This fine clip from ESPN.com honors Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton, one of the first three African Americans to play in the NBA. Clifton played for the New York Rens and the Harlem Globetrotters before signing with the Knicks in 1950.
A Fine Clip Honoring NBA Pioneer Clifton
For fans like me, the amazing basketball events of last week — beautifully staged by Nike and the Basketball Hall of Fame, from Harlem to Springfield and back — might as well have been called the “World Basketball Orgy.”
By Vince Thomas for TheRoot.com: Before the NBA was desegregated, there were the Black Fives.
One hundred years ago this October, in 1910, the first all-black play-for-pay team, the New York All Stars, were formed in New York City.
January is a difficult month for friends and fans of the New York “Rens” of Harlem, the all-black pro basketball team that played in 1920s, 30s, and 40s.
In 1950, Cooper, a Pittsburgh resident and Duquesne University graduate became the first African-American selected in the NBA Draft.
Kudos to Bill Rhoden of the New York Times for orchestrating this idea for NBA Commissioner David Stern to visit a Harlem barber shop. But, what’s the agenda?
Legendary New York Rens players like Tarzan Cooper, Charlie Isles and Pop Gates, and a host of other old-time players took the time to help kids like Satch learn the game.
The Naval Ammunition Depot in Hastings, Nebraska — the Navy’s largest W.W. II inland munitions plant — had an all-black contingent that represented the base in the “Colored Servicemen’s Basketball Championship Tournament of Nebraska” around 1944.
The NBA celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1996. The problem is that it didn’t exist until 1950 when the BAA merged with the NBL. This new book clears that up.
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Black Fives
We inspire excellence in youth and communities by preserving, teaching, and honoring the pre-NBA history of African Americans in basketball.
For years, we have been building something truly remarkable.![]()
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Something deeper than what’s visible on the surface.![]()
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This piece, created by the Gee’s Bend Quilters Collective from remnants of our Black Fives throwback jerseys, carries that idea.![]()
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On the front, you see something beautiful.![]()
On the back, you see the work.![]()
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Tens of thousands of stitches.![]()
Each one holding the whole together.![]()
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Like the earlier African American basketball pioneers whose names were forgotten, but whose work helped shape the game.![]()
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Like the countless people, often unseen, who did and are doing the work that holds our country together.![]()
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The surface only exists because of what’s behind it.![]()
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And it’s only as strong as the weakest stitch.![]()
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Do we really want to remove certain stitches?![]()
Are we OK with pieces falling apart?![]()
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Do we value the work we don’t see?![]()
Do we recognize it?![]()
Do we protect it?![]()
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That’s the real story.![]()
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A cultural archive. A sports heritage platform.![]()
Build with us.![]()
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Make History Now.![]()
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#culturalheritage ![]()
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#blackhistory
For years, we have been building something truly remarkable.![]()
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A deep archive of early African American basketball.![]()
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The stories, the images, the history that shaped the game.![]()
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But this is more than an archive.![]()
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It’s a cultural IP and sports heritage platform.![]()
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Infrastructure of history, identity, and assets ready to build with.![]()
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For partners, institutions, and brands who want real cultural authenticity, not just performative optics.![]()
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Build with us.![]()
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blackfives.org/build![]()
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#blackhistory #culturalheritage #brandpartnerships #archives #intellectualproperty