Early Female Black Fives: ‘These Lassies Can Play!’


There were dozens of African American female basketball teams that played during the Black Fives Era.

One of the very first independently organized teams was the New York Girls, formed in 1910 in Manhattan as a sister club to the pioneering Alpha Physical Culture Club men’s basketball team.

Their rivals, the Spartan Girls of Brooklyn, were the sister team to the Smart Set Athletic Club men’s organization.

The Spartan Girls of Brooklyn, an early all-black female basketball team, circa 1910.

The Spartan Girls of Brooklyn, an early all-black female basketball team, circa 1910. Their “Spartan Athletic Club” monogram is hot!

A third team, the Jersey Girls, was organized in nearby Orange, New Jersey, and affiliated with the men of that city’s all-black Independent Pleasure Club.

In the early days, basketball among women was all about camaraderie and social networking. It was a chance for a young lady to expand her world not only to other parts of the city but also to other pockets of black people.

This meant, more eligible men to meet … easy because early girls basketball teams were linked to previously established men’s fives. For example, the New York Girls were coached and managed by Conrad Norman, who was also the founder of the Alpha club.

Women In Sports headline

The all-black Tribune Girls of Philadelphia dominated women’s basketball for over a decade.

It was common and maybe even encouraged for female players to marry male players on their counterpart teams.

History was made on February 26, 1910, the date of the first recorded basketball game between two independently organized all-black women’s basketball teams, the New York Girls and the Jersey Girls.

The Saturday afternoon game, played in front of a “delighted audience,” was described as “a pleasing innovation” and considered a big success.

“The players, winsome and charming in their dainty white blouses, showed up well in practice,” reported the nation’s leading African American newspaper, the New York Age, “but it was when the referee’s whistle started the game that the real surprise came. These lassies demonstrated that they could play!”

In a “clever and even scientific game,” the New York Girls won 12 to 3. “The New Yorkers were heavier, but the Jersey girls were more familiar with the baskets,” it was said .

NY Girls uniform

Vintage era dainty white basketball blouses gave way to …

Subsequently, many other all-female, all-black teams emerged with names like the Smarter Set, the Younger Set, Mysterious Girls, the Cosmopolitans, the Savoy Colts, the Quick Steppers, the Germantown Hornets, the Tribune Girls, the Lincoln Nurses, the Club Store Co-eds, the Chocolate Coeds, the Defender Girls, the St. Nicholas Girls, the Roamer Girls, the Kansas Industrial Girls, the Gloom Chasers, the Argus Five, the Twentieth Century Girls, the Tattlers, the Blue Belts, the Dauntless Five, and the Gibraltars.

These women’s teams were covered nationally in the Negro press, although less than their male counterparts, and despite warnings by many authorities that basketball was dangerous for women.

One expert, a male physician, declared in 1911 that, “basket ball is injurious and should not be engaged in by girls or women,” adding that, “the nature of women should keep them from this dangerous sport.”

Tribunes uniform

… vintage era form fitting womens basketball jerseys and shorts.

Men were protective of women, even when women were merely spectators at men’s games. “Basketball players, especially some in Chicago, please take a bath,” begged a black sports journalist in 1928.

In a recent game, he complained, “a local squad took the floor for limbering up practice and the odor was so fierce that several women became deathly sick.” The offended writer had a simple demand. “Leave the stockyards odor over in the stockyards, please,” he wrote.

African American women’s basketball teams played using the slightly altered version of the men’s rules. Most of the time there were five players per side, but in some parts of the country, particularly in the South, six players were used, three on offense and three on defense.

This disparity between so-called boy’s rules and girl’s rules caused considerable debate. “As long we use the other fellow’s rules and his ball, net and mark the floor like he does, we might just as well cut off the sixth player and make all teams five girls each,” wrote legendary African American sportswriter Frank Young.

As female Black Fives got better, dainty white blouses and bloomers gave way to form fitting basketball jerseys and matching shorts.

The most dominating women’s teams that emerged from those early days were the Chocolate Coeds, the Chicago Roamers, the Germantown Hornets, and the Tribune Girls.

We’ll explore each of these teams in more detail throughout December, Black Women’s Basketball History Month, as our series on female Black Fives continues.

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Warren Allmond
4 months ago

thank you. this was very interesting and illuminating. i want to know more about these teams

[…] The Spartan Girls of Brooklyn, an early all-black female basketball team, circa 1910. Source […]

[…] The Spartan Girls of Brooklyn, an early all-black female basketball team, circa 1910. Source […]

[…] The Spartan Girls of Brooklyn, an early all-black female basketball team, circa 1910. Source […]

[…] The Spartan Girls of Brooklyn, an early all-black female basketball team, circa 1910. Source […]

[…] were dozens of other early African American women’s teams, including the Spartan Girls (1910-1914), the Philadelphia Tribune Girls (1930-1945), the Germantown Hornets (1929-1935), the […]

Black Fives
16 years ago

Hey Bijan, that’s true and we’re going to elaborate on that this week! Thanks for your inspiring, pioneering work in bringing all this history back to life in your book!

16 years ago

Interesting that the Philadelphia Tribune women were coached by Philadelphia Stars centerfielder Otto Briggs. His wife’s father ran the newspaper.

Later, the team included the greatest female athlete of the first third of the 20th century, Ora Washington. For a decade, she was the premier basketball and tennis player in America.

Pamela Cournoyer
16 years ago

In seeing “It was common and maybe even encouraged for female players to marry male players on their counterpart teams” … I wonder how many really great basket ball players were raised due to this great union. It seems like talent marrying talent would have put together some powerful DNA to raise brilliant performers.

Will you be checking into further research to determine if those unions in fact produced super athletes?

Great research and I agree with Casey, to see the women’s apparel.

Thank you Claude, you write a mean blog!
Pamela

Claude
16 years ago

Hey Pamela,

I didn’t mean for that comment to come out sounding like they were looking to breed more powerful players. The reason for promoting these hookups at the time was for social reasons.

Men and women who played basketball, in the early days, were mostly from among the elite of black society. So my comment was more along the lines of mothers wanting their daughters to “marry a doctor or a lawyer” in the old days.

As far as women’s gear, Converse will unveil a modest collection of products in 2008 … thanks to one of their only female product line managers, Sharron Polk. More on her soon.

Casey Stengle
16 years ago

I can’t wait for the “New York Girl’s” logo’d apparel coming out from Nike! That is very interesting insight into early co-ed activities!

Claude
16 years ago

Steve, I never came across a mention of something like that, but it doesn’t mean they never did. Of course, this tradition eventually became a collegiate standard.

steve
16 years ago

Wow. Did white men’s teams have counterpart womens’ teams? I don’t think they did.