News

News items featuring Black Fives in current events, editorial shout outs, media coverage, publicity, and love from celebs, as well as links to archived material.

May 19, 2013
Black Fives, Inc. announces the end of its Affiliate Program, as of May 24, 2013. The program was in place since 2009. [More]

February 10, 2013
Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the New York City Mayor’s Office proclaim this day, February 10, 2013, as “Black Fives Day” for the City of New York. [More]

February 10, 2013
The Barclays Center and the Brooklyn Nets honor Black Fives Era pioneers and their descendants in a recognition event to mark the unveiling of a special compilation of vintage African American basketball images in the concourse of its arena. [More]

February 1, 2011
Black Entertainment Television (BET) features a selection of photographs, artifacts, and memorabilia from the Black Fives Photo Archive in a promotional segment it airs during Black History Month. [More]

January 18, 2011
George Crowe, the last living member of the New York Renaissance (“Rens”) professional all-black basketball team of the 1920s, 30s, and 40s, dies quietly at a nursing home in California. [More]

March 30, 2010
BlackFives.com makes its extensive gallery of Black Fives Era photographs and images available online for review and third party usage. [More]

February 28, 2010
ESPN airs a segment called “Black Fives” on its “Outside the Lines” show, which features Claude Johnson and as well a variety of photographs and historical materials provided to the network by BlackFives.com. [More]

February 4, 2010
Claude Johnson gives a talk at Stonehill College in Easton, Mass., well received by students, staff, and community members, called “Lessons from the Black Fives Era: How YOU Can Make History Now.” [More]

January 30, 2010
Claude Johnson stages the opening reception for a unique month-long photography exhibit benefitting the Black Fives Community Fund, showing off one of his hobbies for a great cause. [More]

January 14, 2010
Black Fives, Inc. establishes the Black Fives Community Fund, a charitable entity (contributions are tax-deductible) that benefits social, educational, cultural, and civic improvement efforts in communities where teams of the Black Fives Era once played. [More]

December 10, 2009
Ellen Jenkins Harris, entrepreneur and daughter of New York Rens star Clarence ‘Fats’ Jenkins, joins Black Fives, Inc. as its newest Advisory Board member. [More]

December 3, 2009
BlackFives.com unveils its new subscription format, which includes access to Black Fives content — such as articles, audios, videos, profiles, and more — via a Basic Subscription or a Premium Subscription.

November 25, 2009
The Wall Street Journal features comments by Black Fives, Inc. founder and president Claude Johnson in a front-page article about President Barack Obama and his basketball playing as the nation’s Baller-in-Chief.

September 3, 2009
Black Fives, Inc. founder and president Claude Johnson introduces Claude’s Thought for Today, a series of brief daily inspirational messages, motivational tips, and consciousness reminders via email.

August 12, 2009
Black Fives, Inc. announces the Black Fives Affiliate Program. Anyone who signs up to be an affiliate in the program (it’s free) could earn commissions simply by referring people to the Black Fives Online Gift Shop. [More]

July 17, 2009
Claude Johnson visits the White House for a personal tour hoping to meet President Obama, missing a chance encounter by 10 minutes. But not before handing a staff member a vintage photograph of a Black Fives Era player that is an uncanny Obama lookalike. [More]

July 3, 2009
Claude Johnson is interviewed about Baller-in-Chief by Sarah Meehan, host of the Under Score show on Sirius 98 “Hardcore Sports Radio”. [More]

June 11, 2009
Black Fives moves its website, BlackFives.com, to a new server platform with a completely new and improved website. [More]

May 18, 2009
Black Fives is mentioned in the Intuit Small Business Grant Program, for which it had submitted a business story. “Thank you to all the people who responded with their support,” says says Claude Johnson. “We didn’t win, but learned so much about ourselves as well as about competing in such programs in the future!”

May 11, 2009
Black Fives introduces a new fan group on Facebook: Honoring Vintage All-Black U.S. Military Basketball Teams

May 5, 2009
The Black Fives Blog begins a series of posts honoring the vintage African American basketball teams that represented U.S. military units. [More]

April 25, 2009
Black Fives competes in the Intuit Small Business Grant Program with an entry write up of its own start-up “story” that could win the company a $25,000 grant for charity. [More]

March 31, 2009
Mark Gray of historically famous radio station 1450 WOL-AM (Washington, D.C.) interviews Black Fives founder Claude Johnson on his show, Sports Groove. [More]

March 27, 2009
Popular website TheRoot.com publishes a home page article about Black Fives and the New York Renaissance. [More]

March 26, 2009
The Black Fives Blog posts the first of a series of articles about George Crowe, the last living New York Rens player. [More]

March 13, 2009
Community scholars remember basketball legend John Isaacs in a Falls Church, Virginia event. [More]

February 26, 2009
Robin Young of National Public Radio (N.P.R.) interviews Black Fives founder Claude Johnson about President Barack Obama’s affection for pickup basketball, on her show “Here and Now.” Sports Illustrated senior writer Alexander Wolff is also there. [More]

February 18, 2009
ESPN.com publishes an article honoring John Isaacs, “Rens’ Isaacs a world champion,” by Richard Lapchick, director of the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport and the son of Basketball Hall of Fame member Joe Lapchick. [More]

February 9, 2009
RushmoreDrive.com, the new African American themed search engine website, publishes an article by Claude Johnson, “In Nation and Sport, Rebirth Requires Inner Component,” which uses history, basketball, and suggestions about enlightened thinking to connect the legacy of John Isaacs with the excitement of President Barack Obama and the challenges facing the world right now. [More]

January 31, 2009
NBA.com publishes an article, “Isaacs’ contributions should be honored by Hall of Fame,” about John Isaacs, Claude Johnson, and the Black Fives company, by NBA insider and TNT broadcast analyst David Aldridge. “Fortunately, people like Johnson wage lonely battles for both the intellectual and property rights of those who have passed on,” Aldridge writes. [More]

January 27, 2009
The New York Post publishes an article, “John Isaacs: Gone But Not Forgotten,” by sports columnist Peter Vescey. [More]

January 26, 2009
John “Boy Wonder” Isaacs, a former star basketball player and community leader, and an official spokesperson and consultant for Black Fives, Inc., dies at the Albert Einstein Hospital in the Bronx, New York, at age 93. [More]

January 2, 2009
Henry “Hank” DeZonie, who was a star basketball player with the Harlem Yankees, New York Renaissance, Dayton Rens of the National Basketball League, and Tri-Cities Blackhawks of the National Basketball Association, dies at Lenox Hill Hospital in Harlem., his lifelong home, at age 86. [More]

May 19, 2007
Black Fives founder Claude Johnson is featured in a Nova Scotia Chronicle-Herald article in connection with the annual Provincial Black Basketball Tournament held in Halifax.

April 5, 2007
The New York Sun publishes a feature article about the history of the Black Fives Era and Claude Johnson’s work to help revive it. [More]

March 28, 2007
The very popular UniWatch Blog features a post about Black Fives, Inc. and Claude Johnson. [More]

March 21, 2006
The Wall Street Journal publishes a feature article about the Black Fives Era and how Claude Johnson helped bring this history back into view. [More]