In the early nineteenth-century, the primary source of income for America’s citizens came from the selling or loaning out of slaves. It was not uncommon to see signs posted saying Cash for Negroes. Yet, 125 years later, not much that had changed. To understand what was happening in professional
basketball when my dad became a member of the Warriors, it’s important to go back a bit and take a quick history lesson.

The Philadelphia Warriors basketball team was part of the first true basketball league, the American Basketball League (ABL). Started in 1925, the teams in this league were made up of mostly first-generation immigrants of Italian, Polish, Irish, or Eastern European descent. Since the majority of these
Basketball Slave 94 teams were Jewish, a fair share of prejudice existed even before blacks were allowed into the ABL.

Since blacks weren’t able to fully participate in the ABL, there were two main black professional teams that were formed. One was the Harlem Renaissance and the other was, of course, the Harlem Globetrotters. The Harlem Rens were allowed to play in the ABL championship but not in the ABL World Championship and, as mentioned earlier, the Trotters played exhibition games. These two black teams, however, would barnstorm constantly; playing wherever they could and even meeting head to head on a couple of occasions.

One of the oldest teams out of Philadelphia was led by basketball mogul, Eddie Gottlieb. He was associated with was the Philadelphia Spha’s (South Philadelphia Hebrew Association), formed in 1918.The championship team, made up of young boys from the American Jewish Club in South Philly, lasted for many years. The league survived until the Great Depression hit in the early thirties.

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