Description: As part of They Gave Us Game, Ebbets Field Flannels is honored to explore the history of Black basketball. This varsity jacket is inspired by the legacy of the Black Fives.
Product Details:
- Black wool blend body
- Black leather sleeves
- Chenille and felt patches
- 2x2 ribbed knit collar and cuffs
- Black quilted lining
- Button front
History: Just after basketball was invented in 1891, teams were called “fives” in reference to their starting five players. The sport, like society, was racially segregated, and all-Black squads were called “colored quints,” “Negro cagers,” or “Black fives."
The sport remained divided from 1904 - when basketball was first introduced to African Americans on a wide-scale organized basis - until the racial integration of the National Basketball League in the 1940s and the National Basketball Association in 1950.
During that time, dozens of all-Black teams emerged, flourished, and excelled, staging culturally rich, socially meaningful events that strengthened Black communities in the face of Jim Crow oppression.
