Howard University

Howard University logo


Location:
Washington, D.C.
Nickname:
“The Blue and White”
Colors:
College Blue, Ivory
Managers: Edwin Henderson, J.H. Brown



Howard University’s first varsity basketball team was formed by Edwin Henderson after his Twelfth Street Colored Y.M.C.A. squad won the Colored Basketball World’s Championship in 1910. Henderson organized the team using nearly the entire lineup of his “12 Streeters” team.

Howard University photo collage

Most of the former Y.M.C.A. players were already students at the
prestigious black college.

The new Howard team was even better than the 1909-10 Washington 12 Streeter team and easily won the 1910-11 black national championship title.

Managed by Henderson and J. H. Brown, Howard’s lineup included captain Henry Nixon, former Amherst Walter Camp All-American football halfback Edward B. Gray, star center Charles Gilmore, brothers Maurice and Arthur Curtis, and former Jersey City and
Smart Set star Hudson “Huddy” Oliver.

They were considered invincible.

Both Gray and Oliver attended Howard University’s medical school while playing varsity
basketball, and later became respected surgeons.

Upcoming Dates

  • June 13
    Book Talk by Claude Johnson
    Claude Johnson, founder/CEO of BlackFives.com, will discuss his new book, "Black Fives: The Alpha Physical Culture Club's Pioneering African American Basketball Team, 1904-1923" followed by Q/A and book signing.

Quote of the Month

“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

© 2003-2012 Black Fives, Inc.
All rights reserved.

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