New York Renaissance (aka Harlem Rens) Debut On This Day In 1923
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The New York Rens, the first black-owned, all-black, fully professional basketball team, debuted on November 3, 1923, beating the Collegiate Five, an all-white team, at the Renaissance Ballroom in Harlem.
Team owner Robert Douglas, who was enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1973, had announced his plans to the public just a few days earlier.
Here’s to Douglas, who knew how to make history now.
I really love this website its help me with this English project of the Harlem Ren’s and it has helped me with other projects and researched that I needed to get done
I had Smilin’ Bob and the Renaissance players on my mind last night while doing chores and listening to the latest information on the elections via Larry King Live – 85 years earlier they were on the court at the Renaissance Ballroom playing the first game in their 26 year history. I wondered what Douglas would think of the 2008 election, as a stalwart Republican in the 1920s. Just as he made history with his Rens, so too will history be made today. In my heart I know he is smiling from above!