Part 2 of my two-part article on John ‘Boy Wonder’ Isaacs, originally published in the 2015 Enshrinement Weekend Yearbook of the Basketball Hall of Fame.
The Life and Times of John Isaacs, Basketball’s ‘Boy Wonder’, Part 2
The fact that some of the Hall of Fame’s Class of 2009 finalists are black does not stir up any controversy whatsoever. But that wasn’t always the case.
This weekend marks the 70th anniversary of the historic date (March 28, 1939) the all-black New York Renaissance defeated the Oshkosh All Stars to win the championship title in the inaugural World Professional Basketball Tournament at the Chicago Coliseum.
Henry “Hank” DeZonie, who was a star basketball player with the Harlem Yankees, New York Renaissance, Dayton Rens of the National Basketball League, and Tri-Cities Blackhawks of the National Basketball Association, died January 2, 2009, at Lenox Hill Hospital in Harlem. He would have been 87 years old yesterday.
When SLAM asked me to write something about 93-year-old former professional basketball player John Isaacs, I wanted to go beyond what’s been told (and retold) before. I wanted to tell what matters most.
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.
Top of the list among all possible pre-NBA players for enshrinement in the Basketball Hall of Fame, is Black Fives Era superstar Clarence ‘Fats’ Jenkins.
Our list of the most deserving Black Fives Era players and contributors who are not yet enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame.