John William Isaacs (September 15, 1915 – January 26, 2009) was a Panamanian-American professional basketball player. Born in

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...

but raised in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

,Claude Johnson.
Harlem When
. ''

SLAM Magazine ''Slam'' is an American basketball magazine in circulation since 1994. History ''Slam'' was launched in 1994 as a basketball magazine that combined the sport with hip hop culture at a time when the genre was becoming increasingly popular. It w ...

Online''. January 26, 2009. Retrieved on January 28, 2009. he was a member 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 ...

, the Washington Bears, and various other teams.

Life and career

Isaacs was born in 1915 in Panama to a

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

n father and a Panamanian mother. He grew up bilingual in Harlem, speaking both

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

and

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

. Isaacs was a 6'3", 190 lbs.

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison ...

who led the basketball team at Textile High School (later

Charles Evans Hughes High School The Bayard Rustin Educational Complex – also known as the Humanities Educational Complex – at West 18th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, is a "vertical campus" of the ...

) to a title in the 1935 New York City High School Basketball championship with all-City honors for himself. Offered a professional contract by Bob Douglas, owner of the

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater Ha ...

-based, all-

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 ...

basketball team, he accepted the offer, but only after getting approval from his mother. With the Rens, Isaacs led the team to season records of 122–19, 121–19, and 127–15. The team won the first

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 ...

, held in 1939 at

Chicago Stadium Chicago Stadium was an indoor arena in Chicago, Illinois, that opened in 1929, closed in 1994 and was demolished in 1995. It was the home of the National Hockey League's Chicago Blackhawks and the National Basketball Association's Chicago Bulls. ...

and sponsored by the '' Chicago Herald American'', with the team making it to the finals by beating the Harlem Globetrotters of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

27–23, to face the

Oshkosh All-Stars The Oshkosh All-Stars were an American professional basketball team based in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Founded in 1929 by Lonnie Darling, the team was a member of the National Basketball League, a forerunner to the NBA, from 1937 until 1949. Histor ...

, who lost to the Rens 34–25 in the tournament final. Isaacs won a second title in 1943 with the Washington Bears, again defeating Oshkosh. Isaacs scored a game-high 11 points to lead the Bears to a 43–31 win and their first title.Mallozzi, Vincent M
"A Living Wonder of the Harlem Renaissance Five"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', March 9, 1997. Accessed January 29, 2009. Paid $175 per month, plus expenses, to play basketball. Isaacs supplemented his professional salary with jobs on the assembly line at

Grumman Aircraft The Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, later Grumman Aerospace Corporation, was a 20th century American producer of military and civilian aircraft. Founded on December 6, 1929, by Leroy Grumman and his business partners, it merged in 199 ...

and at

New York Life Insurance New York Life Insurance Company (NYLIC) is the third-largest life insurance company in the United States, the largest mutual life insurance company in the United States and is ranked #67 on the 2021 Fortune 500 list of the largest United State ...

during the off season. Isaacs played with several other all-black professional basketball teams after his time with the Rens and Bears, including the Manhattan Nationals,

Hazleton Mountaineers The Hazleton Mountaineers were one of the original six franchises in the Eastern Professional Basketball League. The Mountaineers were the league's first team to have an integrated roster, as two former members of the New York Rens, Bill Brow ...

of the

Eastern Professional Basketball League The Continental Basketball Association (CBA) (originally known as the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League, and later as the Eastern Professional Basketball League and the Eastern Basketball Association) was a men's professional basketball m ...

, and

Utica Olympics The Utica Olympics, known also as Mohawk Valley Thunderbirds, were an American professional basketball team based in Utica, New York that were members of the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) from 1978 to 1980. The team was previously kno ...

of the New York State Professional Basketball League), and in the American Basketball League with Brooklyn and Saratoga. He became a coach and mentor after he retired.

Chris Mullin Christopher Paul Mullin (born July 30, 1963) is an American former professional basketball player, executive and coach. He is a two-time Olympic Gold medalist and a two-time Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee (in 2010 as a memb ...

admitted that he was one of his disciples. Long after retiring from professional sports, Isaacs won medals at the New York State Senior Games in tennis, Frisbee, softball throwing, as well as in basketball.Steptoe, Sonja
"Meet An Ageless Wonder: John Isaacs, 75, is a hero on and off the court"
''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twi ...

'', December 24, 1990. Accessed January 29, 2009. On February 14, 2015, Isaacs was announced as a member of that year's induction class of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He formally entered the Hall on September 11.

References

External links

"John Isaacs, Star for Rens Basketball, Dies at 93," New York Times, February 4, 2009
{{DEFAULTSORT:Isaacs, John 1915 births 2009 deaths African-American basketball players American Basketball League (1925–1955) players American men's basketball players American people of Jamaican descent American sportspeople of Panamanian descent Basketball players from New York City Dayton Rens players Harlem Globetrotters players New York Renaissance players Panamanian emigrants to the United States Panamanian men's basketball players Panamanian people of Jamaican descent People from Harlem Sportspeople from Manhattan Guards (basketball) 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American people