Mitchell & Ness of Philadelphia has helped to create a ½ Billion dollar sports clothing industry by marketing the official Jerseys of players in the NFL and NBA. Selling the jerseys of teams and players from a sports period long ago has fueled a large percentage of these profits. During the era of the most popular throwback jerseys, most of the throwback consumers were not even born. Today NFL & NBA “Throwback Jerseys” are the ultimate Hip-hop fashion statement. This fashion statement represents a subtle historical footnote because the throwback jerseys pay tribute to an earlier time and an earlier player. However, the throwback jersey does not go back far enough in terms of paying homage to spectacular professional basketball players. The NBA was not established until 1946 but there was professional basketball before then. Since the history of basketball predates the NBA, their must have been some athletes who paved the way for yesteryear’s great NBA players like Bill Russell, Walt Frazier, Wilt Chamberlain, George “Iceman” Gervin, David Skywalker Thompson, Julius Erving, Connie Hawkins etc - the players who initially brought the game its popularity. Although most of these Hoop pioneers have passed on, there is still at least one who walks tall among us.

His name is John Isaacs. Isaacs, whose number ‘6’ jersey is retired in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame (I guess you can call it “the original throwback”), was a member of the Harlem Rennaisaince (Rens). Along with the Harlem Globetrotters, the Harlem Rens were considered one of the two best teams in the country. Not many teams predated them, outside of the Hotentot, Incorporators, but the Rens were a Championship team. In the late 1930's the legendary U.C.L.A. coach, played many games against the Rens as a member of the Indianapolis Kautskys. Wooden called the Rens "the best I ever saw". In fact Isaacs, says it was the Rens and the all-black Washington Bears, not Red Auerbach's Celtics who invented the pick-and-roll and the motion offense.  

It’s hard to believe that John Isaacs is 88 years of age. He is stronger than most 40 year olds and has more energy than most in there 30’s. He awakes every day at 6am although he often hits the bed well after midnight, often as late as 2:30am. He still works out every day using 30lb weights and jumping rope, and he still finds the time to works at the Madison Square Boys & Girls Club, when most men his age are well into retirement. At 88 Isaacs is still outspoken and straight-forward. He says, “Nothing has changed much in terms of Black and White relationships. Whites are just a little bit more sophisticated in doing it nowadays.” When everybody was watching the All-Star game for the celebrity spottings, Isaacs watched the N.B.A. All-Star Game with great interest, knowing that he helped blaze the trail for the many African-American players at the game. He is owed a great debt.

So today Playahata.com is “throwing back” to the era of 1934-1939. In this Innerview conducted by Playahata.com's  Ro-Porter, we peek into the mind of John Isaacs, known on the basketball circuit as "Boy Wonder” and known in his community as “Living Legend”. This is only a peek, to fully capture this era you must visit Claude Johnson’s amazing website www.blackfives.com - Bruce Banter

Ro-Porter sits down with John Isaacs - Living Legend and Basketball Pioneer

Playahata.com: Tell us about The Renaissance (Rens)

John Isaacs: When I started on the team there was Bill Yansey, Charles “Tarzan” Cooper, Fats Jenkins, Satch, Papi Ricks, and Johnny Holt. Bill Yansey was going to Panama to Coach a baseball team cause he was a baseball player. So, I had to sit in a folding chair in the middle of the bus until they got a new bus or Bill would leave and then I would have a sit but I didn't have any problem with that. You know what crowds didn't bother us, we were used to playing with crowds'. We played in Butler Field House in Indianapolis, Ohio State, Dayton, Wisconsin. We played all the major Field Houses cause you know the Colleges owned the field houses. I started playing with the Ren's in '35 when I got out of High School because people would say 'here's this kid playing with these adults'. When I started with The Rens I was sitting in the middle of the bus in a folding chair cause the team was waiting for a new one. All I knew about when we started was that we had a Teeeeeam. That Team consisted of a center, two forwards and two guards. There were no numbers one or two guard, this and that forward blah-blah-blah because everybody was to be able to handle the ball, pass the ball, and play defense. Well half of them runnin' around the NBA don't even know that after we'd jump ball and the basket was made they bought the ball back to center court to jump again.

Playahata.com: I guess many of us don’t know Basketball like that?

Isaacs: Actually, I wasn't even interested in basketball. Well, first of all, I didn't even know nothing about it because the coach had talked me into playing Soccer until one day the ball smacked me upside my head and I told them 'Stop, nope. Thanks but no thanks. I don't need that… ' I played baseball before I ever thought about playing basketball but I had fun with whatever sport I played… I played most of them. Tennis I laughed I said 'aw, that's a sissy's game'. Then I started playing Tennis every day down at the Armory or I had a park permit and anybody that wanted to hit I'd hit. I ran the relay and the 8 or 11 pound shot-put.

