Cincinnati Lion Tamers

In 1924, DeHart Hubbard, a graduate of Walnut Hills High School in Cincinnati, became the first African American individual Olympic gold medalist with a first-place victory in the long jump.

Hubbard was a superb all-around athlete and after returning home, he capitalized on his fame and organized an all-Black basketball team in 1926 known as the Cincinnati Comets, which included players formerly with the local Ninth Street Colored YMCA as well as himself playing forward.

After dominating their local opponents, they began playing throughout the Midwest with similar results. Then in 1930, they traveled to Western Kentucky Industrial College in Paducah, KY, an African American institution whose basketball team, nicknamed the Lions, was co-holder of the national “colored” collegiate championship title along with Wilberforce, and who had not lost at home in five years.

Hubbard was so confident in a victory that he renamed his team the Lion Tamers before their arrival. Cincinnati won, 23-20, despite only bringing five men, and with one of those players fouling out.

During their height, they became nationally famous, putting the Queen City of Cincinnati on the basketball map and representing its Black community on the hardwood as no other squad would until the arrival of the Cincinnati Royals, with Oscar Robertson, a generation later.

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.