The Basketball Hall of Fame will form a special review committee to look at overlooked African American candidates, but there’s a catch.
Basketball Hall of Fame To Have Special Black History Review Committee (But …)
Here are some September birthdays of Black Fives Era stars.
Former New York Rens basketball star John Isaacs was featured in a big New York Daily News article last week by Bobby Ciafardini.
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.
Wilmeth Sidat-Singh, a former star athlete at Syracuse, spectacular pro hoops player with the New York Rens and Washington Bears, and former Tuskegee Airman, died in a plane crash while on an Army training mission in 1941.
A ticket stub from a historically important 1937 game between the New York Rens and the Oshkosh All Stars.
When 93-year-old James Henderson ran into soon-to-be 93-year-old John Isaacs last Friday in Falls Church, Virginia, the trash talking began instantly.
Today in 1924, the first game between two fully-professional African American basketball teams was played, at the Renaissance Casino in Harlem.
by Claude Johnson February 19, 1937, was a big night in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. That’s because the local basketball team, the all-white Oshkosh All Stars, was on the eve of playing in a “World Series of Basketball” that would put the small city and the state of Wisconsin on the national professional basketball map. Their opponent:… Read more »
In 1943 the Washington Bears, an all-black basketball team, went 41-0 while winning the World Professional Basketball Tournament, the nation’s highest basketball title.
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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 ![]()
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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