Jackie Bethards
Encyclopedia
Jackie Bethards was a pre-WWII African American
professional basketball player from Philadelphia. As a boy Bethards played at the Christian Street YMCA along with Charles "Tarzan" Cooper
, Zack Clayton, and Bill Yancey. There they began four fruitful careers on a squad called the Tribune Men.
for the Philadelphia Scholastics, Bethards was reported to have been "the sensation while in New England" by the Baltimore Afro-American. Six years later, playing alongside Clayton and Yancey for the Philadelphia Giants in another New England swing, Jackie reportedly entered a contest in the 2nd quarter with the Giants on the wrong side of a 20-7 score and, described as "unquestionably one of the best semi-pro players in the business," proceeded to hit "long shot after long shot" to tighten the game. Following a Clayton fielder that brought the Giants to within a point, Bethards "let a long shot fly that registered the winning digits" in a 32-31 win over the St Joseph's Polish Hearts.
By 1933 Jackie Bethards was commonly called the "Clown Prince of basketball", a label that came to be identified with the Harlem Globetrotters
' biggest names like Goose Tatum and Meadowlark Lemon
. Within a year the nickname of "Clown Prince" had followed Bethards to Chicago, whence he starred for the Savoy Big Five (also known as the Chicago Crusaders
) along with such teammates as Jack Mann
, Clayton, and Billy Yancey's brother John Yancey.
on the New York Rens. Along with David "Big Dave" DeJernett
Bethards received top billing as a new Rens' star for the fabled team that had recently suffered the loss of sharpshooter Pappy Ricks. According to the Sheboygan Press, "Jack 'Rabbit' Bethards and 'Wee Willie' Smith play(ed) the leading roles in the comedy as they clown and burlesque with players and fans as well."
While he undeniably was a star with the Rens, earning the moniker "ShowBoat," Bethards only played for the club in 1935-36 and 1936–37, before being replaced in a sense by high school-to-pros phenom Johnny Isaacs. Bethards clearly kept good relations with Tarzan Cooper
. Cooper once described a memorable 4th-quarter duel in 1928 between Bethards, playing for the Philadelphia Giants, and the Rens' star guard Clarence "Fat" Jenkins
, saying "We gave the ball to Jackie. Fats, a master at the art of freezing, tried to take the ball away from him. I will never forget the things Jackie pulled...and he kept the ball in his possession for three minutes, kept it away from one of the greatest players the game has ever known". en route to the Giants' tense 31-29 win over the Rens in Boston.
The following year, in 1929, the outcome was similar: "Gorilla" Bethards was described as the Giants' brightest star, his "humorous antics" keeping the crowd on edge and his "all-around playing ability on a level with the best in the business" as the Giants again beat the NY Rens in Boston, 25 to 23.
For one of Bethards' last performances as a Ren in 1937, the story ran, "Jack Bethards, Ren forward, had the fans in thunderous applause every minute he was in the game, putting on a great basketball exhibition. He was by far the fastest man on the floor, and his handling of the ball was uncanny" to spark the Rens' 51-38 win over the Art Imigs (later the Sheboygan Redskins
of the NBA).
's Dan Burley
wrote in his trademark homey fashion: "Influence of Bethards' style of basketball playing was shown in the Gladiator/Rival Dog Food clash at the Armory. George Darden, Red Bolton, an' others on th' team are perfecting th' clown formulations to a nicety.". Two days after Burley's column appeared the Sheboygan Press again weighed in, saying "The clown of the Rens is Jackie Bethards, who travels around the floor so fast fans only see a dark streak flitting about the court. A showman through and through, Jackie drives his opponents crazy with his speed and antics on the floor. A great shot, Bethards is content to thrill the fans with his speed and ball handling, leaving the scoring end of the game to the rest of his mates.".
When the Harlem Globetrotters
came to Lowell, Massachusetts
in 1949 fresh from wins over both the Boston Celtics
and Minneapolis Lakers, Jackie Bethards' comedic influence was recalled: "The last time a team appeared in Lowell the likes of this club was when the Sacred Heart team had the famous Philadelphia Colored Giants in town featuring the great 'Gorilla' Bethards. The big interest will be in the trick style of ball the visitors play."
club that won the World's Pro Championship tourney in Chicago. True to reputation, Bethards was credited with freezing the ball to clinch the Bears' 27th consecutive win in a January 1943 match against the New York Clippers that ended 36-29.
