Smart Set Athletic Club Members, Where In Brooklyn’s Bed-Stuy They Lived


Edwin F. Horne

Edwin F. Horne.

It’s only fitting that the former site of the home of Edwin F. Horne, one of the founders of the Smart Set Athletic Club, which was dedicated to community building and racial uplift through sports and physical activity, is now Jackie Robinson Playground, adjacent to P.S. 21 Crispus Attucks Elementary School. Such black history karma is actually more common than you might expect, especially in Brooklyn.

Horne lived at 189 Chauncey Street in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn and was an officer of the club, many of whose members were educated professionals who by virtue of their positions and backgrounds were among New York City’s African American social elite.

Smart Set Athletic Club basektball team of Brooklyn

The Smart Set Athletic Club, 1912. (Edwin “Teddy” Horne, standing, far left.)

Let’s keep going where the karma leads us. Horne’s son Edwin F. “Teddy” Horne, Jr. played for the Smart Set Athletic Club’s basketball teams during the early 1910s. Not long after his hoops career ended, Teddy married a local girl named Edna Scottron.

189 Chauncey today, a.k.a. Jackie Robinson Playground

The site of the former home of Edwin F. Horne, Sr. at 189 Chauncey is Jackie Robinson Playground today.

Even though Edna was also a member of that Smart Set social circle, to Teddy she was literally an “around the way girl.” That’s because she lived at 467 Monroe Street, a few blocks away. The site of her old home is now Israel Putnam Playground, adjacent to P.S. 44 Marcus Garvey Elementary School. Basketball aficionados will recognize that Israel Putnam is a.k.a. Soul In The Hole, home of Brooklyn’s oldest “streetball” tournament.

467 Monroe today, a.k.a. Soul In The Hole

The former site of Edna Scottron’s home at 467 Monroe today is now Israel Putnam Playground, a.k.a. “Soul In The Hole.”

Samuel R. Scottron

Samuel R. Scottron.

The new couple, Teddy and Edna, soon had a lovely daughter who they named Lena. Yes, that Lena.

Edna’s grandfather was the famous inventor Samuel R. Scottron. He lived just up the street from her at 598 Monroe. Among other items, he patented the common curtain rod.

Samuel parlayed his patents into a lucrative manufacturing business and was not only one of Brooklyn’s wealthiest African Americans but also was a powerful community activist and a member of the borough’s board of education.

Speaking of rich black folks, here’s what the New York Times had to say about Brooklyn’s “wealthy Negro citizens” in the early 1900s:

It will be news to many white persons to learn that many negro men own and occupy brownstone dwellings in fashionable neighborhoods, employ white servants, and ride in their own carriages behind horses driven by liveried coachmen. Some not only own the houses they live in, but also houses tenanted by rich white families, and there are negro men in New York whose wealth is well along toward the million-dollar mark.

The Times continued:

Most of the wealthy negroes of this neighborhood live in Brooklyn. As soon as negro men amass a comfortable fortune they move from this city across the East River, because they can find in Brooklyn more economical and satisfactory investments.

Charlie Scottron

Charlie Scottron.

Edna had had a distinct advantage in terms of meeting eligible bachelors because she lived in the same house with her cousin Charlie Scottron who was the captain of the Smart Set Athletic Club’s basketball team.

Other teammates also lived nearby and some share similar African American history karma. George and Arthur Trice lived at 386 Van Buren Street, a site that today overlooks Jesse Owens Playground.

Ferdinand Accooe lived at 297 Bridge Street, which today is the site of the MetroTech Center where the offices of the Brooklyn Nets are located. Chester Moore’s home was at 489 Gates on the corner of Marcy Avenue, which today is the site of the Louis Armstrong Houses.

George Lattimore

George Lattimore.

The Smart Set Athletic Club’s basketball team was managed by George Lattimore, who lived at 710 Hancock Street, and it was promoted by J. Hoffman Woods, whose home was at 257 MacDonough Street, both in Bedford-Stuyvesant.

A couple of the guys lived more than a few blocks away from Bed-Stuy, however they were the exception. Charles Hammond’s home was at 156 Berkeley Place over in Park Slope. Harry Brown resided at 382 Essex Street in East New York a few blocks from Lester Trice, the older brother of George and Arthur and the Smart Set club’s assistant manager, who lived at 446 Cleveland Street.

