“Edwin B. Henderson set the tone and created the infrastructure for African American participation in athletics, by creating leagues and associations for black athletes and referees when no such thing previously existed.”
– Edwin B. Henderson II, 2008
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Teams: Washington 12th Streeters (Twelfth Street Colored Y.M.C.A.), Howard University
Home: Falls Church, Va.
Born: 1883
Died: 1977
Edwin Bancroft Henderson first learned basketball in 1904 at Harvard University while attending a summer physical training class for gym teachers.
Upon returning to Washington, D.C., Henderson promptly introduced the game to Negro students in the segregated public school system there.
It was the first time African Americans had played basketball on a wide scale basis, earning Henderson the distinction as the “Father of Black Basketball” and the District of Columbia as the “Birthplace of Black Basketball.”
Henderson was a fine basketball player. His leaping ability made him a natural center, the most crucial position in basketball back when each made basket was followed by a jump ball.
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