The Commonwealth Big Five, an all-black basketball team, debuted on this date in 1922, becoming the first fully-professional African American basketball team.
Anniversary Of Commonwealth Big Five Debut, 1922
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… Read more »
Old Pittsburgh I was in Pittsburgh last week and whenever I visit there, I always stop in Homestead to look around Cumberland Posey’s (and Andrew Carnegie’s) old stomping grounds. And I also visit the Hill District to look around that place, once a major Black Fives Era basketball hotbed. (It was great to see a… Read more »
Happy birthday to John Isaacs, former New York Rens basketball star, born September 30, 1915.
A reminder that the NYC Basketball Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and Dinner will take place on Wednesday night at the New York Athletic Club.
The Basketball Hall of Fame will form a special review committee to look at overlooked African American candidates, but there’s a catch.
Former New York Rens basketball star John Isaacs was featured in a big New York Daily News article last week by Bobby Ciafardini.
In 1916 the price for a room at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City was $2.00 to $3.00 per night. How did that compare to the average wages of Negroes back then?
CNN’s “Black In America” special is tired, tedious, and out of date. It’s what you expect from CNN: negative, fear-based, dumbed-down sensationalism. It’s a boring, depressing, uninspiring drag. CNN started out on the right foot — the program was originally supposed to be called “Race In America.” It could have been so useful and valuable… Read more »
This is what makes it so difficult for some Black Fives Era players to be fairly considered for comparison and recognition by the committee members responsible for selecting inductees into the Basketball Hall of Fame.