Just behold these vintage African American women’s basketball photographs, and the stories they tell.
Women’s History Month: Unidentified Vintage Black Hoops Team Photos
The Rochester Royals won the 1945-46 National Basketball League Championship in their first season with the league. The following year the Royals defended their title, with a new player named William “Dolly” King, the team’s first African American player.
After racial integration of the NBA, many all-black teams were left with few choices besides sensational names, clowning, and comedic showmanship.
In addition to sharing tales of Isaacs’ life and memories, the panel distributed different media and news clippings of Isaacs’ historic career, as well as provided a display that shared more details and images of Isaacs’ life.
Brian Gaynor of the Des Moines Register copped some nice research about the breaking of the racial color barrier in the old National Basketball League, for a piece he wrote that appeared this week in the Sheboygan Press.
The success of the Monticello Athletic Association paved the way for other African American teams in Pittsburgh and elsewhere, by showing that any team from any city could produce a champion with enough desire and determination.
The formal ceremony in the building’s vintage gymnasium was attended by Thurgood Marshall’s 81-year-old widow, Cissy, and by the great-grandson of former president Theodore Roosevelt.
From ESPN.com: John “Wonder Boy” Isaacs, 93, was the last living player for the Harlem Renaissance, the great all-black team in the 1920’s, 1930’s and 1940’s. It would be fitting for the Basketball Hall of Fame to one day induct this pioneer.
Henry “Hank” DeZonie, who was a star basketball player with the Harlem Yankees, New York Renaissance, Dayton Rens of the National Basketball League, and Tri-Cities Blackhawks of the National Basketball Association, died January 2, 2009, at Lenox Hill Hospital in Harlem. He would have been 87 years old yesterday.
A man, a mentor, a teammate to all.
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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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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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