1939
From a pool of the nation’s twelve best professional basketball teams, the New York Renaissance beat the Oshkosh All-Stars — champions of the segregated National Basketball League — at Chicago Coliseum, 34–25, to win the championship title in the first World Pro Basketball Tournament.
1941
William “Dolly” King, a powerfully built guard and the star player for Long Island University’s undefeated varsity basketball team, leaves college midseason to play professionally with the New York Rens. LIU went on to win the National Invitational Tournament without him. Within weeks, King was the leading scorer in the Rosenblum Pro Basketball Tournament in Cleveland, and made the all-tournament team in the 1941 World Pro Basketball Tournament a few months later.
1942
Toledo White Huts owner Sid Goldberg broke the National Basketball League’s color barrier by signing four African-American players: Bill Jones, Casey Jones, Al Price, and Shannie Barnett. The Chicago Studebakers of the N.B.L. joined the White Huts by signing six black players: Wyatt “Sonny” Boswell, Roscoe “Duke” Cumberland, Tony Peyton, Bernie Price, Roosie Hudson, and Hillary Brown.
1943
Tennis great Arthur Robert Ashe, Jr. is born in Richmond, Virginia. Ashe’s preliminary research of early black basketball in his seminal book, A Hard Road to Glory: the History of the African American Athlete, provides the inspiration that leads to the creation of Black Fives, Inc.
1946
The National Basketball League signs four African American players: William “Dolly” King with the Rochester Royals, Willie King with the Detroit Gems, Bill Farrow with the Youngstown Bears, and future Basketball Hall of Fame member William “Pop” Gates with the Buffalo Bisons. (The Bisons later became the Tri-Cities Blackhawks, representing Moline and Rock Island, Illinois, and Davenport, Iowa.)
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