The brothers Ulysses S. “Lyss” Young and William “Pimp” Young, unsung African American basketball pioneers who took their games far beyond the courts.
‘Pimp’ and ‘Lyss’: The Immortal Young Brothers
In addition to being banned for life, Donald Sterling also should be forced to visit the Black Fives exhibition now at the New-York Historical Society, which reveals that blacks and whites have been working together in basketball for a very, very long time.
Two Black Fives Era birthdays this week, both merit consideration for the Basketball Hall of Fame, although one case is much stronger than the other.
We had some very significant basketball history milestones this week. The Loendi Big Five On November 5, 1900, the Loendi Social and Literary Club was incorporated in Pittsburgh, Pa. The club’s basketball team, the Loendi Big Five, dominated black basketball during the 1910s and early 1920s. The organization itself was the most prestigious African American… Read more »
Old Pittsburgh I was in Pittsburgh last week and whenever I visit there, I always stop in Homestead to look around Cumberland Posey’s (and Andrew Carnegie’s) old stomping grounds. And I also visit the Hill District to look around that place, once a major Black Fives Era basketball hotbed. (It was great to see a… Read more »
One unsung black sports pioneer stands out among dozens who paved the way during the Black Fives Era, and that’s a remarkable brother named Hunter Johnson.
The New York All Stars were the first African American basketball team to play the sport for financial gain.
Top of the list among all possible pre-NBA players for enshrinement in the Basketball Hall of Fame, is Black Fives Era superstar Clarence ‘Fats’ Jenkins.
Our list of the most deserving Black Fives Era players and contributors who are not yet enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame.
In 1922 the white-owned all-black Commonwealth Big Five basketball team made its debut in Harlem. The “Commons” were the first fully professional African American basketball team.