Smart Set Athletic Club

The Smart Set Athletic Club of Brooklyn was founded in 1904 and is credited with assembling the first formally organized fully independent African American basketball team, which debuted in 1907. Later that year the team became a founding member of the Olympian Athletic League, along with the St. Christopher Club, the Alpha Physical Culture Club, and the Marathon Athletic Club of Manhattan.

Smart Set members came from a tight-knit clique of well-educated, affluent, “old-money” African Americans who resided in what was then the predominantly white Stuyvesant Heights section of Brooklyn.

These players weren’t just prima donnas – their complete dominance of other all-Black basketball teams earned them the nickname “The Grave Diggers.” The Smart Set Athletic Club won the Olympian Athletic League championship title during its only two seasons, and they also won the first two Colored Basketball World Championships, for 1907-08 and 1908-09.

The Smart Set Athletic Club is a great example of how a small group of people came together as pioneers to create a new reality in the face of adversity and obstacles, despite having no road map and no guidelines other than their unyielding passion and commitment toward creating camaraderie and inspiring new standards of social achievement through exercise and sports.

A portion of net proceeds from the sales of our Black Fives assortment will benefit the The Black Fives Foundation, which works to inspire excellence by preserving, teaching, and honoring the pre-NBA history of African Americans in basketball.