One century ago this year, Douglas convinced Roche to feature basketball games in the ballroom, and as an added incentive, the team would be called the Harlem Renaissance. Roche agreed, and the team debuted in November 1923, beating the Chicago Collegians by 28-22. George wrote: “Under a chandelier beneath which the big bands played, the Rens took set shots and tried not to scuff up the floor too much.”
The first Black-owned, all-Black professional team, the original Rens were Leon Monde, Hy Montre, Zack Anderson, Clarence “Fats” Jenkins and Frank Forbes. Under their coach and road manager Eric Illidge, the Rens managed to win an incredible 2,318 while losing only 381 games in their history.
They employed a “team first” mentality and shunned individual hot dogging or “hogging” the ball — things many players would be guilty of in ensuing decades. For one thing, the actual balls made in the ’20s had fat laces, making fancy dribbling difficult.
Game nights back then were not merely athletic contests but social events, as gussied-up young men and women would come to cheer for the Rens and then dance the night away to lively big band music.
The game of basketball itself, only invented in the 1890s, underwent significant changes during the rise of the Rens. The center jump after every basket was done away with, while the ball itself became smaller (as did its laces), which made dribbling much easier
“These changes made speed and leaping ability more important—factors that favored Douglas’s all-Black squad,” George wrote.
In their early years, the Rens only played in New York City but expanded to compete in the Northeast, Midwest and South. As integrated competition was permitted in pro basketball, the Rens developed rivalries with white teams such as the Original Celtics of New York, run by Joe Lapchick, who held a healthy respect for the Rens players.
While playing a local team in Louisville, Ky., one day in the 1920s, the Rens were surprised to look up and see members of the Original Celtics taking in the game. George noted in his book what Douglas remarked about that day:
“Joe Lapchick, who knew our center Tarzan Cooper, ran out on the court and embraced Cooper because he was so glad to see him. There was a silence on the court. This was Jim Crow country, and the races were strictly separated. The Celtics were put out of their hotel and a riot was narrowly averted.”