Champions


Colored Basketball World’s Champions, 1907-1925

The term “Colored Basketball World’s Champion” was coined around 1907 by Lester Walton, the entertainment and sports editor for the New York Age, which was the country’s most widely circulated African American newspaper at the time.

The term stuck and was subsequently used by other sportswriters.

This “championship” was not played at any one specific location or venue. Rather, it was a consensus declaration among the leading sportswriters of the African American newspapers that covered basketball.

SeasonTeam
1907-08Smart Set Athletic Club of Brooklyn
1908-09Smart Set Athletic Club of Brooklyn
1909-10Washington 12th Street Colored YMCA
1910-11Howard University
1911-12Monticello Athletic Association
1912-13Alpha Physical Culture Club / Howard University
1913-14St. Christopher Club
1914-15New York Incorporators
1915-16Hampton Institute
1916-17New York Incorporators / St. Christopher Club
1917-18St. Christopher Club / New York Incorporators
1918-19St. Christopher Club
1919-20Loendi Big Five
1920-21Loendi Big Five
1921-22Loendi Big Five
1922-23Loendi Big Five
1923-24Commonwealth Five / Eighth Regiment Five of Chicago
1924-25New York Renaissance Big Five