PHONE conversations with Carl Green these days are dominated by discussions about dead people. A few weeks ago we discussed Hank DeZonie’s passing. Last week it was Alan Seiden’s. Yesterday it was John Isaacs’.
As usual, the former Globetrotter spoke in simple terms when I made the above observation: “Hey, none of us gettin’ outta here alive.”
Four years ago, I spent an afternoon at Green’s East 80’s apartment interviewing DeZonie and Isaacs, two of the three remaining players from the New York Renaissance. It’s weirdly unsettling to think they died within weeks of each other, leaving former major leaguer George Crowe as the team’s sole survivor.
The 6-foot-6, 220-pound, Bronx-born DeZonie, who played for Dayton in the NBL, the forerunner of the NBA, (averaging 12.3 points in 18 games) in 1948-49 and Tri-Cities in ’50-51 (3.4 in five), died Jan. 2. He would have been 87 Feb. 22.
“Hank was very good looking, stood tall and knew how to dress,” Green said. “He showed Ed Warner where to buy clothes, and Ed showed me and Jack DeFares. I’m tellin’ ya, when Hank walked into a room, everyone turned to look. He’d ease in without any noise or a whole lot of talkin’ to people. The man was a dignified, no-nonsense dude.”
Isaacs was born Sept. 15, 1915. After retiring from serious competition, he coached Tiny Archibald, Chris Mullin and a thousand others. Later, he became a counselor at the Madison Square Boys and Girls Club in The Bronx.
Five days a week for over 50 years Isaacs put in eight hours at Hoe Avenue. Several days ago, he suffered a stroke at his desk. He died early yesterday morning.
“John gave his time to plenty of kids over the years. A whole lot of people looked up to him,” Green said.
Regrettably, very few of us ever saw Isaacs play, whereas loosely kept statistics mostly got passed down by word of mouth. But a few facts speak fluently. His all-black Rens rolled to ridiculous records of 122-19, 121-19, and 127-15, culminating with a 1939 title in the initial World’s Professional Basketball Tournament.
Isaacs took great pride in politely correcting those under the assumption the Knicks captured New York City’s first pro championship in 1969-70.
“Excuse me, but it was the Rens,” he said.
In 1943, as a starter with the all-black Washington (D.C.) Bears, Isaacs won another title. Seven of his teammates are enshrined in the James Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame – Pop Gates and Tarzan Cooper individually . . . Fats Jenkins, Bill Yancey, Willie Smith, Johnny Holt and Eyre Saitch collectively; they were members of the 1932-1933 Rens inducted in 1963.
Twice, in 2005 and ’06, Isaacs fell just short of receiving the required votes to gain entry into the Hall of Fame. Undeniably, that definitive confirmation of one’s career would have been his crowning glory.
“That was important to him, no doubt about it,” said Butch Purcell, whose uncle, Eddie Younger, also played for the Rens. “But it was just as important to John that the Knicks retire Sweetwater Clifton’s number. I know he talked to Dave Checketts about it back when. I don’t know whether he approached Donnie Walsh.”
Yet, here we are in 2009 and the Knicks unaccountably still haven’t righted one of the franchise’s several long overdue omissions. Ownership owes it to the organization (as well as NBA and black history) to pay tribute to its first African-American player (’50-51), who was solid for seven seasons (10 points, eight rebounds) after spending much of his prime time as a Trotter.
How nice it’d be if some of us who grew up mesmerized by Sweetwater’s size (hands, especially) and strength and passing actually were alive to see his No. 8 jersey in the Garden’s stratosphere harmoniously hanging out with banners venerating Red Holzman, Willis Reed, Dave DeBusschere, Bill Bradley, Walt Frazier, Dick Barnett, Earl Monroe and Dick McGuire.
And while James Dolan and Walsh are at it – remedying lingering wrongs – Richie Guerin (No. 9) and Harry Gallatin (No. 11) unquestionably deserve comparable recognition.
How can the Knicks expect the Naismith HOF to seriously consider Guerin for enshrinement, which it has done the last two years, if his own franchise snubs him in the rafters?
Gallatin, meanwhile, played nine of 10 seasons, in New York, making the All-Star team seven times. He was elected into the HOF in ’91 and still he’s slighted by his home team. I can’t even imagine why, and I’m convinced the Knicks don’t either.