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{{Infobox basketball club
| name            = New York Renaissance
| color1          = Gold
| color2          = Navy
| logo            =
| nickname        = The Big "R" Five
| leagues         = [[World Professional Basketball Tournament]] 1939–1948  
| founded         = 1923
| colors          = [[Gold]], [[Navy blue|Navy]]<BR>{{color box|gold}} {{color box|navy}}| 
| arena           = [[Harlem Renaissance Ballroom]]
| championships   = '''1''' [[World Professional Basketball Tournament]] (1939)
| folded          = 1949
}}
The '''New York Renaissance''', also known as the '''Renaissance Big R Five''' and as the '''Rens''', were the first black-owned, all-[[African American|black]], fully-professional [[basketball]] team in history, established in October 1923, by [[Bob Douglas|Robert "Bob" Douglas]]. They were named after the [[Renaissance Casino and Ballroom]] through an agreement with its owner, in return for the use of that facility as their home court.<ref name="Rayl 1996" /> The Casino and Ballroom at 138th Street and [[Seventh Avenue (Manhattan)|Seventh Avenue]] in Harlem was an entertainment complex that included a ballroom, which served as the Rens' home court. The team eventually had its own house orchestra and games were often followed by a dance. Their subsequent financial success shifted the focus of black basketball from amateurism to professionalism. Initially, the Rens played mostly in Harlem, but Douglas soon realized they could book more games on the road, in larger-capacity venues, and took up [[barnstorm (sports)|barnstorming]] across the country for more lucrative payouts. The Renaissance are also the topic of the 2011 [[documentary]] ''[[On the Shoulders of Giants (film)|On the Shoulders of Giants]]''.

==Early years==
The Rens were one of the dominant basketball teams of the 1920s and 1930s.  They were originally known as the Spartan Braves, the basketball team of the Spartan Field Club, a Manhattan-based multi-sport amateur athletic organization whose initial focus was cricket. The Rens played their first game on November 3, 1923, winning against the Collegiate Five, an all-white team. Interracial games featured regularly on their schedule, drawing the largest crowds.<ref>Stephen Robertson, [http://digitalharlemblog.wordpress.com/2011/06/03/basketball-in-1920s-harlem/ "Basketball in 1920s Harlem"], ''Digital Harlem Blog'', June 3, 2011, accessed August 22, 2011</ref><ref name="Rayl 1996" /> In its first years, the team strove to beat the [[Original Celtics]], the dominant white team of the time, and claim the title of world champions.  In their fifth encounter, the Rens did so for the first time, on December 20, 1925, winning 37 to 30.<ref>"Thousands Witnessed The Thrilling battle that Brought Victory to Renaissance Five", [[New York Amsterdam News]], December 23, 1925</ref><ref>"Celtics Beaten by Crack Negro Five", ''The Hartford (CT) Daily Courant'', December 22, 1925, p.13</ref> During the 1932–33 regular season, the Rens compiled a record of 120–8 (six of those losses came at the hands of the Celtics, whom the Rens did beat eight times).<ref>Rayl, p.205</ref> During that season, the Rens won 88 consecutive games, a mark that has never been matched by a professional basketball team. In 1939, the Rens won the first professional basketball championship, when they beat the Oshkosh All-Stars, a white team, 34–25, in the [[World Professional Basketball Tournament]] in Chicago.

The team compiled a 2,588–529 record from 1923 to 1948. Important players on the Rens roster included [[Fats Jenkins|Clarence "Fats" Jenkins]], [[Pappy Ricks]], [[Eyre Saitch]], [[Bill Yancey]], [[Wee Willie Smith|"Wee" Willie Smith]], [[Tarzan Cooper|Charles "Tarzan" Cooper]], [[Zack Clayton]], [[John Isaacs]], [[Dolly King]], [[Pop Gates]], and [[Nat Clifton]]. In 1936, the Renaissance became the first top-level team to sign a four-year African American college star, [[David "Big Dave" DeJernett]] of [[University of Indianapolis|Indiana Central]].

==1949: Move to Dayton==
{{Main|Dayton Rens}}
The Rens relocated during the 1948–49 basketball season to [[Dayton, Ohio]], to replace the [[Detroit Vagabond Kings]], who folded in December 1948. The Vagabond Kings had been playing in the racially integrated [[National Basketball League (United States)|National Basketball League]] (NBL). The Rens played the remainder of the NBL season as the [[Dayton Rens]], then disbanded after the NBL merged with the all-white [[Basketball Association of America]] to form the, also initially, all-white [[National Basketball Association]] which resumed play in the 1949–50 season.

