January is a difficult month for friends and fans of the New York “Rens” of Harlem, the all-black pro basketball team that played in 1920s, 30s, and 40s.
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, died January 2, 2009, at Lenox Hill Hospital in Harlem. He would have been 87 years old yesterday.
Isaacs was born Sept. 15, 1915. After retiring from serious competition, he coached Tiny Archibald, Chris Mullin and a thousand others. Later, he became a counselor at the Madison Square Boys and Girls Club in The Bronx. He died Monday after a stroke. He was 93.
Today is the anniversary of the first black players to play in the N.B.A. From the Chester (Pa.) Times, on October 20, 1950: Several Negro basketball stars will be members of the teams in the National Basketball Association for the first time this winter. Nat (Sweetwater) Clifton of the Harlem Globetrotters, and Chuck Cooper, Duquesne [...]
When SLAM asked me to write something about 93-year-old former professional basketball player John Isaacs, I wanted to go beyond what’s been told (and retold) before. I wanted to tell what matters most.
This is what makes it so difficult for some Black Fives Era players to be fairly considered for comparison and recognition by the committee members responsible for selecting inductees into the Basketball Hall of Fame.
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