This article by Sonja Steptoe is from the Sports Illustrated archives (the “SI Vault”), and originally appeared in print in the magazine’s December 24, 1990 issue. We felt it would be appropriate to re-publish the article here now, in honor of John “Boy Wonder” Isaacs, the former basketball star with the New York Rens (of Harlem) who passed away Monday morning at the age of 93. It’s easy to see why Mr. Isaacs was such a hero and friend to so many.
Meet An Ageless Wonder
It’s with deep sorrow that I report the passing of John “Boy Wonder” Isaacs. John passed away this morning at the Albert Einstein Hospital in the Bronx, New York. He had suffered a stroke last week, from which he never arose. He was 93 years old.
Judging from what I saw at the 16th Annual John Henry “Pop” Lloyd Humanitarian and Youth Awards in Atlantic City last weekend, this event just keeps getting better.
Here are some September birthdays of Black Fives Era stars.
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.
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.
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.