George Crowe, Last Rens Player, Would Have Been 90 Today
Wishing a posthumous Happy Birthday to George Crowe, the last surviving member of the New York Rens all-black professional basketball team.
Crowe, who was born in 1921, died earlier this year. He would have been 90 years old today.
No word yet on the funeral arrangements for Crowe, though his family has indicated that they may scatter his ashes in a ceremony near his beloved long time home in upstate New York at some future date.
We also send our best wishes, peace, and many blessings to the extended Crowe family.
Hi,
Nice article, and I have a photo of a player “George” (can’t make out his last name) and team from Harlem – not the Rens- I need assistance identifying from the ’60s. Thanks in Advance, if I could have an email address I will send it over to you.
IE Brown
I would be happy to try to help you identify the player in that photo. It probably was not George Crowe, if it was from the 1960s. But I will still try to help. You can use my email: claude@blackfives.org.
Good stuff, Claude. Ironically my wife’s 85-year-old aunt Daphne Myrie, first-born of her Jamaican-immigrant family in Costa Rica, died yesterday on George Crowe’s birthday. The same banana-era boats that brought Bob Douglas to Brooklyn also carried West Indians like Marcus Garvey and the Myries to Panama and Costa Rica. Johnny Isaacs’ dad, too. The role of Bill Yancey and other chapters of Panamanian basketball have yet to be fully explored.
Hey, when does your book start shipping?
Hey Keith, my condolences on the loss of your aunt. Listen, you are the man to write that Panamanian history, bro. You are down there, after all.