PRESS RELEASE:
BLACK FIVES FOUNDATION PARTNERS WITH BIG EAST CONFERENCE, PUMA & LIDS TO CELEBRATE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF NEW YORK RENS DURING 2023
NON-PROFIT HONORING FIRST BLACK-OWNED, ALL-BLACK, FULLY PROFESSIONAL BASKETBALL TEAM, UNVEILS OFFICIAL “RENS100” CENTENNIAL EMBLEM
HARLEM, NEW YORK – December 1, 2022 – The Black Fives Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit whose mission is to research, preserve, showcase, teach, and honor the pre-NBA history of African Americans in basketball, announces the launch of its 2023 “RENS100” centennial celebration to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the legendary New York Rens®. Founded in 1923, the Rens (aka New York Renaissance Big Five) were the first Black-owned, all-Black, fully professional basketball team in history.
The Foundation also unveiled its official RENS100™ centennial emblem and shared plans for initiatives that will be staged throughout 2023 with families, athletes, partners, ambassadors, and community organizations.
The Black Fives Foundation has ongoing partnerships with global sports company PUMA, the NCAA’s iconic BIG EAST Conference, and leading sports retailer Lids for educational initiatives, community events, and public activations as well as apparel, footwear, and headwear collections. Additional partners will also participate.
The RENS100 centennial celebration will raise awareness about this vital history and its pioneering players, teams, and contributors as well as the significance of their accomplishments today.
“The New York Rens were the most accomplished African American team during the Black Fives Era of basketball, and we are excited to celebrate and honor their legacy with our partners,” said Claude Johnson, founder and executive director of the Black Fives Foundation.
With the BIG EAST, the Foundation will launch the Black Fives Academy, a teach-the-teacher program for participants to present Black Fives basketball history to their constituencies, involving all eleven BIG EAST member school campuses and arenas.
“The BIG EAST Conference is honored to continue our partnership with the Black Fives Foundation this season,” said Val Ackerman, Commissioner of the Big East Conference and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer. “Our role as educators, our basketball-centric identity, and our commitment to diversity and inclusion combine to provide the perfect platform for us to assist the Foundation in developing the Black Fives Academy. We look forward to amplifying the stories of the pioneers who made history in our school communities and celebrating their enduring impact on the game of basketball.”
Throughout the year, the Foundation’s online museum presented by PUMA will exhibit extensive new material on the New York Rens. PUMA will also release seasonal collections of Black Fives merchandise, including footwear styles in special RENS100 commemorative shoeboxes.
“Our branding efforts at PUMA are culture-led, and the history of African Americans in basketball is an essential lens not only into the culture of the sport alone but also into Black culture and American culture as a whole,” said Adam Petrick, Chief Brand Officer at PUMA. “Through our long-term partnership with the Black Fives Foundation, we are proud to help bring proper recognition to the once-forgotten but vitally important pre-NBA history of African Americans in the game by celebrating the 100th anniversary of the legendary New York Rens during their centennial year.”
New collections of Black Fives team hats will also be available exclusively at Lids stores across the country and on Lids.com. “Lids is thrilled to partner with the Black Fives Foundation in what is sure to be a magnificent year-long celebration of one of the greatest basketball teams ever,” said Britten Maughan, President of Lids. “We remain committed to uplifting the voices and elevating the leagues, teams, and athletes of decades past who have changed the game for the better. We look forward to helping honor this remarkable group and are excited for the year ahead.”
There will also be new Black Fives apparel and accessories produced under the Physical Culture Supply Co. retro private label, available exclusively at the Black Fives Online Fan Shop.
Community events will include a Rens descendants family reunion, an oral history roadshow, high school art, and writing contests, panel discussions, historical commemorations, HBCU activities, youth basketball involvement, and appearances of the “Black History Masterpiece” Black Fives commemorative quilt by the Gee’s Bend Quilters Collective from Gee’s Bend, Alabama, as well as ongoing events that feature topics from Johnson’s new book, The Black Fives: The Epic Story of Basketball’s Forgotten Era.
The Rens debuted at the Renaissance Ballroom in Harlem on November 3, 1923, with a 28-22 victory over the Collegian Five, an all-White squad. They were arguably the most successful basketball team of the century, irrespective of race or ethnicity. From 1923 to 1948, the Rens won 2,588 of 3,117 games for a staggering 83% winning percentage sustained over a 25-year period. Seven former Rens players are individually enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame (Tarzan Cooper, Pop Gates, Nat Clifton, John Isaacs, Zack Clayton, Fats Jenkins, and Sonny Boswell) as well as the team’s owner, Robert “Bob” Douglas. The 1932-33 New York Renaissance team was collectively inducted in recognition of their 88-game winning streak that season, the longest in pro basketball history.
“My late great uncle, former New York Rens star and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame member Zack Clayton, and his Rens teammates, would have been proud to see their contributions and legacies remembered and honored through this centennial celebration,” said Lauren D. Myers, president of The Myers Group in Philadelphia.
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Media Contact:
media @ blackfives.org
PUMA
PUMA is one of the world’s leading Sports Brands, designing, developing, selling and marketing footwear, apparel and accessories. For more than 70 years, PUMA has relentlessly pushed sport and culture forward by creating fast products for the world’s fastest athletes. PUMA offers performance and sport-inspired lifestyle products in categories such as Football, Running and Training, Basketball, Golf, and Motorsports. It collaborates with renowned designers and brands to bring sport influences into street culture and fashion. The PUMA Group owns the brands PUMA, Cobra Golf and stichd. The company distributes its products in more than 120 countries, employs more than 16,000 people worldwide, and is headquartered in Herzogenaurach/Germany. www.about.puma.com
LIDS
Lids Sports Group is the largest licensed sports retailer in North America, selling fan and fashion-oriented headwear and apparel across North America, Europe and Australia through over 1,500 retail locations. Indianapolis-based Lids Sports Group carries officially licensed and branded gear aimed at empowering customers to represent their unique and individual style, team, passion and fun. Lids Sports Group operates stores under the Lids, Locker Room by Lids, Fanzz, Yankees Clubhouse Shops, Dodgers Clubhouse, Cardinals Clubhouse, and numerous other nameplates. Lids also has locations within select Macy’s department stores nationwide. To find a retail location near you visit blog.lids.com or join the #LidsLoyal on Instagram (@lids), Facebook (@lids), Twitter (@lids), or LinkedIn.
BIG EAST
The BIG EAST Conference is an association of 11 nationally prominent colleges and universities that foster healthy athletic competition, community service, and the pursuit of excellence in academic environments. The BIG EAST-sponsored athletic programs of our institutions provide national-caliber participation opportunities for more than 3,800 student-athletes on over 200 men’s and women’s teams in 22 sports. Established in 1979 and headquartered in New York City, the BIG EAST’s members are located in eight of the country’s top 36 largest media markets and include Butler University, University of Connecticut, Creighton University, DePaul University, Georgetown University, Marquette University, Providence College, St. John’s University, Seton Hall University, Villanova University and Xavier University. For more information, visit www.bigeast.com
About The Black Fives Foundation
The Greenwich, CT-based Black Fives Foundation is a 501(c)3 public charity whose mission is to research, preserve, showcase, teach, and honor the pre-NBA history of African Americans in basketball, a period known as the Black Fives Era that lasted from the early 1900s to 1950 when the NBA signed its first Black players. The organization advocates expanding Black history education to amplify and include this important history, utilizing nearly 1,000 related artifacts in its historical archive as well as a portfolio of related intellectual property and other difference-making initiatives. For more information, please visit www.blackfives.org.
(Revised: December 2, 2022)