Nov
4
The Birth of a Basketball Pioneer and Visionary
by Chris Maynard, chris@hoops4thesoul.com
Robert J. Douglas was born in St. Kitts, British West Indies on this day 125 years ago.
Who was Robert Douglas? Douglas was founder of one of the greatest teams of the barnstorming era, the New York Rens. Also known as the Renaissance Five after the famed Renaissance Ballroom in Harlem, the Rens were the first all-black professional basketball team, which made them subject to much racial scrutiny.
Douglas treated his players well amidst all of the racial acrimony, and they responded on the court. During the team’s 26-year existence from 1923 to 1949, the Rens had an amazing record of 2,588 wins versus 529 losses. The Rens often played the Original Celtics (no relation to the Boston Celtics), once having an 88-game winning streak snapped by the Celtics in 1933. The Rens would go 7-1 versus the Celtics that year. The Rens went an astounding 112-7 in 1939. John Wooden, he of 10 national championships at UCLA, once said that the Rens played the best team basketball that he ever saw.
Douglas would be the first black inductee into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 1972. His Rens are one of four teams inducted into the Hall of Fame. Douglas died at the age of 97 in 1979.
Learn more about Robert Douglas and the New York Rens at the definitive resource on this and other all-black squads from the early 20th century, the Black Fives.
Sources: The Black Fives Blog, Hoopedia
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