Celebrating Black History Month: New York Renaissance, first professional African-American basketball team

In the first decades of the twentieth century, when black athletes were barred from professional sports, Robert Douglas founded and organized the New York Renaissance, the first all-black professional basketball team February 13, 1923.  He managed an agreement with William Roach, who owned the New Renaissance Ballroom and Casino, to allow the team to practice there.

The New York Ren played its first game on November 3, 1923 and they beat the Collegiate Five, an all-white team 28-22. They played until the last game in 1949.  The NBA had been created by that time.

The Rens team was in ducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1963. 

Celebrating Black History Month: Harry Lew, first African-American professional basketball player

Harry Haskell Lew, born January 4, 1884 in what is now Lowell, Massachusetts, started out as a talented violinist and played a solo at his grammar school graduation. His great-great-grandfather, Barzillai Lew, served in the American Revolution and fought at the Battle of Bunker Hill. His grandparents house was a station on the Underground Railroad.  His father William Lew was a delegate to the 1891 Equal Rights Convention in Boston.

He joined the YMCA basketball team in 1898 and the team was state champions for the four hears he was with them.  In 1902, he was recruited to join Lowell's Pawtucketville Athletic Club of the New England Professional Basketball League. The manager was reluctant to put Lew into the game but after pressure from local press and a series of injuries to other players, Lew was allowed on the court. 

The New England League disbanded after the 1905 season.  He organized teams around New England before he played his final game in St. John's Vermont in 1926.  In 1928, he moved his dry cleaning business to Springfield, Massachusetts, where he died in 1963.

Kevin Durant is leaving the Thunder - Total bummer

Kevin Durant announced on The Players Tribune website that he is leaving the Oklahoma City Thunder to join the Golden State Warriors.  :(  He helped put Oklahoma onto the major sports league map, so how will the Thunder fare now that their top-scorer has left?  So much for a happy holiday.


http://www.theplayerstribune.com/kevin-durant-nba-free-agency-announcement/