St. Christopher Club

The St. Christopher Club was an African American basketball team from the early part of the Black Fives Era. The club got its start in 1896 as a bible study group designed to keep young African American males off the seedy streets of what is now midtown Manhattan.

The St. Christopher Club was meant to prevent moral decay by offering an inspirational alternative. In 1905, the club shifted its focus from preaching the virtues of morality to teaching the value of physicality by staging athletic activities and related social events. Along with boxing and track, the club also formed a basketball team.

The basketball team began competing with other local teams in 1907, when they helped found the all-Black Olympian Athletic League, setting off a decade-long inter-city basketball rivalry with the Alpha Physical Culture Club of Harlem and the Smart Set Athletic Club of Brooklyn.

The St. Christopher Club is a great example of how a single idea behind a definite major purpose can transform a community and assume a life of its own once it takes hold through the implementation of specific plans.

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.