To help celebrate Black History Month, Claude Johnson appeared on ESPN's "Classic Now" show with former New York Rens player John Isaacs and ESPN's NBA analyst, Chris Broussard.

The show, hosted by Josh Elliott, was taped and broadcasted on Thursday, February 18, the same day that the Veteran's Committee of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame finalized their list of 2006 Finalists with Isaacs still under consideration.

"This is quite possibly the best team you've never heard of," Elliott announced, before introducing the segment to ESPN Classic viewers.

Johnson's role was to set up the story of the New York Renaissance Big "R" Five, an all-black basketball team nicknamed the "Rens," and named after the Renaissance Ballroom in Harlem that was their home court starting in 1923. His historical account was the lead-in to the guest appearance by Isaacs.

By the late 1920s, Johnson says, "the Rens dominated all of basketball, including the best white teams."  The 1932-1933 Rens won 88 straight games in 86 days and were inducted as a unit into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1963.  Team owner Robert Douglas, star centers Charles “Tarzan” Cooper and William “Pop” Gates were later enshrined individually. 

By the time the Rens folded after the 1948-1949 season, they had amassed an amazing record of 2,588 wins against only 539 losses.  

"I feel blessed just to be here," said Isaacs of his appearance on the popular show.

Asked how the Rens would compare to today's teams, Broussard pointed out that they would be "like the Detroit Pistons" in terms of how their great individual athletes "all submit to the team concept.".

Johnson took it a step further. "The Rens may have been the best basketball team of the 20th century," he says, echoing a widely held belief that is based on the overall record and performance of the Renaissance Five against the best teams in history.

The following day the Basketball Hall of Fame announced that Isaacs had been named as a 2006 Finalist. Coincidence?

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