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

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

but raised in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

,Claude Johnson.
Harlem When
. '' SLAM Magazine Online''. January 26, 2009. Retrieved on January 28, 2009. he was a member of the New York Renaissance, 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 in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

n father and a Panamanian mother. He grew up bilingual in Harlem, speaking English. Isaacs was a 6'3", 190 lbs. guard who led the basketball team at Textile High School (later Charles Evans Hughes High School) 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 ...

-based, all-

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

New York Renaissance 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, held in 1939 at Chicago Stadium and sponsored by the '' Chicago Herald American'', with the team making it to the finals by beating the

Harlem Globetrotters The Harlem Globetrotters is an American Exhibition game, exhibition basketball team. They combine athleticism, theater, entertainment, and comedy in their style of play. Over the years, they have played more than 26,000 exhibition games in 124 ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

27–23, to face the Oshkosh All-Stars, 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'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', 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 and at New York Life Insurance 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 of the Eastern Professional Basketball League, and Utica Olympics 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 five time NBA All-Star and four time All-NBA Team member. He is also two-time Olympic Gold medalist and a two-time ...

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 a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...

'', 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 The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pre ...

. 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 American Basketball League (1925–1955) players American men's basketball players American sportspeople of Jamaican descent American sportspeople of Panamanian descent 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 Basketball players from Manhattan Guards (basketball) 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen 21st-century African-American sportsmen