In 1902, Harry Haskell "Bucky" Lew became the first African-American to play in a professional basketball game. "Lew played in a New England League game for Lowell against Marlborough on November 2, 1902, the first documented instance of an African-American playing in a professional basketball game. "
Lew was the extra man and supposed to spend the game warming the bench. Then a starter was injured and at first, the manager refused to put him in. "He let them play us five on four," Lew remembered, "but the fans got real mad and almost started a riot, screaming to let me play. That did it. I went in there and you know... all those things you read about Jackie Robinson, the abuse, the name-calling, extra effort to put him down ... they're all true. I got the same treatment and even worse ... I took the bumps, the elbows in the gut, knees here and everything else that went with it. But I gave it right back. It was rough but worth it. Once they knew I could take it, I had it made."'
After Lew played one year with the Lowell team and two years for a Haverhill team, the New England League disbanded. Lew formed and traveled with his team, playing and coaching, for another 20 years.
"Bucky" Lew was a man of courage and perseverance. "He didn't talk much about basketball," his daughter told a reporter, "but sometimes, if things weren't going so well for one of us, or if we were having difficult times, he'd talk about how things were for him back then. He used his athletic experience to teach us what life was about."
Lew's relationship with basketball provided the platform for him to grow as a person and to earn a living playing and coaching his basketball barnstorming team. Bucky made a significant contribution to the integration of basketball and society as a whole. His experience help provide wisdom and insight into life that he could use to motivate and strengthen his children.
"The Black aesthetic has not only changed basketball but, after a rough period in the seventies, has been the catalytic force behind the sport's extraordinary growth in popularity and profitability ever since." To many blacks in inner-city America, basketball is much more than a sport -- it is a form of education and expression. African-American culture from the city has brought a much more graceful, speed-oriented, physical, all-around skill aspect to basketball. Basketball, especially in these areas, teaches social skills, rites of passage, creativity, and cultural identity.
African-Americans have leveraged the game of basketball to enhance lives, solidify communities and participate in the free market system for over a hundred years. The most identifiable basketball franchise in the world is not an NBA team, but the Harlem Globetrotters. Consistent with the modern story of black basketball, the Harlem Globetrotters only enjoyed a few years of African-American ownership; Manny Jackson sold 80% of the company to a growth fund in 2005 after 12 years of majority ownership by an African-American.
Black Basketball: Pre-NBA Time Line
¨ 1904 All Black YMCA's, settlement houses, culture clubs, and churches created basketball teams, which were referred to as "Black Fives".
¨ Bucky Lew, a Black player, played in a white professional league in New England with the Newberry Haverhill. Frank Wilson integrated the Mohawk Valley League the same year. The Eastern Pro League had Black players from 1911 to 1917.
¨ 1905 The first known organized Black Five was the Brooklyn Smart Set Club.
¨ 1909 The Loendi Big Five was organized by Cumberland Posey, who also owned the Homestead Grays of the Negro Baseball League. They dominated the Black basketball world for 10 years until the Harlem Globetrotters and the New York Renaissance Big Five arrived on the scene.
¨ 1913 Black Fives became widely known for their innovative play and superior skills, which helped popularize and change the nature of the game. Black Fives, such as the Incorporators of New York City, the St. Christopher Five and the Monticello Five organized barnstorming tours across the country and played thousands of exhibition games against popular mainstream opponents.
¨ 1922 The New York (Harlem) Renaissance Big Five was formed by (Robert) Bob Douglas, considered by some to be the father of Black basketball. The "Rens" became the first salaried professional Black Five.
¨ 1925 The American Basketball League refused to admit the Harlem Renaissance. As a show of support for the Renaissance, the Original Celtics refused to join the league
¨ 1927 Savoy Big Five (Harlem Globetrotters) are organized
¨ 1930's Pro Basketball meant barnstormers (New York "Rens" and Original Celtics). No organized Black leagues but white leagues were glad to play host to the "Rens" to improve their gate.
¨ 1939 Globetrotters lost to the "Rens" in the second round of World Championship. New York "Rens" won the World Championship.
¨ 1940 Harlem Globetrotters win their first and only World Championship
¨ 1942-43 Many NBL players were called into the military. Chicago Studebakers team tapped a pool of Black players, bringing integration into the NBL (Al Price, Casey Jones, Shannie Barnett, Sonny Boswell, Hillary Brown, Duke Cumberland, Rosie Hudson, and Bernie Price).
¨ 1946-49 Before the merger of the NBL and the BAA, no team signed a black player even though there were no rules against it. In 1946, the BAA denied a request for the Harlem Renaissance to become the leagues' tenth team.
¨ 1946-47 Brought Black players into the NBL for the first time since 1943 ("Pop Gates" and Dolly King signed with the Rochester Royals, Willie King, former Harlem Globetrotter signed with the Detroit Gems, Charles Perry signed with the Gems, and Bill Farrow signed with the Youngstown Bears).
¨ 1946-47 The NBL had better players but they played in small cities and small arenas. The BAA had major cities and major arenas so they decided to merge. The BAA promotes double hitters with Harlem Globetrotters as their second attraction and gate receipts soared.
¨ 1949 The NBL and the BAA merge into the NBA. The NBA was born with ten teams from the BAA and seven teams from the NBL. There are no black players in the league.
¨ 1949-50 Ned Irish, New York Nicks owner, threatened to leave the NBA if the other owners refused to allow him to sign Sweetwater Clifton, a black player. Thus, the Board of Governors voted six to five in favor of signing black ballplayers.
¨ 1950 In the spring college draft, Chuck Cooper and Earl Lloyd joined Sweetwater Clifton to become the first black players to play in the NBA.
¨ 1953 The first NBA television contract was for 13 games for $39,000.
Between 1904 and 1950, the two top basketball franchises (black or white) consisted of teams with all black players. The Harlem Renaissance is considered by most basketball historians to be the best basketball franchise of the pre-NBA era. The Renaissance was black-owned and hold the distinction of the first black-owned basketball franchise with players on salary.
