The New York Renaissance , also known as the Renaissance Big R Five and as the Rens , were the first black-owned, all- black , fully-professional basketball team in history, established in October 1923, by Robert "Bob" Douglas . They were named after the Renaissance Casino and Ballroom through an agreement with its owner, in return for the use of that facility as their home court. The Casino and Ballroom at 138th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem was an entertainment complex that included a ballroom, which served as the Rens' home court. The team eventually had its own house orchestra and games were often followed by a dance. Their subsequent financial success shifted the focus of black basketball from amateurism to professionalism. Initially, the Rens played mostly in Harlem, but Douglas soon realized they could book more games on the road, in larger-capacity venues, and took up barnstorming across the country for more lucrative payouts. The Renaissance are also the topic of the 2011 documentary On the Shoulders of Giants .
31-637: The Rens were one of the dominant basketball teams of the 1920s and 1930s. They were originally known as the Spartan Braves, the basketball team of the Spartan Field Club, a Manhattan-based multi-sport amateur athletic organization whose initial focus was cricket. The Rens played their first game on November 3, 1923, winning against the Collegiate Five, an all-white team. Interracial games featured regularly on their schedule, drawing
62-663: A 2-season span. After ending the 1923 season undefeated, the "Wonder Five" were proclaimed nationally; the Detroit Free Press wrote: "Not only has this team been the best Franklin College ever had, but it is considered as the best collegiate team ever seen in Hoosierdom , the basketball center of the world." Later Coach Wagner turned down an offer to play the New York Celtics , the top professional team in
93-493: A major beneficiary at mid-season of National League players, finished second. The most important addition to the Indiana club was Benny Borgmann, who quickly established him as the league’s premier offensive star. Washington and Philadelphia followed in third and fourth place, while first-half winner Cleveland slumped badly to fifth place. Cleveland's fall was precipitated by the hasty mid-season departure of star Honey Russell, who
124-490: A match with the New York Celtics , they twice defeated the Omars, a professional Midwest team. The boys had started playing together as children and developed synergy. In high school, they thrived under the coaching of Ernest "Griz" Wagner and had a 104 to 10 win/loss record in their four years. After their high school successes, most members of the team followed Wagner to Franklin College , where he became basketball coach. At
155-553: A nucleus of those truly "original" Celtics, adding other players mostly from the West Side of New York City, and defiantly called his new squad the Original Celtics. Initially they played in various struggling professional leagues, before becoming primarily a touring squad which traveled up to 150,000 miles a year while completing a 150–200 game schedule. They won about ninety percent of their games and finished 1922–23 with
186-499: The 1926–27 season, the team replaced the Brooklyn Arcadians after five games and took the name Brooklyn Celtics . By the next season, they had returned to the name, New York Celtics . After winning back-to-back ABL championships in 1926–27 and 1927–28, the team was broken up. An attempt to return the team for the 1929–30 season failed, and the team dropped out of the league during the first half on December 10, 1929. Later
217-591: The Brooklyn club to fill the gaps in his lineup left by the National League raids. The newcomers joined Rusty Saunders, Ray Kennedy and George Glasco to restore Marshall’s Palace Five club to its place among the ABL pre-season favorites. Cleveland returned with championship squad intact and further strengthened by the addition of Ohio State rookie Cookie Cunningham and valuable swingman Gil Ely. With Brooklyn out of
248-519: The Detroit and Brooklyn clubs from the ABL, and then awarded the latter franchise to the incoming Celtics. Finally, he bolstered the Baltimore franchise with players from the suddenly defunct NBL. In a single stroke, Carr had signed basketball’s most famous team, thwarted the upstart NBL, and provided his league with an additional pool of dozens of top players. The Original Celtics quickly waded into
279-653: The Harlem Rens won the first World Basketball Championship. The play won Best Play, Best Supporting Actor, Best Director and Best Production at the 2018 42nd annual Carbonell Awards in Miami. The play will have a regional run at Delaware Theater Company in October 2023 to commemorate the 100 year anniversary of the team. [1] Original Celtics The Original Celtics were a barnstorming professional American basketball team. At various times in their existence,
