Black Fives facts for kids

The Black Fives is a special name for the all-Black basketball teams that played in the United States between 1904 and 1950. This time is called the "Black Fives Era" or "Early Black Basketball." These teams were very important because they helped basketball grow and showed how talented Black athletes were, even before the main professional league allowed Black players.

History of the Black Fives

The Black Fives Era started in 1904. This was when basketball was first widely taught to African Americans. These teams played until 1950, when the National Basketball Association (NBA) started to include Black players.

In the early days, basketball teams were often called "fives" because there were five players on the court. So, all-Black teams became known as colored quints, colored fives, Negro fives, or black fives.

Many all-Black teams formed during this time in cities like New York, Washington, Chicago, and Philadelphia. They were supported by churches, sports clubs, businesses, and YMCA branches.

The names "Black Fives" and "Black Fives Era" are now special trademarks. They belong to Black Fives, Inc. The founder, Claude Johnson, created these terms while studying and sharing the history of this period.

How Black Basketball Began

Edwin Henderson is often called the "Grandfather of Black Basketball." He was a Black gym teacher. In 1904, he first taught basketball to African Americans in Washington, D.C. He did this through classes in the city's segregated public schools. This was 13 years after basketball was invented.

Henderson learned basketball at Harvard University. He saw basketball as a way to improve public health and fight for civil rights. He believed that by organizing Black sports, talented Black students could go to white colleges and prove negative stereotypes wrong. He thought sports offered a fair chance for Black people to succeed.

At first, his students didn't love basketball. Henderson later wrote that "basketball was at first considered a ‘sissy’ game" among Black people. In 1906, Henderson helped start the Inter-Scholastic Athletic Association of Middle Atlantic States. This group encouraged sports competitions, including basketball, among schools and colleges.

Soon, many all-Black basketball teams appeared in Washington, D.C. and New York City. These two cities became the main places where Black basketball grew.

The first independent Black basketball team was the Smart Set Athletic Club from Brooklyn. They formed in 1907. This team won the first "Colored Basketball World's Championship." This title was given by Black sportswriters to the best all-Black team of the season.

The first game between two Black teams from different cities happened on December 18, 1908. The Smart Set Athletic Club traveled to Washington, D.C. to play the Crescent Athletic Club. Brooklyn won the game.

The first all-Black team that played for money was the New York All-Stars. Major A. Hart formed them in 1910. Hart believed basketball could be great entertainment and a way to make money. He saw that a winning team of star players would make the game even more popular among African Americans in New York.

Growing the Game

By the 1912–13 season, teams often played against others from different cities. Traveling to play the best teams no longer meant only going to Washington or New York. The network of cities grew to include Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Baltimore. College teams from Howard University, Hampton University, and Lincoln University (Pennsylvania) also joined in. Soon, the game spread to the Midwest and New England.

More talented players also started to emerge. At Harlem's St. Christopher Club, teams practiced many hours a day. At Hampton University, Charles Holston Williams coached another great college team. Also, many new YMCAs for Black men were built. These YMCAs helped train young players across the country.

In 1913, the two best Black teams were the Howard Big Five and Pittsburgh's Monticello Athletic Association. The Howard team had more talent and played well together. George Gilmore was the best center, Ed Gray was the best defender, and Hudson Oliver was a top player.

But the best player overall was Cumberland Posey from Monticello. Many said Posey was one of the greatest athletes of his time. A sportswriter once said, "He was at once a ghost, a buzz saw, and a 'shooting fool'."

Professional Black Basketball

Black professional basketball began to grow in the 1920s. In 1922, the McMahon brothers started the Commonwealth Big 5 team in Harlem. A year later, Bob Douglas founded the Renaissance Big Five, known as the Rens. The Commonwealth Big 5 won most games against the Rens at first. But they didn't attract big crowds. So, the McMahons closed their team. This left the Rens to become one of the most popular teams for both Black and white fans.

The Rens got their name from the Renaissance Ballroom in Harlem. They played their first game there on November 3, 1923. They won 28–22 against a white team. The ballroom's dance floor was used as a basketball court. It wasn't a perfect court, but it was one of the few places available.

Pop Gates, a Hall of Fame player for the Rens, described it: "It was rectangular, but more box-like. The floor was very slippery." He also said that famous bands like Duke Ellington's played there. People would dance before, during halftime, and after the games.

