The Last of the Rens

Blackfives.com has a must-read reprint of Steve Rushin's SI column about Basketball Hall-of-Fame candidate, John Isaacs, formerly of the New York Renaissance (known as The Rens):

It's a great piece that gives a little insight into what basketball was like during the latter half of the 1930s. It also provides some insight into a man of whom Rushin writes:

But then the last of the Rens, the team that is credited with inventing the motion offense, has always given more than he's taken from basketball. "I think each of us is put on this planet for a reason,” he says, strolling across 125th Street in Harlem. “Some are great visionaries – everyone knows about them – but some are hardly recognized. They just do what they do in the community.” John Isaacs is one of the latter. But everyone ought to know about him. And we still can. On April 4, the Basketball Hall of Fame will announce its 2005 inductees. Isaacs is on the veterans' ballot. If he doesn't get elected, he'll be none the poorer. "I don't need anyone patting me on the shoulder,” he says. It's the rest of us who'll be diminished.

The article was posted 03-18-2005 and was at the top of the list on the day I made this entry.