For several years afterwards both Bethards and Tarzan Cooper remained associated with the Washington Bears until the fall of 1946, when Bears' owner AE Lichtman retired. Cooper
, billing Bethards as one of his stars, started another team called the "Bears" back in Philadelphia but was threatened with lawsuit by the Washington Bears' new owner Harold Jackson for forging the team name. Jackson appealed to NBL
commissioner Ward "Piggy" Lambert
so that the National
league would not book the Cooper/Bethards team for games. That is where Jackie Bethards' pro basketball playing career apparently ended, after two decades of competition.
In 1960 Philadelphia native Wilt Chamberlain
announced he was fed up with the NBA and would retire after his rookie season. Comparing Wilt to the Philly pro pioneers, the Fitchburg (MA) Sentinel editorialized: "The stars of the New York Rens and Philadelphia Colored Giants were that incomparable clown Jackie Bethards, a one-man predecessor to the Harlem Globetrotters
, and Zack Clayton and Tarzan Cooper, remember? We certainly don't wish to insinuate that the "Stilt" should be forced to undergo indignities of any kind, but neither do we feel that Bethards, Clayton, or Cooper would have hustled for cover as Wilt obviously has if his retirement is on the level. The major difference between then and now is that Chamberlain has somewhere to hide—back with the successful Globetrotters
or as the backbone of a new major league—while the other poor guys merely headed dog-tired into the next town.".
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
professional basketball player from Philadelphia. As a boy Bethards played at the Christian Street YMCA along with Charles "Tarzan" Cooper
Tarzan Cooper
Charles "Tarzan" Cooper was an American professional basketball player. He is mostly known for his time with the New York Renaissance ....
, Zack Clayton, and Bill Yancey. There they began four fruitful careers on a squad called the Tribune Men.
"Clown Prince of Basketball"
As early as 1927, playing alongside "Stretch" CooperTarzan Cooper
Charles "Tarzan" Cooper was an American professional basketball player. He is mostly known for his time with the New York Renaissance ....
for the Philadelphia Scholastics, Bethards was reported to have been "the sensation while in New England" by the Baltimore Afro-American. Six years later, playing alongside Clayton and Yancey for the Philadelphia Giants in another New England swing, Jackie reportedly entered a contest in the 2nd quarter with the Giants on the wrong side of a 20-7 score and, described as "unquestionably one of the best semi-pro players in the business," proceeded to hit "long shot after long shot" to tighten the game. Following a Clayton fielder that brought the Giants to within a point, Bethards "let a long shot fly that registered the winning digits" in a 32-31 win over the St Joseph's Polish Hearts.
By 1933 Jackie Bethards was commonly called the "Clown Prince of basketball", a label that came to be identified with the Harlem Globetrotters
Harlem Globetrotters
The Harlem Globetrotters are an exhibition basketball team that combines athleticism, theater and comedy. The executive offices for the team are currently in downtown Phoenix, Arizona; the team is owned by Shamrock Holdings, which oversees the various investments of the Roy E. Disney family.Over...
' biggest names like Goose Tatum and Meadowlark Lemon
Meadowlark Lemon
Meadow "Meadowlark" Lemon is an American basketball player, actor, and minister. For 22 years, Lemon was known as the "Clown Prince" of the touring Harlem Globetrotters basketball team. He played in more than 16,000 games for the Globetrotters and is a 2003 inductee of the Naismith Memorial...
. Within a year the nickname of "Clown Prince" had followed Bethards to Chicago, whence he starred for the Savoy Big Five (also known as the Chicago Crusaders
Chicago Crusaders
The Chicago Crusaders were an all-black barnstorming basketball club whose history ran from 1933 through 1947. Commonly billed as the "Western World's Colored Champions" the team's roster over the years featured about a dozen players who also were members of the better-known Harlem Globetrotters...
) along with such teammates as Jack Mann
Jack Mann
John Edward Kingsley "Jack" Mann was a professional ice hockey player who played nine games in the National Hockey League. Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, he played with the New York Rangers.- References :...
, Clayton, and Billy Yancey's brother John Yancey.