Because games were part of an entertainment evening, Black Fives teams developed a faster, more exciting style of play. Flashy moves were a key part of their game.

During the Great Depression in the late 1920s and early 1930s, dance halls became less popular. So, Bob Douglas sent the Rens on the road to play games. By 1930, they were playing across the Midwest. In 1933, they started touring the South.

From 1931, Douglas built a very skilled team called the Magnificent Seven. Key players included Tarzan Cooper, Fats Jenkins, and Wee Willie Smith.

The Rens' best achievement was an 88-game winning streak. This lasted from January 1 to March 27, 1933. They lost to the Original Celtics. From 1932 to 1936, the Rens had an amazing record of 497 wins and only 58 losses.

The Rens often left New York for months. They traveled thousands of miles and played almost every night. Sometimes, they even slept on their bus because of Jim Crow laws. These laws made it hard for Black people to find places to stay. Once, an Indiana restaurant owner put a tall screen around their table to separate them from other customers. John Isaacs, a Rens player, refused to eat there and ate salami on crackers on the bus instead.

On the court, the Rens faced unfriendly crowds and biased referees. Their motto was "Get 10." This meant they wanted to get a quick 10-point lead. Isaacs explained, "That was the 10 the officials were going to take away from you." In 1939, the Rens won 112 games and lost only 7. They beat a top white team, the Oshkosh All-Stars, to win the first world championship tournament.

The End of an Era

In the 1940s, the leagues that came before the National Basketball Association (NBA) were not very popular. They often survived by playing doubleheaders with the Harlem Globetrotters. The Globetrotters had also started in the Black Fives league in Chicago. The Rens and other touring teams helped make basketball popular. John Isaacs, who played for the Rens, earned $150 a month plus $3 a day for meals. He said, "We enjoyed it and played it as a sport." Today, professional basketball is mostly about money.

The Globetrotters became as dominant as the Rens in the 1940s. However, the Globetrotters never played the Rens again after losing to them in their only meeting.

The Black Fives era ended in the late 1940s. This was when white professional basketball leagues, like the National Basketball League, slowly started to include Black players. In 1949, the NBL joined with another league to form the National Basketball Association (NBA). In 1950, the NBA signed its first African American players.

Early Black players in the NBA faced a lot of racism from fans, teammates, and coaches. But they kept going, and things slowly got better as more Black players joined the league. However, even those who made it to the NBA were often only allowed to be role players, focusing on rebounding and defense. Black players didn't get to fully show their talents until stars like Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain arrived.

In 1963, the 1933 Rens team was chosen for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Only two other teams received this honor. The Rens truly deserved it. They traveled and played across America during a time of harsh segregation. Despite this, they had an amazing record of 2318 wins and 381 losses before the team stopped playing in 1949.

In 2005, the United States Congress passed a special resolution. It honored the Black barnstorming basketball teams and players for their achievements, hard work, and contributions to basketball and the nation. This was before white professional leagues were integrated.

Colored Basketball World's Champions

The title "Colored Basketball World Champion" was created by Lester Walton of the New York Age newspaper. Black sportswriters then used it to honor the best all-Black basketball team.

• Smart Set Athletic Club of Brooklyn—1907-08
• Smart Set Athletic Club of Brooklyn—1908-09
• Washington 12th Street Colored YMCA—1909-10
• Howard University—1910-11
• Monticello Athletic Association—1911-12
• Alpha Physical Culture Club/Howard University—1912-13
• St. Christopher Club—1913-14
• New York Incorporators—1914-15
• Hampton Institute—1915-16
• New York Incorporators/St. Christopher Club—1916-17
• St. Christopher Club/New York Incorporators—1917-18
• St. Christopher Club—1918-19
• Loendi Big Five—1919-20
• Loendi Big Five—1920-21
• Loendi Big Five—1921-22
• Loendi Big Five—1922-23
• Commonwealth Five/Eighth Regiment Five of Chicago—1923-24
• Harlem Renaissance Big Five—1924-25

The Black Fives Foundation

The Black Fives Foundation is a non-profit group started in 2013. Its goal is to research, save, show, teach, and honor the history of African Americans in basketball before the NBA. Its founder, Claude Johnson, is a historian and author of "The Black Fives: The Epic Story of Basketball's Forgotten Era."