Playahata.com: Tell us about when we were called "colored"?

Isaacs: You had the Luini Club, the Smart Set, the Spartans which incidentally would have been the name of the Renaissance. Bob Douglas, who owned the Renaissance, he first owned the Spartans. He decided he wanted to go professional or whatever and he needed some place to play. He went to the Renaissance Casino, which eventually became home court and spoke to a man by the name of Roach owned the casino and it was one of those 'we help each other'. You get publicity by using us and I'll change the name from the Spartans to the Renaissance. From then on in it was home free until we won it 1939 and the jackets had on the back 'Colored World Champions'. That was what was on the back of the jackets. I said 'What kind of dumb stuff is that?' So what I did, like I told you before, I went inside and got a razor from Mr. Douglas and I cut all the stitch that said colored. He said, "You're ruining the jacket!" I said, "No, just making it better" because it was stupid. Colored World Champions. But at that time what could you say? Only thing you could do to alleviate the problem was to do it yourself.

Playahata.com: How was it playing down south?

Isaacs: Like I said to the students last night that I could attest to the racism of it. Once you passed DC you weren't known by what your name was, you became nigger or boy. Well, you say the words 'cotton curtain' once we got past DC… but then you know I thought about it and right across the river over here in Jersey. We were coming home from Philadelphia and stopped some place to eat. Well, I told them to get me two cheeseburgers and a fruit salad. So we waited and waited and waited and waited like 'what happened?' So we went in cause you know some of us were going to eat outside and some of us were going to eat on the inside. The man done told them him he could eat it outside or where ever before he'd let him eat it in there. I said, 'What? Really? O. Well, you know what you ordered for me?' The man had all the stuff out on the counter and just looked at me. 'Cancel it.' He said "What?" I said, 'No. Cancel my cheeseburgers and cancel my fruit salad and let's go. I don't have time for this stuff'. So when you start to think about the prejudices and segregation implemented at that time you don't have to worry about going down south. All they have to do is go right across the bridge to Jersey and there it was confronting you right then and there. 

I remember we had to catch the train from one place to the other and a guy from the college was dropping me off at the train once down in Knoxville Tennessee. We where walking and talking walking and talking and right through the door where there was a sign. W-H-I-T-E. We didn't even think about it we just keep talking. Walked up to the counter "Can I have a ticket to Georgia, please'. The man looked at me like I was somebody from Mars. I started talking again and when I looked around I expected my ticket to be there. I didn't know where I was with being from up in New York. I looked and the man was standing there with his arms folded, behind the chicken wire. He looked at me and said, "Boy" I said, "Boy? Do I look like a boy to you? I'm an adult just like you." He said, 'Who is this brash nigger talking? Who does he think he's talking to? Nigger, you must be from up North?' I said, 'That's correct, I'm from up North'. He said, "well by God we do things different down here!" I said, "Well, by God you should change!" By then the guy I was with had grabbed me by the arm and yanked me around saying 'Say you sorry, say you sorry'. I said 'Say sorry for what?' It still hadn't dawned on me what the whole thing was about. So we would went down the alley to the door that were originally suppose to go that said COLORED. Other times I'd take my money throw it up on the counter and turn my back. I thought about it later and I was a fool. They could have reached out and grabbed me as I walked away by the neck and told someone to call the police. They would've came in there beat me or put the handcuffs on me and say I tried to rob him or something, you know. But that was the 'New York connection' telling you to do that stupid stuff like that. It was learning process and you learned how to deal with them. You either ignored them and go on about your business,

Playahata.com: Back to basketball for a second, how did you play Defense back then? The scores were kind of low

Isaacs: Like they say 'We played the man'. So a lot of times if they were out on top, than we were close enough out on top. So that meant that whoever was coming we'd say 'either step up or step back and let him through or you stepped up for him to get around you'. So that meant whatever they were trying to do fell by the wayside.-1- -2-Like when we played the one of those Chicago Colleges… we could handle a lot of their big men inside but our guards being much smaller they couldn't always handle the bigger guys. Plus, we could goal-tend at that time. When you took a shot, somebody could come from the other side and knock it down like they were playing volleyball or something. If it was on the rim about to go down you swat it off the rim. S these were the things that we couldn't contend with. As it was the all-stars beat us by 3 points, 33-30.

