Spartan Braves
Location: Harlem, New York City
Home Court: Palace Casino
Nickname: Spartan Field Club, Braves
Colors: Green and Gold
Manager: Bob Douglas
Formed: 1914
The Spartan Braves were a pioneering basketball team that played during the 1910s and early 1920s, which eventually became the New York Rens.
Representing the Spartan Field Club of Harlem, the Braves featured owner and future Basketball Hall of Fame member Bob DOUGLAS at guard.
The Braves played at the Palace Casino in Harlem before DOUGLAS moved the team to the Renaissance Ballroom and transitioned it into the New York Renaissance, known as the Rens, in 1923.
Noteworthy teammates included Hilton Slocum and Frank “Strangler” Forbes, both future New York Rens players.
Another member of the team was a young Jewish forward named Abraham Solomon Tischinsky. Tischinsky, a sharpshooting forward, played at DeWitt Clinton High School and later at the College of the City of New York. His teammates on the Braves nicknamed him TISCH.
Tisch was not just an incidental member of the team but one of its star players. After one game, the New York Age, a widely circulated Negro press publication, wrote, “the only man on the team that really showed anything was Tisch,” noting that his “crazy long shooting” would “almost unerringly register.”
Another account described “the shooting of Tisch” as “almost marvelous,” adding that “his foul shooting was almost perfect” and calling him “the backbone of the Spartan team.”
During this era, Black players were excluded from White professional leagues and not invited to play on White teams. Yet the Spartan Braves included a white player in their lineup.
Tischinsky later continued his basketball career at the College of the City of New York, where he was teammates with future Basketball Hall of Fame member Nat Holman and with Ardeneze Dash of the Alpha Physical Culture Club.
While at CCNY, Tisch continued his connection to the Spartan Braves as their coach.
After basketball, Tischinsky entered the garment industry and established a small clothing manufacturing business. Later, he sold his business and used some of the proceeds to help his sons, Laurence A. “Larry” Tisch and Preston Robert “Bob” Tisch, establish their businesses.
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