harlem Renaissance Ballroom |
Team colors | Gold, Navy |
Championships | 1 World Professional Basketball Tournament (1939) |
The New York Renaissance, also known as the Renaissance Big R Five and as the Rens, were the first black-owned, all-black, fully-professional basketball team in history, established in October 1923, by Robert "Bob" Douglas. They were named after the Renaissance Casino and Ballroom through an agreement with its owner, in return for the use of that facility as their home court. [1] The Casino and Ballroom at 138th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem was an entertainment complex that included a ballroom, which served as the Rens' home court. The team eventually had its own house orchestra and games were often followed by a dance. Their subsequent financial success shifted the focus of black basketball from amateurism to professionalism. Initially, the Rens played mostly in Harlem, but Douglas soon realized they could book more games on the road, in larger-capacity venues, and took up barnstorming across the country for more lucrative payouts. The Renaissance are also the topic of the 2011 documentary On the Shoulders of Giants .
The Rens were one of the dominant basketball teams of the 1920s and 1930s. They were originally known as the Spartan Braves, the basketball team of the Spartan Field Club, a Manhattan-based multi-sport amateur athletic organization whose initial focus was cricket. The Rens played their first game on November 3, 1923, winning against the Collegiate Five, an all-white team. Interracial games featured regularly on their schedule, drawing the largest crowds. [2] [1] In its first years, the team strove to beat the Original Celtics, the dominant white team of the time, and claim the title of world champions. In their fifth encounter, the Rens did so for the first time, on December 20, 1925. [3] During the 1932–33 regular season, the Rens compiled a record of 120–8 (six of those losses came at the hands of the Celtics, whom the Rens did beat eight times). [4] During that season, the Rens won 88 consecutive games, a mark that has never been matched by a professional basketball team. In 1939, the Rens won the first professional basketball championship, when they beat the Oshkosh All-Stars, a white team, 34–25, in the World Professional Basketball Tournament in Chicago.
The team compiled a 2,588–529 record from 1923 to 1948. Important players on the Rens roster included Clarence "Fats" Jenkins, Pappy Ricks, Eyre Saitch, Bill Yancey, "Wee" Willie Smith, Charles "Tarzan" Cooper, Zack Clayton, John Isaacs, Dolly King, Pop Gates, and Nat Clifton. In 1936, the Renaissance became the first top-level team to sign a four-year African American college star, David "Big Dave" DeJernett of Indiana Central.
The Rens relocated during the 1948–49 basketball season to Dayton, Ohio, to replace the Detroit Vagabond Kings, who folded in December 1948. The Vagabond Kings had been playing in the racially integrated National Basketball League (NBL). The Rens played the remainder of the NBL season as the Dayton Rens, then disbanded after the NBL merged with the all-white Basketball Association of America to form the, also initially, all-white National Basketball Association which resumed play in the 1949–50 season.
Writer and director Layon Gray off-Broadway production Kings Of Harlem pays homage to the Rens. The play centers around the 1939 season in which the Harlem Rens won the first World Basketball Championship. The play won Best Play, Best Supporting Actor, Best Director and Best Production at the 2018 42nd annual Carbonell Awards in Miami. The play will have a regional run at Delaware Theater Company in October 2023 to commemorate the 100 year anniversary of the team.
The National Basketball League (NBL) was a professional basketball league in the United States. Established in 1935 as the Midwest Basketball Conference, it changed its name to the NBL in 1937. After the 1948–49 season, its twelfth, it merged with the Basketball Association of America (BAA) to create the National Basketball Association (NBA). Five current NBA teams trace their history back to the NBL: the Atlanta Hawks, the Detroit Pistons, the Los Angeles Lakers, the Philadelphia 76ers, and the Sacramento Kings.
Charles Theodore "Tarzan" Cooper was an American professional basketball player and coach who is enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He is best known for his time with the all-Black professional New York Renaissance.
William Penn "Pop" Gates was an American professional basketball player. Considered one of the top players of his day, he was the first African American player signed to the National Basketball League, the precursor to today's National Basketball Association.
Nathaniel "Sweetwater" Clifton was an American professional basketball and baseball player. He is best known as one of the first African Americans to play in the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Robert L. Douglas was the founder of the New York Renaissance basketball team, the first fully all-black professional black-owned basketball team.
