Short’s Cafe Five
Location: Franklin, Indiana
Manager: Ray Crowe
Established: 1941
Sponsor: Short’s Cafe
African American sports pioneers Ray and George Crowe of Franklin, Indiana rank in the highest echelon of Indiana basketball royalty.
George was Indiana’s first “Mr. Basketball,” an honor he earned by a landslide popular vote in 1939 as a member of the Franklin High School Grizzly Cubs. He would go on to play pro basketball for the New York Renaissance before becoming a Major League Baseball star.
As their head coach, Ray led Crispus Attucks High School of Indianapolis, Indiana to two straight Indiana state high school basketball championships with a team that featured future Basketball Hall of Fame player Oscar Robertson, the first time an all-Black squad had won that title.
Both brothers attended Indiana Central College, now Indianapolis University, which at the time belonged to the Indiana Collegiate Conference that included Ball State, Evansville, Indiana State, Butler, Valparaiso, and DePauw.
Toward the end of George’s sophomore season at ICC, the brothers organized an African American basketball team based back home in Franklin with hopes of a bid to represent Indiana in the national AAU basketball championship.
The squad was sponsored by Short’s Cafe, a local diner owned by White proprietors Archie Short and his wife Marie, which was located at the corner of West Jefferson and West Court streets near the Johnson County Courthouse. “This team, known as the Short’s Café Five, is really a Crowe family outfit for it is composed of Crowe brothers and their cousins,” wrote the Kokomo Tribune, noting that the team, led by “Negro ace” George Crowe, would be “a feature of the tournament.”
The other brothers were Ray, Travis, Robert, Richard, Russell, Ralph (nicknamed “Pete”), and Billy. Playing home games at the Franklin Armory, the Short’s Five won the 1941 Shelbyville AAU Sectional championship before being eliminated in the state bracket, but the squad would continue playing locally for several years to come. They were great representatives not only for Franklin, and Indianapolis but also for the entire state of Indiana.
Short’s Cafe Five™ is a trademark of the Black Fives Foundation. All rights reserved.
