
Remembering The 1925 Rens
1925 New York Rens
"The Rens were the best and most popular traveling team that there had ever
been in basketball, up to the point when the Globetrotters really came of age during
the Goose Tatum and Sweetwater Clifton era," said Marques Haynes, who began playing
with the Trotters in 1946.
Saperstein would assume controlling interest of the Rens in 1949 and used them as a
secondary club, having them play in the preliminary game before the Trotters performed
. However, the double bill was short-lived as the Rens ended up disbanding that year,
leaving the Trotters as the only all-black basketball team.
For the Rens, it was the end of nearly 30 years of groundbreaking achievement
on and off the court. But the team had earned the right to be called one of the greatest --
if not the greatest -- pre-NBA teams.
"I was raised hearing that the Celtics were the greatest team of all time,"
said Richard Lapchick. "My dad's friends would say that and all our neighbors would
say that. But he would correct them and say, 'The Rens were every bit as good as
we were in the beginning and were better than us in the end.'"