Black History Month

 

On this day in 1923, the first all-Black basketball team is organized - the New York Renaissance, or Rens, as they'd come to be known.

Wanting to give New York City's young athletes a better opportunity, Robert L. Douglas struck a deal with a Harlem real-estate developer who owned the Renaissance Ballroom and Casino.

The team traveled across the country, most often competing against all-white teams.  Their first game was November 3, 1923 where they beat the Collegiate Five 28-22.  In 1925, in their fifth encounter with the team, they beat the (Original) New York Celtics.

From 1932-1933 they won 88 consecutive games.  In 1939, they won the World Professional Basketball Tournament.  To 1948, their record was 2588-529.

For the 1948-1949 season, the team was relocated to Dayton, Ohio to replace the Detroit Vagabond Kings, which was part of the racially integrated National Basketball League.  The Rens disbanded afterwards as the NBL merged with the Basketball Association of America to become the NBA.

In 1963 the team was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.

In 2007, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar wrote On the Shoulders of Giants: My Journey Through the Harlem Renaissance.  He was also involved in the documentary released in 2011.

"I did both to make people aware of the Rens' contribution to basketball because it's important that we honor those pioneers who made this billion-dollar industry possible."