John Isaacs
(1915-2009)
Hall of Fame Induction: 2015
Card Shown:
2015 Panini Hall of Fame
Class of 2015 Enshrinement
Position: PG
Height: 6’1″
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John “Boy Wonder” Isaacs played professional basketball in the 1930s and 1940s, helping his teams win two world championships. Isaacs was a playmaker and a tough defender. He was a skilled passer and a relentless rebounder.
Playing at a time when racial tension prevailed, John and the Rens had to face prejudice in many of the areas where they played. A meal and a place to stay the night were often not easily available and the Rens often had to drive for hours to return home from a game. Isaacs and the Rens were pioneers in the fight for racial integration in America.
At that time, the Rens were the top black team and the Original Celtics were the best white team. They often played each other in games and either team could win on any given night. Their friendship helped pave the way for the integrated basketball that we enjoy today. Richard Lapchick, the son of Original Celtics center and Hall of Famer Joe Lapchick, wrote an informative article about the relationship between the Rens and the the Celtics.
Awards and Honors
- John led Textile High School in Manhattan to the Public School Athletic League championship in his final year of high school in 1935. After high school he went directly into playing professional basketball with the New York Renaissance (Rens).
- Isaacs was a key player on the all-black Rens team that won the first ever World Championship of Professional Basketball in Chicago in 1939. Others on the team, which had a regular season record of 127-15, included Hall of Famers Charles “Tarzan” Cooper, William “Pop” Gates, and Zack Clayton. In the final game they defeated the all-white Oshkosh All-Stars of the National Basketball League.
- In 1943, John won another World Championship of Professional Basketball title with the all-black Washington Bears. The Bears went 41-0 that year and also included Cooper, Gates, and Clayton on their team.
- Isaacs was a finalist to be enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2005 and 2006 but he did not receive enough votes from the Veterans Committee either year. After the Early African-American Pioneers of the Game Committee was created, John was selected to be inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2015.
Points of Interest
- After winning the World Professional Basketball Tournament in 1939 with the Rens, Isaacs received a champion jacket that read, “Colored World Champions.” John carefully used a razor blade to remove the word “Colored” from the jacket so that it simply read, “World Champions.”
- Legendary UCLA coach John Wooden once said that he had never seen a team play better team basketball than the Rens. Wooden used to play the Rens regularly when he was a player in Indiana.
- Isaacs had a street in the Bronx renamed after him to celebrate his basketball career and contribution to his community. The street was renamed John “Boy Wonder” Isaacs Way.
- One of the young players that Isaacs worked with at basketball camps after he retired was Hall of Famer Chris Mullin.
- After his basketball career was over, John Isaacs worked at the Boys and Girls Club in the Bronx for 50 years. Isaacs died in 2009 following a stroke that occurred while he was doing what he loved most, teaching basketball to kids. He was 93 years old and still making a difference in the lives of others.
John Isaacs – Signed Index Card
