![]() A rangy and athletic sharp-shooting forward, he starred for the Speed Boys in the 1910s before enrolling at Columbia University, where he became the first Black man to take the court for the Lions.Įven though Johnson traded in his jersey for a cleric’s robe after college, his time as an athlete shaped his ministry, with a holistic vision that included care for the body and the soul, the afterlife and the here and now. The church was founded in 1928 by John Howard Johnson, a minister’s son who came of age competing for his father’s St. Martin’s in Harlem was part of the network of predominantly Black Episcopal congregations that sponsored sports teams. Woodbine writes, “black churches and clubs fused a religious ethos of ultimate worth and community uplift into the game.” It was entertainment, yes, but something more. Cyprian Episcopal Church (whose team was called the “Speed Boys”).Īs these Black basketball teams began to train and compete against each other, the sport developed a rapt following among New York City’s Black community. Augustine’s (associated with the Smart Set Athletic Club), and St. Philip’s Episcopal Church (sponsor of the St. Most notable among these were several Episcopalian churches that served Black communities: St. And some also began to sponsor their own teams. And only a handful of Black YMCA groups had their own building, much less the equipment and space for basketball.Īs new athletic organizations like the Alpha Physical Cultural Club created basketball teams for the Black community-ushering in the “Black Fives” era-churches often provided the gym space. ![]() While white branches had buildings and facilities to support basketball, few allowed Black athletes to participate. The game had been invented 14 years earlier, but the YMCAs that spread the sport were segregated. “Here in Harlem the bells are in the center of things, right in the market place of community life.” – John Howard Johnsonįor Black residents in New York City, organized basketball started around 1905. Martin’s that promoted excellence on the court and a social conscience off of it. And yet, when modern NBA players like Steph Curry splash a three-pointer, or when they champion the cause of racial justice, they bear witness to the past-to the lasting influence of a Christianity nurtured by churches like St. By the time the league was formed, basketball had developed far beyond its Christians roots. This season, the NBA marks its 75th anniversary. The sport would not have become what we know it to be today had it not been for Black Christian leaders and institutions. Naismith and the YMCA, however, tell only part of the story. The sport, after all, was created at a Christian college (the YMCA’s International Training School) by an ordained Presbyterian minister (James Naismith) for the purpose of cultivating Christian values and spreading the gospel (“winning men to the master through the gym”). Many of us are familiar with basketball’s Christian origins. When the bells were installed over 70 years ago, no congregation in the country better represented the melding of basketball and Black culture. Martin’s didn’t just make history for its tolling church tower. As the first carillon in the world to be played by a Black musician, they have been described by scholars as a “cultural treasure” and “an irreplaceable historical instrument.”īut St. The bells have a remarkable history in their own right. They share a passion for traveling to state and national conventions.In 1949, 42 bronze bells were shipped across the Atlantic Ocean from the Netherlands and installed in the bell tower at St. “I’d rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked,” Lucas says, quoting Psalm 84. Members coast to coast have adopted a passage from the Old Testament as a kind of mission statement. All belong to a national association, the aforementioned National United Church Ushers Association (formed a few years after the Interdenominational Assn.) with chapters in locations from California to Maine. Their Interdenominational Church Ushers Association of Maryland now includes 32 member churches in Baltimore and 92 in the state. Sharp Street, Ames and Enon churches remain in operation. By 1919, the Philadelphians had a similar group. He assembled the leaders of three Baltimore churches – Sharp Street United Methodist, Ames United Methodist and Enon Baptist – in 1915, persuading them to form the State of Maryland United Ushers. ![]() Sorrell probably never imagined such things, but he perceived a need. ![]()
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