== Memorials and historic recognition ==
* The Naismith Memorial [[Basketball Hall of Fame]] inducted the 1932–33 New York Renaissance team collectively in 1963 in recognition of their 88-game winning streak that season, the longest in professional basketball history.<ref>"[http://www.hoophall.com/hall-of-famers/tag/new-york-renaissance New York Renaissance (enshrined 1963)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090831072514/http://www.hoophall.com/hall-of-famers/tag/new-york-renaissance |date=2009-08-31 }}". Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Retrieved 2010-06-21.</ref> Seven former Rens players are individually enshrined: [[Tarzan Cooper]], [[Pop Gates]], [[Nat Clifton]], [[John Isaacs]], [[Zack Clayton]], [[Fats Jenkins]], and [[Sonny Boswell]]. Renaissance Big Five founder/owner [[Bob Douglas]] is also enshrined as a contributor.
* On May 9, 2017, the Historic Preservation and Transportation Committee of [[Community boards of Manhattan|Community Board 10]] unanimously (6-0-0) passed a resolution formally requesting that the [[New York City Council]] and the [[Mayor of New York City]] enact legislation to support the co-naming at the southeast corner of West 138th Street and [[Seventh Avenue (Manhattan)|Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard]] to '''New York Rens Court'''.<ref name="NYC-CB-10 2017 May 9" />

==Stage play==
Writer and director [[Layon Gray]] off-Broadway production Kings Of Harlem pays homage to the Rens. The play centers around the 1939 season in which the Harlem Rens won the first World Basketball Championship. The play won Best Play, Best Supporting Actor, Best Director and Best Production at the 2018 42nd annual Carbonell Awards in Miami. The play will have a regional run at Delaware Theater Company in October 2023 to commemorate the 100 year anniversary of the team.[https://delawarescene.com/event/34151/kings-of-harlem-by-layon-gray]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em|refs=

<!-- <ref name="CallPost 2010 Feb 11">[https://www.cleveland.com/call-and-post/index.ssf/2010/02/black_history_month_globetrott.html Black History Month: Globetrotters weren’t first B-ballers from Harlem "Black History Month: Globetrotters weren’t first B-ballers from Harlem,"] Johnathan Gaines, ''[[Call & Post]],'' February 11, 2010 (retrieved June 27, 2018)</ref> -->

<ref name="NYC-CB-10 2017 May 9">[http://www.nyc.gov/html/mancb10/downloads/pdf/new_york_rens_street_co_naming_resolution.pdf "New York Rens Court Street Co-Naming Resolution,"] [[Brian Benjamin]], Chairperson, [[Community boards of Manhattan|New York City Community Board 10]], May 9, 2017</ref>

<!-- <ref name="PhillyTrib 2012 May 10">[http://www.phillytrib.com/sports/baseball/legendary-hoops-player-frank-washington-honored/article_07f41444-f04d-5ed1-bcf5-07403bdeebd7.html "Legendary Hoops Player Frank Washington Honored,"] by Donald Hunt, ''[[Philadelphia Tribune]]'', May 10, 2012</ref> -->

<ref name="Rayl 1996">"The New York Renaissance Professional Black Basketball Team, 1920–1950" (PhD dissertation), by Susan J. Rayl (born 1956), [[Pennsylvania State University]] (1996), p. 65; {{OCLC|39618287|299233709}}<div style="margin-left:2em">Note: Susan J. Rayl, PhD, is affiliated with [[State University of New York at Cortland]] Exercise Science and Sports Studies Department</div></ref>

}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book |first=Robert W. |last=Peterson |title=Cages to Jump Shots: Pro Basketball's Early Years |location=Lincoln |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |year=2002 |chapter=On the Road Again |pages=95–107 |isbn=0-8032-8772-0 }}

==External links==
*{{IMDb title|qid=Q17144890|title=On the Shoulders of Giants (2011) }}
*Gaines, Jonathan. "[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_8089/is_20100210/ai_n52414063/?tag=rel.res1 Globetrotters weren't first B-ballers from Harlem]". Actually they were from Chicago[Cleveland, OH] ''Call & Post''. All-Ohio edition, February 10–16, 2010. Retrieved 2010-06-21.
*Hareas, John. "[https://web.archive.org/web/20121023154927/http://www.nba.com/history/encyclopedia_rens_001214.html Remembering the Rens]". NBA Vintage Stories. No date. Retrieved 2010-06-21.
*Kuska, Bob. [https://books.google.com/books?id=yjGp_ifcLhsC&dq=bob+kuska+hot+potato&pg=PA215 Hot Potato: How Washington and New York Gave Birth to Black Basketball and Changed America’s Game Forever] (University of Virginia Press, 2004)
*Smallwood, John. "[http://hoopedia.nba.com/index.php?title=Renaissance_Five Renaissance Five]". Hoopedia. NBA.com. From the ''NBA Encyclopedia''. Retrieved 2010-06-21.

{{1963 Basketball HOF}}
{{Basketball Hall of Fame}}
[[New York Rens| ]]

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:New York Renaissance| ]]
[[Category:Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees]]
[[Category:Basketball teams established in 1923]]
[[Category:Sports clubs and teams disestablished in 1949]]
[[Category:1923 establishments in New York City]]
[[Category:1949 disestablishments in New York (state)]]