After racial integration of the NBA, many all-black teams were left with few choices besides sensational names, clowning, and comedic showmanship.
Iowa Colored Ghosts Play In Sparks Soon
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.
My earliest memories of him were of him teaching us basketball.
Rarely did he just stand by, he was always into it all.
The game was canceled as the result of strife between the Incorporators — a semi-pro team — and a local fundamentalist faction that advocated strictly amateur ideals and was against pay-for-play basketball.
Historically black colleges and universities (“HBCU’s”) were intimately involved in the history of the Black Fives Era of basketball.
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.
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.
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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 ![]()
#intellectualproperty ![]()
#archives ![]()
#sportsbusiness ![]()
#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