They were running them to death at the beginning of the game Jack Turner, Andy Vance, Gene… they'd beat me off a dribble or beat me off on a screen. I picked up who just got away; so 'I got him. I got this one. I got that one-' everybody was pointing out. So all this running that they were supposed to do the score was 11 to 3 and it wasn't in favor of them. So then they brought in the 8th Avenue 'strong boys' all of them 6'8- 6'9 and they could goal-tend… one on one side of the goal and one on the other. The coach would have them standing in front of the rim. So you had to make sure you could beat the man on either side of the basket 'up and under' show it to him like you were going up then he'd leave his feet then you'd go underneath him or around him to laid it up. Then as soon as you laid it the man in the center would turn around or the man from the other side and whap. You know and swat it away. So they beat us by 3 points but we had 23,000 people for that game. So when they start talking you have to remember about what happened at particular times.

Playahata.com: Can you compare Old and New?

Isaacs: I don't feel it's a fair evaluation to compare the era that I came from with the era that came a little after me and the era as of now because there were people that proceeded me. So how can you compare a game when the era is different, when they had a smaller lane instead of a wider lane, they were playing forty minutes so that meant we had 10 minute quarters.

Playahata.com: You have a lot of Unwritten History to share.

Isaacs: They very seldom talk about this history the 'white' newspapers never wrote about or thought to write about it. They always talk about the [New York] Nicks being the first ones, I say, 'its not true and it's not even factual'. You know why 'What were we dog doo-doo?' This was before the Nicks were even born. This is in [Big Ren's]1938-39 team that won the Championship in Chicago. We, along with the Globetrotters were considered two of the better teams in the country. Oshkosh played in the American League while some of the other teams played in the National Basketball League. After we beat the 'Trotters we beat Oshkosh for the Championship by 10 or 12 points. The Trotters won it in '40. We played again as the Washington Bears (Trazan Cooper Zach Clayton, Puggy Bell, Bob Gates and myself) and won in '43 against Oshkosh again almost by the identical score. So, within the span of five years you had three African-American, excuse me, remember segregation was still in place. You had three Colored Teams won the Championship but you never here them say it. You never hear them mention that. It’s in the Hall of Fame- pictures of the Bears team and pictures of the Renaissance team that won 88 straight games. You can get information online about it at the Black Fives website. (Everybody please visit this site)

Playahata.com: What about the refs, you know the Officials?

Isaacs: And if you look at the NBA them fellas was playing zone defense for the longest time. Many years they were playing zone defense and then the officials had to make up their minds 'aw, see, illegal defense'. Ya'll got to stop that crap. All these people that make up these rules need to make it something that the customers would like to see. Half of them probably never even played but yet they making up these rules.

Playahata.com: You know Arnold 'RED' Auerbach

Isaacs: (Vice-Chairman of the Board for the Celtics Organization) We got to talking about Red Auerbach with the Celtics. I said he used to come to our games in Washington down at Turner's Arena. Turner's Arena was a small fight club; but the place was always packed every Sunday. Fortunately when he came out of High School in Brooklyn, he didn't know anything about basketball, he came out as a handball player. Unlike us he was fortunate enough to go to George Washington [University, DC], where we couldn't go around the corner, unless we were fortunate enough to latch on to a black school and continue your education there. To go to one of the "white-bred" operations, forget it. So he went to George Washington University and when the war started they yanked him out of the GW University, put a Petty Officer's uniform on him and sent him down to Norfolk Navel. 

This is where he came up every Sunday from Norfolk Naval with his Petty Officer's uniform, a black raincoat, and a bag. On Sundays, what we did down there, depending who we were playing, if it was a real serious heavy weight team we kept everybody in tact. But if not we'd get some of the locals down in DC and with them we'd play whom ever we would play. If we were playing the top-dog team like teams from the American League (i.e. Wilmington, Trenton, Philadelphia, Kingston, Jersey City, New York) or teams like that then we would keep all the ammunition in one place. But Red would come every Sunday and he would start counting heads and if somebody was missing that's when they'd be like 'heeey, where's Auerbauh?' you know. That was the quote for him to say 'Maybe I can get a run today'. See he knew we had pick-up games some Sundays and that was a way for him to maybe, you know, get in a game.

PS- Check the www.NBA.com and you'll get information about the Harlem Ren's Big 5 Team that was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. We are lucky that John Isaacs is still alive to tell this basketball history and hearing him is even more powerful. Luckily a talk radio program in New York City has allowed him a channel to communicate to the rest of the world . Please check out the "Issues and Sports" show hosted by Playahata community elder Zach Husser on WHCR, 90.3FM or on the internet at www.whcr.org.