New York Rens

The New York Rens were one of the most influential Black teams of the era. Formed in 1923, they were the first Black-owned, all-Black, fully professional basketball team in history. Playing on average 124 games a season, the Rens won 83% of their 3,117 games over the next 25 years and won the inaugural World Championship of Professional Basketball in 1939. Seven former Rens players have been individually enshrined in the Naismith Hall of Fame along with their owner, and the entire 1932-33 squad, which won a record 88 consecutive games, was enshrined as a team in 1963.