After World War I, some veterans from Company E of the 372nd Colored Infantry Regiment, 93rd Division, formed a basketball team.
More Vintage All-Black U.S. Military Hoops: Company E, 372nd Colored Infantry Regiment, 1920
All-black military basketball teams go as far back as racial segregation in the Armed Services. One such team played in the early 1910s: the 10th Cavalry “Buffalo Soldiers” Five, from Fort Ethan Allen in Vermont.
April birthdays related to the Black Fives Era of basketball include Don Barksdale, Bill Yancey, John McLendon, Paul Robeson, and Charles Scottron.
In 1939, Indiana high school basketball star George Crowe was involved in a race-related controversy — not his own doing — that received widespread newspaper coverage at the time but has been lost in history since, buried so deeply that even Crowe himself, today, can’t recall there was ever any fuss. But there was. And it revealed the ahead-of-its-time greatness of Indiana.
Part I of a multi-part series on George Crowe, the last living Harlem Rens player, covers his Indiana schoolboy basketball career.
Just behold these vintage African American women’s basketball photographs, and the stories they tell.
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.
My earliest memories of him were of him teaching us basketball.
Rarely did he just stand by, he was always into it all.
John Isaacs, a Tinner Hill 2008 Living Legacy award winner, will be remembered. A panel will discuss the implications of Mr. Isaacs’ gifts to the world and basketball, and film clips of his visit with us at the game last year will also be shown.
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.
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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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#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