310-509: The June indictment of owner Jim Furry for embezzling $ 190,000 from a New York business. Then, in early October, just a month before the ABL season was to get underway, the Celtics bolted to the newly organized National Basketball League. The new league operated solely in and around the metropolitan New York City, but despite its geographical limitations was stocked with some of the best players in
341-475: The Metropolitan League but dropped out of the league during the 1st half after going 12–0. Other outstanding individual players on these squads were another "big man", Joe Lapchick ; John Beckman , called the "Babe Ruth of Basketball"; George "Horse" Haggerty; John "Pete" Barry; and speedy Davey Banks. American Basketball League owners meeting during the summer of 1926 were generally pleased by
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#1732773114155372-601: The Renaissance became the first top-level team to sign a four-year African American college star, David "Big Dave" DeJernett of Indiana Central . The Rens relocated during the 1948–49 basketball season to Dayton, Ohio , to replace the Detroit Vagabond Kings , who folded in December 1948. The Vagabond Kings had been playing in the racially integrated National Basketball League (NBL). The Rens played
403-878: The Rens won 88 consecutive games, a mark that has never been matched by a professional basketball team. In 1939, the Rens won the first professional basketball championship, when they beat the Oshkosh All-Stars, a white team, 34–25, in the World Professional Basketball Tournament in Chicago. The team compiled a 2,588–529 record from 1923 to 1948. Important players on the Rens roster included Clarence "Fats" Jenkins , Pappy Ricks , Eyre Saitch , Bill Yancey , "Wee" Willie Smith , Charles "Tarzan" Cooper , Zack Clayton , John Isaacs , Dolly King , Pop Gates , and Nat Clifton . In 1936,
434-522: The country. After pulling off a coup by signing the Original Celtics, the NBL brashly raided ABL rosters for additional players. The Brooklyn Arcadians were particularly hard hit, losing stars Red Conaty and Rody Cooney, while Washington lost starters Teddy Kearns and Bob Grody. Washington owner George Preston Marshall completed the destruction of the Arcadians by luring Elmer Ripley and Tillie Voss away from
465-498: The largest crowds. In its first years, the team strove to beat the Original Celtics , the dominant white team of the time, and claim the title of world champions. In their fifth encounter, the Rens did so for the first time, on December 20, 1925. During the 1932–33 regular season, the Rens compiled a record of 120–8 (six of those losses came at the hands of the Celtics, whom the Rens did beat eight times). During that season,
496-607: The nation, saying his team was "ready for a rest". The leading scorer on the Wonder Five was "Fuzzy" Vandivier . In 1924, the Chicago Tribune named him one of the "Five Best Players" in the nation. Coach John Wooden , of UCLA fame, considered Fuzzy the greatest high school basketball player he had ever seen. After graduation, Vandivier returned to Franklin High School as the basketball coach. In 1939 he led
527-476: The next two ABL titles. During their first full season in the ABL, their dominance was so absolute that fans in other cities took up the cry, "Break up the Celtics!" In response, the league disbanded the Celtics and apportioned their players to the other teams. The strategy backfired as game attendance plummeted and, further deflated by the Great Depression , the ABL folded after the 1931 season. During
558-457: The picture, Gottlieb’s new Philadelphia entry became the third contender. The Quakers (later known as the Warriors) showcased a Who’s Who of former Eastern League stars including George Artus, Tom Barlow, Stretch Meehan, Soup Campbell, and Chickie Passon. Three weeks into the new season, the favorites were all performing up to expectations, but the league had serious problems at the other end of
589-430: The race for first-half honors of the ABL, winning 13 of 16 games, but the 0–5 record they were forced to inherit from the Arcadians was impossible to overcome. Cleveland captured first place by one game over Washington with Philadelphia in third and the Celtics in fourth place. Starting with a fresh slate, the Celtics quickly took charge of the second half of the season with nine straight victories. Fort Wayne, which had been
620-467: The remainder of the NBL season as the Dayton Rens , then disbanded after the NBL merged with the all-white Basketball Association of America to form the, also initially, all-white National Basketball Association which resumed play in the 1949–50 season. Writer and director Layon Gray off-Broadway production Kings Of Harlem pays homage to the Rens. The play centers around the 1939 season in which
