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