This article by Sonja Steptoe is from the Sports Illustrated archives (the “SI Vault”), and originally appeared in print in the magazine’s December 24, 1990 issue. We felt it would be appropriate to re-publish the article here now, in honor of John “Boy Wonder” Isaacs, the former basketball star with the New York Rens (of Harlem) who passed away Monday morning at the age of 93. It’s easy to see why Mr. Isaacs was such a hero and friend to so many.
Mr. Obama stopped at Ben’s Chili Bowl in D.C. this weekend, across the street from a historic black basketball site once known as True Reformer’s Hall.
In the early days of basketball, teams were called “fives” for their five starting players, and racially segregated African American teams were called “Black Fives.”
In George T. Hepbron’s “How To Play Basket Ball,” published in 1904 by the American Sports Publishing Co., then at 21 Warren Street in New York City, there’s a delightful segment about how one is to set up a “basket ball” court. In “The Grounds,” Hepbron, then the secretary of the Amateur Athletic Union Basket [...]
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