651-414: The results of the league's inaugural session. Only Buffalo had not signed up for the second season. League President Joe Carr had signed three new members in Baltimore, New York, and Philadelphia. The latter two were of particular importance to the league's credibility. Two Philadelphia boxing promoters, Jules Aronson and Max Hoff were recruited by Carr to finance the team and Eddie Gottlieb was hired to run
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#1732773114155682-414: The standings. Brooklyn, Detroit and Baltimore were all winless and showing few signs of improvement. President Carr acted quickly and ruthlessly to solve the dilemma. First, he moved to destroy the foundation of the upstart National League, by secretly negotiating with the Celtics to jump to the ABL. As anticipated, the Celtics' departure triggered an immediate collapse of the rival league. Next, Carr expelled
713-921: The team played in the American Basketball League , the Eastern Basketball League and the Metropolitan Basketball League. The team has no relation to the NBA Boston Celtics , other than as an indirect inspiration. The franchise as a whole was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1959. The team's roots lay in the New York Celtics team that disbanded during World War I. In 1918, James Furey assembled his own team around
744-528: The team to a runner-up in the state basketball tournament. He retired from coaching in 1944 but continued as the school's athletic director, as well as teaching history. Since the years of the "Wonder Five", the Franklin High School team took the nickname of Grizzly Cubs, and Franklin College athletic teams took the Grizzlies, both in honor of "Griz" Wagner. In 1980, Franklin College unveiled
775-572: The team, sponsored by popular singer Kate Smith , also played in the ABL in the 1936–37 and 1937–38 as New York Celtics and in 1938–39 as Kingston Colonials ; in this last year with the ABL, they won the regular season but lost in playoffs. The Original Celtics briefly reorganized as a barnstorming team in the 1930s, but never replicated their initial glory. Notable players with the Original Celtics include: Franklin Wonder Five The Franklin Wonder Five
806-477: The team. The situation in New York was considerably less clear. The Original Celtics signed to represent New York, but they were reluctant recruits at best. After last season, Carr had banned any ABL team from playing games against the Celtics, drying up some of their most lucrative exhibition dates. In the past, such a tactic would not have intimidated the Celtics, but they were already under financial stress due to
837-430: The time, total enrollment of the college was around 350 students. The "Wonder Five" team took on those of large universities, including Notre Dame , Illinois , Purdue , and Wisconsin . The team was undefeated in its first college season of 1922–23 and became national champions. It was not until February 1924 that the team suffered its first defeat, by Butler University , ending a string of 50 consecutive victories over
868-539: The unbelievable record of 193–11–1. Hoping to claim an undisputed national championship, they challenged the nationally famous Franklin Wonder Five , but the Franklin coach refused as his team "was too tired" after a grueling year. The team's first dominant player was "Dutch" Dehnert , a 6'1" (1.85 m) standing guard who some credit with introducing the modern concept of pivot play. When ballhandling wizard Nat Holman (later to coach national championship teams at CCNY )
899-584: Was a 1920s basketball team from Indiana's " Hoosier Hysteria " era. With basketball king in Indiana, the team from Franklin was dubbed the "Wonder Five". This small town about 20 miles south of Indianapolis produced a team that captured the Indiana State Basketball Championship three years in succession, 1920–1922. They became national college champions in 1923, playing with Franklin College and staying undefeated against teams from major universities. While they passed on
930-443: Was exiled to Chicago after a disagreement with team owner Max Rosenblum. The Celtics easily disposed of the weakened Cleveland team in three straight games to take the ABL championship. In 1926, the American Basketball League , developed by sports entrepreneur George Preston Marshall , effectively railroaded the team into joining its ranks by prohibiting member teams from playing against them. The Original Celtics responded by winning
961-715: Was signed to play for then-coach John Whitty in 1922, the Original Celtics hit their stride. During the 1921/22 season, the team replaced the New York Giants, whose owner also owned the Whirlwinds during the 1st half. During the 1922/23 season, the team took over the Atlantic City franchise when it was 4–7 and won five of six games before the Eastern League folded in January, 1923. They also competed in