Early Racial Inclusion Puts Wisconsin On Pro Basketball Map


Oshkosh All Stars

The Oshkosh All Stars.

February 19, 1937 was a big night in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. That’s because the local basketball team, the all-white Oshkosh All Stars, was on the eve of playing in a “World Series of Basketball” that would put the small city and the state of Wisconsin on the national professional basketball map.

Their opponent: the all-black New York Renaissance Big Five. One would think that during the Jim Crow Era and especially in the Midwest during the Great Depression that the appearance of an African American team would be of concern. But actually, the “Rens” were universally considered the champions of basketball, and Wisconsin residents were some of the country’s most passionate basketball fans.

Art Imigs

The Sheboygan Art Imigs with Jack Mann.

Wisconsin was not new to intra-racial and inter-racial basketball. The Rens, who began playing in 1923, began visiting Wisconsin in 1934. That year the Milwaukee Raynors, an all-black club, barnstormed the state from their home base of Milwaukee. The all-black Chicago Crusaders also toured through Wisconsin during the mid-1930s. One of the stars of the Crusaders, 6-foot 6-inch center Jack Mann, was signed by a local team, the Sheboygan Art Imigs. He was well loved by local fans.

Formed in 1931, the Oshkosh All Stars played the Rens for the first time in February, 1936 in a 2-game series. The series drew so many spectators eager to see the Rens that local promoter and team manager Lon Darling decided to do it again in 1937. This time the two teams staged a 5-game series. Darling declared that the winner of the series, which the papers dubbed the “World Series Of Basketball,” would be considered world’s champions of basketball.

Rens headline

The Rens took Game 1.

“It was a money-maker,” recalls former Rens star John Isaacs. Although racism and Jim Crow restrictions plagued other parts of America, according to Isaacs the Rens were able to stay in hotels and eat at restaurants like everyone else. Still, according to Isaacs, the Rens strategy was always the same.  “Get 10 points as quickly as you could, because those were the 10 points the refs were gonna take away.”

The 5-game series was played in Oshkosh, Racine, Green Bay, Ripon, and Madison. Each venue saw huge attendance. In local newspapers, race as a point of difference was rarely mentioned. It seemed to matter only as a descriptive term. Any hostilities were reserved for on the court.

The All Stars were also building a case to join the National Basketball League, which was still only just an idea at the time. The All Stars lost the 5-game series, 3 games to 2. But Rens owner Robert Douglas agreed to a return engagement, a 2-game series in March.

Ever the shrewd promoter, Darling declared that those 2 extra games would extend their previous “World Series” to 7 games. In other words, if the All Stars won these 2 games they would be the new world’s basketball champions, winning 4 games to 3. They won, and the following season the N.B.L. added Oshkosh as a founding member.

Rens headline

The series was tied 2-2 before the New York Rens took Game 5.

Furthermore, the basketball fans around the country realized the potential of a pro basketball tournament that could determine which top notch team was truly the best. Previously, any team could claim they were “world champions,” and often the public was understandably confused.

Behind the scenes, promoters took notice. Within two years, the Chicago Herald-American staged a giant event called the World Championship of Professional Basketball, an invitational for the top 12 pro teams in the country. The winner of this title would have an undisputed world champions. The tournament field included the New York Rens, and they won the tournament by defeating none other than their familiar rival, the Oshkosh All Stars, in the final.

What can one take away from this? Can prejudice be mitigated, if not trumped, by money, by shared vision, and by sports commonality? In the case of Wisconsin during the 1930s and 1940s, perhaps it was all of the above.

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[…] who played out of Wisconsin. The popularity of the games led to Douglas and Oshkosh founder Lon Darling to agree to a longer series, with the Rens winning three of the five […]

Kimberly Wiley
7 years ago

Chicago Herald-American staged a giant event called the World Championship of Professional Basketball …..
I happen to have a program from that game with 11 signatures on the front cover. It is in plastic and in very good condition
Can anyone tell me what’s its worth
Thank you and
Have a blessed day
Kim

Justin
4 years ago
Reply to  Kimberly Wiley

Go to the Antiques Roadshow next time they’re in your area; their experts should be able to give you a solid valuation.

[…] By the time the Studebakers arrived in Sheboygan, fan interest in basketball there already trumped most concerns about race (see Black Fives Blog: Early Racial Inclusion Puts Wisconsin On Pro Basketball Map). […]

Claude
16 years ago

Brandon, thanks. I didn’t realize WI had an Underground Railroad role.

Brandon Byrd
16 years ago

Mr. Johnson,

Being that I lived and went to school in Wisconsin, it brings joy to hear that Wisconsin was a very progressive state – especially in the 1930’s! I shouldn’t be surprised as WI (Beloit, if I recall) was a town that participated in the underground rail road movement. Heck, I’ve been to Oshkosh (UW-Oshkosh) numerous time and would’ve never fathomed this bit of AA history….thx!

[…] few weeks ago I did a post about the 1937 “World Series of Basketball” staged between the New York Rens and the Oshkosh All Stars in and around Oshkosh, […]

Keith Ellis
15 years ago

Claude, remember how John Isaacs referred to “somebody going in, somebody going out” when we asked him several years ago about David DeJernett playing for the Rens? In retrospect, I’ve a hunch Mr Isaacs was referring to Jack Mann’s playing for the Rens in 1937, for the following reasons:

1) Isaacs definitely wasn’t a Ren when DeJernett made his celebrated splash for the team, & we’ve never uncovered evidence that DD ever went back & played for Bob Douglas again;

2) The “somebody going out” in 1937 was Fat Jenkins, who was sidelined by some type of leg injury. Mann suited up for the Rens against the Sheboygan Redskins (Art Imigs) in Jenkins’ absence. That same year Mann also played for the white Art Imigs in games against the Rens!

Claude
15 years ago

Keith, it may very well be so. On the other hand, Isaacs is very cogent and I wonder if he would mix up those 2 guys. But it’s possible. Your analysis is a good one.