Henry Lincoln DeZonie (February 12, 1922 – January 2, 2009) was an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player. He was the fourth

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

player in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(NBA), following

Earl Lloyd Earl Francis Lloyd (April 3, 1928 – February 26, 2015) was an American professional basketball player and coach. He was the first African American player to play a game in the National Basketball Association (NBA). An All–American player at W ...

Nathaniel Clifton Nathaniel "Sweetwater" Clifton (born Clifton Nathaniel; October 13, 1922 – August 31, 1990) was an American professional basketball and baseball player. He is best known as one of the first African Americans to play in the National Basketball ...

, and Chuck Cooper. A 6'6"

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

, DeZonie attended

Clark Atlanta University Clark Atlanta University (CAU or Clark Atlanta) is a private, Methodist, historically black research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Clark Atlanta is the first Historically Black College or University (HBCU) in the Southern United States. Found ...

in the 1940s and then joined the

Dayton Rens The Dayton Rens were a member of the National Basketball League (NBL) for the 1948-49 season and were the only all-black team to play in a white league. This milestone came just one year after Jackie Robinson, playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers, brok ...

, an all-black travelling basketball team named after the

Harlem Renaissance The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual and cultural revival of African American music, dance, art, fashion, literature, theater, politics and scholarship centered in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, spanning the 1920s and 1930s. At the t ...

. The Rens joined the integrated National Basketball League in 1948, and during the 1948–49 NBL season, DeZonie averaged 12.4 points per game in 18 games. By August 1949, most of the teams in the NBL had been absorbed by the fledgling NBA. The Rens, however, were left out of the merger, and they were forced to disband as the NBA began its 1949–50 season as an all-white league.Thomas, Ron. Excerpt from ''They Cleared the Lane''. Hoopshype.com
http://www.hoopshype.com/articles/cleared_lane.htm
. Retrieved 26 August 2006. Black players did not enter the league until the start of the

1950–51 NBA season The 1950–51 NBA season was the fifth season of the National Basketball Association. The season ended with the Rochester Royals winning the NBA Championship, beating the New York Knicks 4 games to 3 in the NBA Finals. Notable occurrences * The ...

, when Lloyd, Clifton, and Cooper earned roster spots on the

Rochester Royals The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference Pacific Division. The Kings are the oldest ...

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...

, and

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of t ...

, respectively. On December 3, 1950, DeZonie signed a contract with the

Tri-Cities Blackhawks Tri-Cities most often refers to: *Tri-Cities, Tennessee, United States *Tri-Cities, Washington, United States Tri-City, Tricity or Tri-Cities may also refer to: Populated places Americas Canada *Tri-Cities (British Columbia), consisting of Co ...

, becoming the fourth black player in the NBA. DeZonie had the shortest career among the NBA's black pioneers, due mainly to racial discrimination and disagreements with his coach. After appearing in just five games for the Blackhawks, during which he averaged 3.4 points, DeZonie quit in frustration. "The coach didn't know basketball, and I couldn't bother with segregation. They put me up with an old woman who chewed tobacco and the snow was up to the ceiling. I was past that", he said. DeZonie's fellow black players experienced frustrations, as well, but each of them remained in the league for at least six seasons. Because of his relatively short career, DeZonie's contributions were long forgotten by many basketball fans; recently, however, DeZonie has received more recognition. In 2000, for example, the NBA honored DeZonie as one of its black pioneers at a pregame ceremony at

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...

. Basketball historian Ron Thomas also highlighted DeZonie's accomplishments in his 2004 book ''They Cleared the Lane'' (). DeZonie died on January 2, 2009, at the age of 86. In the later years of his life, he experienced

emphysema Emphysema, or pulmonary emphysema, is a lower respiratory tract disease, characterised by air-filled spaces ( pneumatoses) in the lungs, that can vary in size and may be very large. The spaces are caused by the breakdown of the walls of the alve ...

and

asthma Asthma is a long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wheezing, cou ...

. DeZonie, spent the his adult years as an entrepreneur. He and his late wife Rose DeZonie were staples in the Harlem community where they owned/operated the Renny Lounge up until it closed in 1990. The Renny Lounge was located on the 138th street and 7th Ave. Which was located under the renowned Renaissance Ballroom.

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External links

Player statistics
@ basketballreference.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Dezonie, Hank 1922 births 2009 deaths African-American basketball players American men's basketball players Centers (basketball) Clark Atlanta Panthers men's basketball players Dayton Rens players New York Renaissance players Power forwards (basketball) Tri-Cities Blackhawks players Undrafted National Basketball Association players 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American people

See also

References

External links