New York Rens
Following his successful foray as a Chicagoan Jackie Bethards reunited with Bill Yancey and Tarzan CooperTarzan Cooper
Charles "Tarzan" Cooper was an American professional basketball player. He is mostly known for his time with the New York Renaissance ....
on the New York Rens. Along with David "Big Dave" DeJernett
David "Big Dave" DeJernett
David "Big Dave" DeJernett was a pioneer of integration in early basketball in the United States. He is best known for leading the integrated Washington Hatchets to the Indiana state title as a high school junior in the 1929-30 season....
Bethards received top billing as a new Rens' star for the fabled team that had recently suffered the loss of sharpshooter Pappy Ricks. According to the Sheboygan Press, "Jack 'Rabbit' Bethards and 'Wee Willie' Smith play(ed) the leading roles in the comedy as they clown and burlesque with players and fans as well."
While he undeniably was a star with the Rens, earning the moniker "ShowBoat," Bethards only played for the club in 1935-36 and 1936–37, before being replaced in a sense by high school-to-pros phenom Johnny Isaacs. Bethards clearly kept good relations with Tarzan Cooper
Tarzan Cooper
Charles "Tarzan" Cooper was an American professional basketball player. He is mostly known for his time with the New York Renaissance ....
. Cooper once described a memorable 4th-quarter duel in 1928 between Bethards, playing for the Philadelphia Giants, and the Rens' star guard Clarence "Fat" Jenkins
Fats Jenkins
Clarence Reginald "Fats" Jenkins was an African American professional baseball and basketball player from about 1920 to 1940 when both professional sports were racially segregated...
, saying "We gave the ball to Jackie. Fats, a master at the art of freezing, tried to take the ball away from him. I will never forget the things Jackie pulled...and he kept the ball in his possession for three minutes, kept it away from one of the greatest players the game has ever known". en route to the Giants' tense 31-29 win over the Rens in Boston.
The following year, in 1929, the outcome was similar: "Gorilla" Bethards was described as the Giants' brightest star, his "humorous antics" keeping the crowd on edge and his "all-around playing ability on a level with the best in the business" as the Giants again beat the NY Rens in Boston, 25 to 23.
For one of Bethards' last performances as a Ren in 1937, the story ran, "Jack Bethards, Ren forward, had the fans in thunderous applause every minute he was in the game, putting on a great basketball exhibition. He was by far the fastest man on the floor, and his handling of the ball was uncanny" to spark the Rens' 51-38 win over the Art Imigs (later the Sheboygan Redskins
Sheboygan Redskins
The Sheboygan Red Skins were a National Basketball League, National Basketball Association, National Professional Basketball League and professional independent team based in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, USA.- Barnstorming roots :...
of the NBA).
Style
That same year the Chicago DefenderChicago Defender
The Chicago Defender is a Chicago based newspaper founded in 1905 by an African American for primarily African American readers.In just three years from 1919–1922 the Defender also attracted the writing talents of Langston Hughes and Gwendolyn Brooks....
's Dan Burley
Dan Burley
Dan Burley was an American pianist and journalist. He appeared on numerous network television and radio shows in the US and had two radio shows of his own on WWRL Radio in New York....
wrote in his trademark homey fashion: "Influence of Bethards' style of basketball playing was shown in the Gladiator/Rival Dog Food clash at the Armory. George Darden, Red Bolton, an' others on th' team are perfecting th' clown formulations to a nicety.". Two days after Burley's column appeared the Sheboygan Press again weighed in, saying "The clown of the Rens is Jackie Bethards, who travels around the floor so fast fans only see a dark streak flitting about the court. A showman through and through, Jackie drives his opponents crazy with his speed and antics on the floor. A great shot, Bethards is content to thrill the fans with his speed and ball handling, leaving the scoring end of the game to the rest of his mates.".
When the Harlem Globetrotters
Harlem Globetrotters
The Harlem Globetrotters are an exhibition basketball team that combines athleticism, theater and comedy. The executive offices for the team are currently in downtown Phoenix, Arizona; the team is owned by Shamrock Holdings, which oversees the various investments of the Roy E. Disney family.Over...
came to Lowell, Massachusetts
Lowell, Massachusetts
Lowell is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA. According to the 2010 census, the city's population was 106,519. It is the fourth largest city in the state. Lowell and Cambridge are the county seats of Middlesex County...
in 1949 fresh from wins over both the Boston Celtics
Boston Celtics
The Boston Celtics are a National Basketball Association team based in Boston, Massachusetts. They play in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. Founded in 1946, the team is currently owned by Boston Basketball Partners LLC. The Celtics play their home games at the TD Garden, which...
and Minneapolis Lakers, Jackie Bethards' comedic influence was recalled: "The last time a team appeared in Lowell the likes of this club was when the Sacred Heart team had the famous Philadelphia Colored Giants in town featuring the great 'Gorilla' Bethards. The big interest will be in the trick style of ball the visitors play."
