'Robert "Bob" Douglas, originally from St. Kitts, British West Indies, was the coach of the Spartan Braves, an amateur team in the New York area. He is often regarded as the "Godfather of Black basketball" because of his many innovations including, monthly contracts with players, a custom-designed team bus and tours in the South. In 1923, Douglas decided to organize a professional basketball team. He approached William Roche, another Caribbean immigrant, about allowing his team to play Sunday evening games at Roche's Casino and Ballroom, the Renaissance on 138th Street and Seventh Avenue, in Harlem. Douglas named the new team the Renaissance, making a constant advertisement for the casino. Says Nelson George, "As was typical of the era, games were played right on the ballroom's dance floor with two portable baskets set up—one right in front of the bandstand—and portable wooden chairs on either side"'
Urban music and community social events are also parts of black basketball's origin and evolution. The origin of a "Streetball Tour" can be traced to early black professional sports. Both Negro baseball teams and basketball teams traveled throughout the country and eventually around the world to compete. Both the Rens and Harlem Globetrotters played most of their games on the road, barnstorming across the country out of necessity because they were unable to join any professional white leagues due to racial discrimination.
Between 1932 and 1933 the Rens compiled a record of 120 – 8, including an 88 game winning streak. An accomplishment never matched by a professional basketball team. In addition to being the first all-black team to win the Basketball World Championship in 1939, the Ren's compiled a franchise record of 2,588 wins and 539 losses over its 30 years history. Dominance!
One interesting piece of information I uncovered. Robert (Bob) Johnson recruited or personally drafted John Isaac right after high school in the 1930"s. John Isaac would go on to play on the World Championship team. "Isaacs, who was born in Panama but learned his game on the playgrounds of Harlem, was offered a contract by Douglas straight out of Textile High School in Manhattan, which he led to the Public School Athletic League championship as a senior.
Douglas, who paid Isaacs $150 a month with an additional $3 a day for meal money, once said that Isaacs had ''the most natural ability of any man ever to play for me.''
Globetrotters
"There is no clear consensus as to the beginnings of the Globetrotters. The official history [1] contains several details, which seem contradictory, such as the team being organized in 1926 in the Savoy Ballroom, which opened in 1927.[2] What is clear is that the genesis of the Globetrotters takes place in the South Side of Chicago, Illinois in the 1920s, where all the original players grew up. Most of the players also attended Wendell Phillips High School. When the Savoy Ballroom opened in November 1927, one of the premier attractions was the
Savoy Big Five, a basketball team that played exhibitions before dances. Hinckley, Illinois was home to the first Harlem Globetrotters game on January 7, 1927. "…Hudson brought in a booking agent, Abe Saperstein, who helped book the team in a barnstorming tour of Wisconsin and Michigan. While the group was in Michigan, Brookins heard that Abe Saperstein had formed another squad of Globe Trotters to tour Wisconsin. Saperstein called his team the Harlem Globetrotters, thus marking the founding date of that legendary team to be sometime in January 1929."
It appears that internal conflict among the founders of the Savoy Big Five resulted in Abe Saperstein to influencing some players to break from Savory to play for his team.
"This team blew up the in the winter of 1934, when Saperstein changed the compensation structure, from the team splitting the gate (which could go as high as $40 a game) to being paid a fixed sum of $7.50 per person. The Globetrotters were now Saperstein's employees with greatly reduced compensation. Pullins and several other Globetrotters immediately quit."
"The Globetrotters beat the premier professional team, the Minneapolis Lakers (led by George Mikan), two years in a row, 1948 and 1949, with the Lakers winning later contests. The February 1948 win (by a score of 61-59, on a buzzer-beater) was a hallmark in professional basketball history, as the all-black Globetrotters proved they were on equal footing with the all-white Lakers. Ironically, this high-water mark in Globetrotters' history hastened their decline as a serious basketball power. Momentum for erasing the National Basketball Association's color line grew. In 1950, Chuck Cooper became the first black player drafted by an NBA team, along with Earl Lloyd and Harold Hunter, two other signees. That same year, Saperstein also lost one of the key players to the New York Knicks, their big man Nat Clifton. From that time on the Globetrotters had increasing difficulty attracting and retaining top talent."
While the Ren's desired to play within the top professional leagues, the Harlem Globetrotters desired to maintain independence. Therefore, to adjust to the rise of the NBA, the Harlem Globetrotters slowly transitioned from a highly competitive basketball franchise to the Clown Princes of Basketball. Though early players resisted the transition to an entertainment first basketball second approach, the tactic has allowed the franchise to survive for over 90 years.
The most interesting development in black basketball pre-NBA is the purchase of the Harlem Renaissance by Harlem Globetrotters owner Abe Saperstein. "Saperstein would assume controlling interest of the Rens in 1949 and used them as a secondary club, having them play in the preliminary game before the Trotters performed. However, the double bill was short-lived as the Rens ended up disbanding that year, leaving the Trotters as the only all-black basketball team.
For the Rens, it was the end of nearly 30 years of groundbreaking achievement on and off the court. But the team had earned the right to be called one of the greatest -- if not the greatest -- pre-NBA teams."
