Robert L. Douglas (b. (St. Kitts) November 4, 1882 – d. (unknown) July 16, 1979) was the founder of the

New York Renaissance The New York Renaissance, also known as the Renaissance Big R Five and as the Rens, were the first black-owned, all-black, fully-professional basketball team in history, established in October 1923, by Robert "Bob" Douglas. They were named after t ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

team, the first fully all-black professional black-owned basketball team.

Career

Nicknamed the "Father of Black Professional Basketball", Douglas owned and coached the Rens from 1923 to 1949, guiding them to a 2,318-381 record (.859). The Rens barnstormed throughout the United States, mostly in the Midwest, and played any team that would schedule them, black or white. Traveling as far as 200 miles for a game, they often slept on the bus and ate cold meals; they were barred from many hotels and restaurants by

Jim Crow laws The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the Sout ...

and norms of racial discrimination which prevailed in the northern United States at the time. The Rens soon became a dominant team, winning as many as 88 consecutive games during the 1932–33 season. In the twenties and early thirties, their matches with the

Original Celtics The Original Celtics were a barnstorming professional American basketball team. At various times in their existence, the team played in the American Basketball League, the Eastern Basketball League and the Metropolitan Basketball League. The tea ...

were basketball's greatest gate attraction. At the

World Professional Basketball Tournament The World Professional Basketball Tournament was an annual invitational tournament held in Chicago from 1939 to 1948 and sponsored by the '' Chicago Herald American''. Many teams came from the National Basketball League, but it also included the b ...

they won in 1939, lost to the eventual champion Harlem Globetrotters in 1940, and finished second to the National Basketball League champion

Minneapolis Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers franchise has a long and storied history, predating the formation of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Founded in 1947, the Lakers are one of the NBA's most famous and successful franchises. As of summer 2012, th ...

in 1948.

Accolades

He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a contributor in 1972, the first African American enshrined.

References

External links

Robert L. "Bob" Douglas
at the Basketball Hall of Fame 1882 births 1979 deaths 20th-century African-American men African-American sports executives and administrators Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees {{1880s-US-basketball-bio-stub