As you’ve seen in my posts this week, the Smart Set Athletic Club and its members were basketball innovators.

One other thing. These ladies and gentlemen lived on blocks in Bed-Stuy that were occupied almost entirely by whites. Which is to say that they were on the front lines of cultural exchange and diversity. (If you wanna put it that way.)

So, next time you’re in Brooklyn, go to its Bedford-Stuyvesant section and remember Spike Lee’s movie Do The Right Thing. But also actually do the right thing and make history now by remembering the Smart Set Athletic Club, the pioneers who helped pave the way for “tha shoes,” Soul In The Hole, and the game of basketball that we know and love today.

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[…] Did you know that Lena Horne was the daughter of Edwin “Teddy” Horne, who played basketball for the Smart Set Athletic Club of Brooklyn? […]

[…] Black Fives Era images celebrate certain historic African American teams that made Brooklyn their home during the 1900s and […]

[…] school program for kids with incarcerated parents. Several pioneers of the Black Fives Era lived within just a short walk from the historic building that houses the program, including James Hoffman Woods, the manager and promoter of the […]

charles hemmings
14 years ago

trying to contact shammy how are you you can contact me through my email charles.hemmings@yahoo.com would like to hear from you when you contact me i will give you my phone number thanks i live in vicksburg mississippi now married since 1998 to a lovely wife elsie who is from here so contact me soo

[…] that time was a member of the Smart Set Athletic Club basketball team, and from where he would go home to Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn and hang out with his friends Teddy Horne and Charles Scottron (who’s sister he […]

charles hemmings
14 years ago

i grew up in bed stuy with kenny charles ray haskins nathaniel harvey aka shammy daryl stewart trying to catch up with these guys any info please forward to my email address thankyou charles hemmings

[…] team.  The Smart Set was the first independent African American basketball team in history, formed in Brooklyn in 1907.  Scottron helped the Smart Set win the black national championship in 1907 and 1908, before […]

Richard
15 years ago

Great article about the brooklyn team. was there any black five teams in brownsville?

L. Trice
11 years ago
Reply to  Richard

My family. Trice. Also George’s sister, Edith Trice of the Spartans. Last woman to run the mile at Millrose and a great tennis player.

Noah W. Wallace
15 years ago

I am Old School at 62 years of age. My parents were the greatest and so was my uncles, aunts, and cousins. My father was the head deacon of the Evergreen Church of God in Christ at 489 Washington avenue just off of Fulton St. We were fortunate to have two parents who cared about us to instill the importance of an education. My mother was the only one out of 12 children to finish high school two sets of twins died or there would have been 16 to live to adult hood. There were 5 of us children and out of the five only one stopped in high school. One of us got two degrees from a Junior college and the three others all got their Masters. I felt extremely blessed because when school was out we went to North Carolina to see my mother and father’s people. That was fun and it was good to get away from good old Brooklyn for awhile. I lived in Chaplain territory and I went to elementry and Junior High School in Bishop territory so I had to be careful because they the ultimate rivals. I stayed out of trouble for the most part because I did mind my business and I never did start trouble. I also had some cousins in Bedsty who were respected to the max so that helped also but I never went to them for help if I got threatened or picked on. However most people knew my cousins. I also live only about two blocks from where Connie Hawkins lived. Brooklyn will always be in my heart.

Noah W. Wallace
15 years ago

I am living in Tampa Fl and I have been here for quite some time. I was born in Cumberland hospital and raised in Bedsty for 17 years and Brownsville before joining the military. We lived on Franklin Av between Greene and Lexington. I went to P.S. 3, JHS 258 and Eastern District High school many many moons ago. I am proud to say that I am straight out of Bedsty. I had some good times growing up there.

rashid
15 years ago

Hey what’s up Claude,

I ran across a picture of the Alpha Phi Alpha (fraternity) baseketball team of 1926. Have you seen this picture. I think it was taken by Vanderzee. If so, what kind of information do you have about Alphas role contributions to black fives era. I am certain a few Alphas played on the Howard University Team and possibly the 12th Streeters.

mokupuni
15 years ago

Thank you so much for this interesting article, full of great information and supported by awesome pictures.