Pittsburgh Scholastics

Scholastic A.A. logo


Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Nickname: “The Scholastics”
Colors: Burgundy, Ivory
Manager: Hunter Johnson
The Scholastic Athletic Association®, an African American athletic club that included a basketball team, was formed in 1915 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Scholastic A.A. photo collage

It was organized by Hunter Johnson, a popular sports figure who formerly trained the Carnegie Tech and University of Pittsburgh football and track teams.

He based the club in Pittsburgh’s predominantly black Hill District.

Johnson was an expert at conditioning and physical fitness.

He later trained long jumper and Pittsburgh native DeHart Hubbard to become the first black individual gold medallist, at the 1924 Olympics.

Johnson’s organization, which competed in track and basketball, was comprised of black athletes who were current or former students at local schools and colleges.

Because of this the club soon became known as the “Scholastics.”

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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

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