1906
In Washington, DC, Edwin Henderson establishes the first all-black athletic conference, the Interscholastic Athletic Association (ISAA), an amateur organization that aimed to promote competitive sport among African Americans. As the result of the formation of the ISAA and Henderson’s evangelistic efforts, various all-black basketball teams and players from public school systems, athletic clubs, churches, colleges, and Colored YMCAs soon begin to emerge and thrive in and around Washington, and throughout the middle-Atlantic states.
The Smart Set Athletic Club of Brooklyn and the St. Christopher Club of New York City establish the first fully organized independent all-black basketball teams; the teams advocate strictly amateur status.
1907
The first officially recorded basketball game between two black teams is played in Brooklyn, New York between the St. Christopher Club of Manhattan and the Marathon Athletic Club of Brooklyn.
The amateur, all-black Olympian Athletic League is formed in New York City – the first league comprised of independent teams with a schedule, standings, and a championship – consisting of the Smart Set Athletic Club, St. Christopher Club, Marathon Athletic Club, Alpha Physical Culture Club, and the Jersey City Colored YMCA.
The first inter-city basketball game between two black teams is played when the Smart Set Athletic Club of Brooklyn travels to Washington, DC to play the Crescent Athletic Club.
Charles “Tarzan” Cooper, considered by many to be the greatest center of his time, is born in Wilmington, DE. Cooper, who played for the Philadelphia Panthers, New York Rens, and Washington Bears, led the Rens to 1,303 wins, including 88 straight wins in 86 days in 1933, and won the World Pro Basketball Championship in 1939 and 1943 before retiring in 1944; he was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 1976.
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