Cumberland Posey
(1890-1946)
Hall of Fame Induction: 2016
Card Shown:
2016 Panini
Hall of Fame Enshrinement
Position: G
Height: 5’9″
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Cumberland “Cum” Posey Jr. was one of the greatest athletes of his generation. He won five Colored Basketball World Championships and also was very successful in baseball for thirty-five years as a player, manager, and owner. Cumberland not only was a great athlete, but his business skills allowed him to promote the baseball and basketball teams that he was a part of. His marketing brought a larger financial payoff to the other players and people associated with his teams.
On the basketball court, Posey scored most of his points from the outside with his accurate shooting. He was one of the first players in basketball history, which had begun a mere 20 years or so before, to rely on the long ball. Most scoring was done closer to the basket in the early days of the game.
Awards and Honors
- Posey led Homestead High School to the Pittsburgh City Basketball Championship in 1908.
- In 1909, Cumberland started the Monticello Athletic Association, an all-black semi-professional basketball team. Monticello won the Colored Basketball World Championship in 1912.
- The Monticello team was later renamed the Loendi Big Five and went on to win Colored Basketball World Championships in 1920, 1921, 1922, and 1923.
- As an athlete turned sports businessman, Posey was a forerunner to sports entrepreneurial giants like Michael Jordan and LeBron James. These players earned their income not only by playing the game, but by capitalizing on their knowledge and marketing skills to explore other opportunities.
Points of Interest
- Posey was the first African American varsity basketball player at Penn State University. He later played for Duquesne University for three years and led the team in scoring each year. At Duquesne he played under the name Charles Cumbert.
- Cumberland Posey is the first (and only) player to be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts (2016) and the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York (2006).
- Posey was able to attract top-level talent on his baseball teams and then entice people to come and see them play. From 1937-1945 his baseball teams won nine consecutive pennants and two World Series titles in the Negro National League.
- At around the age of 40, Cumberland left basketball to pursue baseball management full-time. He helped develop the Homestead Grays into one of the best baseball teams of its era. Some of the notable players on the Grays included center fielder Oscar Charleston, catcher Josh Gibson, and pitcher “Smokey” Joe Williams.
- Posey passed away in 1946, at the age of 55, after a bout with lung cancer.