Washington Bears
Whether he parted company with the Rens for stylistic or other reasons, for several seasons after 1937 little is known of Bethards' playing career until he resurfaced in 1942 joining John Isaacs, Cooper and Clayton on the Philadelphia Toppers in games against the Detroit Clowns and Long Island Pros. In 1942-43 Bethards also played alongside Tarzan Cooper and several other ex-NY Rens for the Washington BearsWashington Bears
The Washington Bears were an all-black professional basketball team of the 1940s.Sponsored by movie theater owner Abe Lichtman, the Bears played their home games at Turner's Arena in Washington, DC. Most of the team was composed of former New York Renaissance players, such as Pop Gates, Tarzan...
club that won the World's Pro Championship tourney in Chicago. True to reputation, Bethards was credited with freezing the ball to clinch the Bears' 27th consecutive win in a January 1943 match against the New York Clippers that ended 36-29.
For several years afterwards both Bethards and Tarzan Cooper remained associated with the Washington Bears until the fall of 1946, when Bears' owner AE Lichtman retired. Cooper
Tarzan Cooper
Charles "Tarzan" Cooper was an American professional basketball player. He is mostly known for his time with the New York Renaissance ....
, billing Bethards as one of his stars, started another team called the "Bears" back in Philadelphia but was threatened with lawsuit by the Washington Bears' new owner Harold Jackson for forging the team name. Jackson appealed to NBL
National Basketball League (United States)
Founded in 1937, the National Basketball League, often abbreviated to NBL, was a professional men's basketball league in the United States. The league would later merge with the Basketball Association of America to form the National Basketball Association in 1949.- League history :The...
commissioner Ward "Piggy" Lambert
Ward Lambert
Ward Louis "Piggy" Lambert was an American college men's basketball coach. He was born in Deadwood, South Dakota. In 1890, Lambert and his family moved to Crawfordsville, Indiana. He played basketball at Crawfordsville High School and Wabash College, both under coach Ralph Jones, who himself...
so that the National
National Basketball League
National Basketball League may mean:* National Basketball League , the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in Australasia* National Basketball League * National Basketball League of Canada...
league would not book the Cooper/Bethards team for games. That is where Jackie Bethards' pro basketball playing career apparently ended, after two decades of competition.
In 1960 Philadelphia native Wilt Chamberlain
Wilt Chamberlain
Wilton Norman "Wilt" Chamberlain was an American professional NBA basketball player for the Philadelphia/San Francisco Warriors, the Philadelphia 76ers and the Los Angeles Lakers; he also played for the Harlem Globetrotters prior to playing in the NBA...
announced he was fed up with the NBA and would retire after his rookie season. Comparing Wilt to the Philly pro pioneers, the Fitchburg (MA) Sentinel editorialized: "The stars of the New York Rens and Philadelphia Colored Giants were that incomparable clown Jackie Bethards, a one-man predecessor to the Harlem Globetrotters
Harlem Globetrotters
The Harlem Globetrotters are an exhibition basketball team that combines athleticism, theater and comedy. The executive offices for the team are currently in downtown Phoenix, Arizona; the team is owned by Shamrock Holdings, which oversees the various investments of the Roy E. Disney family.Over...
, and Zack Clayton and Tarzan Cooper, remember? We certainly don't wish to insinuate that the "Stilt" should be forced to undergo indignities of any kind, but neither do we feel that Bethards, Clayton, or Cooper would have hustled for cover as Wilt obviously has if his retirement is on the level. The major difference between then and now is that Chamberlain has somewhere to hide—back with the successful Globetrotters
Harlem Globetrotters
The Harlem Globetrotters are an exhibition basketball team that combines athleticism, theater and comedy. The executive offices for the team are currently in downtown Phoenix, Arizona; the team is owned by Shamrock Holdings, which oversees the various investments of the Roy E. Disney family.Over...
or as the backbone of a new major league—while the other poor guys merely headed dog-tired into the next town.".