The site of the former home of Smart Set Athletic Club founding father Edwin F. Horne, grandfather of Lena Horne, is now a playground in the Bed-Stuy section of Brooklyn.
It’s only fitting that the former site of Smart Set Athletic Club founding father Edwin F. Horne’s house is now a playground.
The Smart Set Athletic Club, 1912. (Edwin "Teddy" Horne, standing, far right.)
Edwin F. Horne.
Horne, who lived at 189 Chauncey Street in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, was an officer of the club, whose members were socially elite African Americans.
Where he lived is now Jackie Robinson Playground, adjacent to P.S. 21 Crispus Attucks Elementary School.
Horne’s son, Edwin F. Horne, Jr., known as “Teddy”, played for the Smart Set’s basketball team.
He later married Edna Scottron, and they had a daughter, Lena. (Yes, that Lena.)
189 Chauncey today, a.k.a. Jackie Robinson Playground.
To Teddy Horne, Edna Scottron was an “around the way girl.” That’s because she lived at 467 Monroe Street, a few blocks away. Her old house is now Israel Putnam Playground, adjacent to P.S. 44 Marcus Garvey Elementary School.
Basketball aficionados will know that Israel Putnam is a.k.a. Soul In The Hole, home of Brooklyn’s oldest “streetball” tournament.
467 Monroe today, a.k.a. Soul In The Hole.
Samuel R. Scottron.
Edna’s grandfather, who lived up the street from her at 598 Monroe, was famous inventor Samuel R. Scottron. Among other items, he patented the common curtain rod and was one of Brooklyn’s wealthiest African Americans.
Speaking of rich black folks, here’s what the New York Times had to say about Brooklyn’s “wealthy Negro citizens” back at the turn of the last century:
It will be news to many white persons to learn that many negro men own and occupy brownstone dwellings in fashionable neighborhoods, employ white servants, and ride in their own carriages behind horses driven by liveried coachmen. Some not only own the houses they live in, but also houses tenanted by rich white families, and there are negro men in New York whose wealth is well along toward the million-dollar mark.
598 Monroe.
The Times continued:
Most of the wealthy negroes of this neighborhood live in Brooklyn. As soon as negro men amass a comfortable fortune they move from this city across the East River, because they can find in Brooklyn more economical and satisfactory investments.
Charlie Scottron.
Edna’s cousin, Charlie Scottron, who shared the same house, also played for the Smart Set Athletic Club’s basketball team and was its captain.
710 Hancock.
Other members of the Smart Set included Ferdinand Accooe (297 Bridge Street, now in the MetroTech Center), Harry Brown (382 Essex, now Jesse Owens Playground), Chester Moore (489 Gates, now Louis Armstrong Houses), George Trice (1602 Dean, now part of Albany Gardens), and Charles Hammond (156 Berkeley Place, over in Park Slope).
The team was managed by George Lattimore (710 Hancock) and promoted by J. Hoffman Woods (257 MacDonough).
George Lattimore.
As you’ve seen in my posts this week, the Smart Set Athletic Club and its members were basketball innovators.
One other thing. These ladies and gentlemen lived on blocks in Bed-Stuy that, except for themselves, were occupied entirely by white people. Which is to say that they were on the front lines of cultural exchange and diversity. (If you wanna put it that way.)
So, next time you’re in Bed-Stuy, go on and remember the movie Do The Right Thing. But also do the right thing and remember the Smart Set Athletic Club, the pioneers who helped pave the way for “tha shoes,” Soul In The Hole, and the game of basketball we know and love today.
In other words, go ahead, make history now!
Thank you so much for this interesting article, full of great information and supported by awesome pictures.
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Hey what’s up Claude,
I ran across a picture of the Alpha Phi Alpha (fraternity) baseketball team of 1926. Have you seen this picture. I think it was taken by Vanderzee. If so, what kind of information do you have about Alphas role contributions to black fives era. I am certain a few Alphas played on the Howard University Team and possibly the 12th Streeters.
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Great article about the brooklyn team. was there any black five teams in brownsville?
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I am living in Tampa Fl and I have been here for quite some time. I was born in Cumberland hospital and raised in Bedsty for 17 years and Brownsville before joining the military. We lived on Franklin Av between Greene and Lexington. I went to P.S. 3, JHS 258 and Eastern District High school many many moons ago. I am proud to say that I am straight out of Bedsty. I had some good times growing up there.
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I am Old School at 62 years of age. My parents were the greatest and so was my uncles, aunts, and cousins. My father was the head deacon of the Evergreen Church of God in Christ at 489 Washington avenue just off of Fulton St. We were fortunate to have two parents who cared about us to instill the importance of an education. My mother was the only one out of 12 children to finish high school two sets of twins died or there would have been 16 to live to adult hood. There were 5 of us children and out of the five only one stopped in high school. One of us got two degrees from a Junior college and the three others all got their Masters. I felt extremely blessed because when school was out we went to North Carolina to see my mother and father’s people. That was fun and it was good to get away from good old Brooklyn for awhile. I lived in Chaplain territory and I went to elementry and Junior High School in Bishop territory so I had to be careful because they the ultimate rivals. I stayed out of trouble for the most part because I did mind my business and I never did start trouble. I also had some cousins in Bedsty who were respected to the max so that helped also but I never went to them for help if I got threatened or picked on. However most people knew my cousins. I also live only about two blocks from where Connie Hawkins lived. Brooklyn will always be in my heart.
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[...] team. The Smart Set was the first independent African American basketball team in history, formed in Brooklyn in 1907. Scottron helped the Smart Set win the black national championship in 1907 and 1908, before [...]
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i grew up in bed stuy with kenny charles ray haskins nathaniel harvey aka shammy daryl stewart trying to catch up with these guys any info please forward to my email address thankyou charles hemmings
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[...] that time was a member of the Smart Set Athletic Club basketball team, and from where he would go home to Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn and hang out with his friends Teddy Horne and Charles Scottron (who’s sister he [...]
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trying to contact shammy how are you you can contact me through my email charles.hemmings@yahoo.com would like to hear from you when you contact me i will give you my phone number thanks i live in vicksburg mississippi now married since 1998 to a lovely wife elsie who is from here so contact me soo
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Thank you! Yes, this was a lot of fun to write up! Funny how history twists and turns things sometimes!
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hey rashid, yes, I’m familiar with that Van Der Zee photo. The fraternities all started forming teams and playing one another right around ’25 or ’26. This was when black frats in general began to come into their own. But their basketball teams weren’t competitive with what were by then the best teams, like the Rens, Savoy Big Five, Morgan State, etc. Thanks!
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I’m glad to hear you had some good times growing up there! More people ought to write books or short stories about their experiences growing up in Bed-Stuy.
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