Clarence Reginald Jenkins, nicknamed "Fats", was an American professional baseball and basketball player from about 1920 to 1940. He played when both professional sports were racially segregated as an African-American. Primarily he played left field in baseball's Negro leagues, and point guard for the barnstorming New York Renaissance on the hardwood, where he was also team captain. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2021.
Black Fives is a trademarked term, federally registered in the United States Patent & Trademark Office, that refers to the all-Black basketball teams that existed in the United States between 1904, when the game was first introduced to African Americans on a wide-scale organized basis, and 1950, when the NBA signed its first Black players. The Black Fives Era produced notable NBA players who contributed to African American history. The term "Black Fives" represents the historic significance of these pioneering teams, which played a crucial role in breaking down racial barriers in American sports during the early 20th century.
John William Isaacs was a Panamanian-American professional basketball player. Born in Panama but raised in New York City, he was a member of the New York Renaissance, the Washington Bears, and various other teams.
The Dayton Rens were a member of the National Basketball League (NBL) for the 1948-49 season and were the only all-black team to play in a white league. This milestone came just one year after Jackie Robinson, playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers, broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball. For the Rens, however, this milestone would be the only highlight of a season in which they finished in last place with a record of 16-43.
The Akron Goodyear Wingfoots are one of the oldest basketball teams in the United States. They were founded in 1918, by the workers at the Goodyear Tire Company, in Akron, Ohio. The teams, while giving workers recreation, also helped to promote one of the first canvas/rubber based shoes made specifically for athletics, the wingfoot.
The Pittsburgh Rens were an American basketball team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, that was a member of the American Basketball League from 1961–1962.
Henry Lincoln DeZonie was an American professional basketball player. He was the fourth African-American player in the National Basketball Association (NBA), following Earl Lloyd, Nathaniel Clifton, and Chuck Cooper.
The Oshkosh All-Stars were an American professional basketball team based in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Founded in 1929 by Lonnie Darling, the team was a member of the National Basketball League, a forerunner to the NBA, from 1937 until 1949.
Leroy Harry Edwards, nicknamed "Cowboy" and "Lefty", was one of the greatest basketball players of his era. He was an NCAA All-American at the University of Kentucky and also one of the most lauded professional players in the United States' National Basketball League's history.
Basketball began with its invention in 1891 in Springfield, Massachusetts, by Canadian physical education instructor James Naismith as a less injury-prone sport than football. Naismith was a 31-year-old graduate student when he created the indoor sport to keep athletes indoors during the winters. The game became established fairly quickly and grew very popular as the 20th century progressed, first in America and then in other parts of the world. After basketball became established in American colleges, the professional game followed. The American National Basketball Association (NBA), established in 1946, grew to a multibillion-dollar enterprise by the end of the century, and basketball became an integral part of American culture.
Jackie Bethards was a pre-World War II African American professional basketball player from Philadelphia. As a boy, Bethards played at the Christian Street YMCA along with Charles "Tarzan" Cooper, Zack Clayton, and Bill Yancey. There they began four fruitful careers on a squad called the Tribune Men.
Eyre Saitch was an American professional basketball player. He was a member of the New York Renaissance basketball team, and part of the first black team to win a world championship in basketball. He would win over 2000 games with the team. He along with his team was enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Erye was a national level tennis player who would win a national title in tennis. Erye died in 1985. He won a 1926 American Tennis Association singles title. Sylvester Smith served as Saitch's doubles partner. During his career he was also known as Bruiser Saitch.
Clarence Randolph ”Puggy” Bell was an American basketball player and coach. Bell never played in high school or college, instead he played in the YMCA league where he won several local and state championships. He later went on to play professionally, playing with the Passaic Crescents and the New York Harlem Yankees. Bell won the World Professional Basketball Tournament in 1939 with the New York Renaissance, when he was named the MVP, and in 1943 with the Washington Bears. In 2005, he was elected to the NYC Basketball Hall of Fame.
Zachary M. Clayton was a basketball player for the New York Rens. He was also a Negro league baseball player and a professional boxing referee. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2017.
The Renaissance Ballroom & Casino was an entertainment complex at 2341–2349 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. When opened in 1921, it included a casino, ballroom, 900-seat theater, six retail stores, and a basketball arena. It spanned the entire eastern frontage of Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard between 137th and 138th Streets.