Jay-Z’s Link To Brooklyn’s Century-Old Black Basketball History

On September 29, 2011, in Business, Community, Culture, History, NBA, by Claude Johnson

Jay-Z’s co-ownership of the Brooklyn Nets reminds us of the Smart Set Athletic Club — America’s first all-black basketball team — whose players lived a short stroll away from the Marcy Housing Projects in Bedford-Stuyvesant where he grew up.

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The First ‘Official’ All-Black Basketball Game Ever, in Brooklyn in 1907

On March 1, 2010, in Community, Culture, History, Premium, by Black Fives

Bushwick (Brooklyn) was the site of the very first recorded game between two all-black basketball teams, in 1907, at a court on the corner of Knickerbocker and Gates Avenues.

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Alpha Physical Culture Club

On November 28, 2008, in , by Black Fives

The Alpha Physical Culture Club was America’s first all-black athletic club. Formed in Harlem in 1904, the club’s basketball team was formed in 1907 and was known as the Alpha Big Five. Most of its members were Caribbean immigrants.

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Smart Set Athletic Club

On July 23, 2008, in , by Black Fives

The Smart Set Athletic Club of Brooklyn was founded in 1905 and is credited with assembling the first formally organized and independent all-black basketball team, which debuted in 1907.

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“We were helping our race by fortifying the bodies of our people in this, the struggle for existence, where only the fittest survive.”
-- Conrad Norman, Co-Founder, Alpha Physical Culture Club, 1910

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