A champion model and basketball league, by Arieh Sclar

In April 1907, an editorial in the 92^nd Street YMHA’s Bulletin had elucidated what would become the dominant paradigm about Jewish athleticism during the first half of the twentieth century.  “The Jew as an Athlete” presented a familiar narrative: “Jews as a nation have never been actively identified with the manly sports, either in ancient or modern times.”  The Jews could be partially blamed for this absence.  “Had the manly sports been more indulged…the Jews might have been treated with greater respect by their enemies.”  In the United States, “more attention is being paid by the Jews to the harmonious development of the human form and as a result, we are gradually developing a number of promising Jewish athletes.”  The editorial praised the public school system for helping produce successful athletes, especially in the “game of basket-ball, [where] Jewish young men are acknowledged leaders.”  Sport needed to become more important to Jewish ‘peoplehood,’ but with one important caveat. “There is something in athletics which appeals to all manly men and if the Jews will pay more attention to it and through it develop a number of champions, it will do more to raise the status of the race in the eyes of the world than any other single achievement.”[1]

The editorial demanded change in the relationship between American Jewish culture and sport and constructed a new model of Jewish athleticism.  The Bulletin published the editorial the month before the Atlas Athletic Club left the YMHA and eight months before Eliot spoke before the Menorah Club.  It provided a model with which YMHA officials could respond to the Eliot controversy.  The absence of “manly sports” within Jewish culture had served as a barrier to Jewish integration.  Thus, individual Jews could benefit if Jewish culture moved closer to sport.  This model included a new concept of Jewish athleticism.  Mainstream society would accept Jews and provide a space for modern, and normal, manhood only if Jewish “champions” proved their worth in the athletic world.  The champion model encouraged the development of a communal athletic culture that served both an internal project of Jewish socialization and an external project of proving Jewish athleticism, and thus normality, to mainstream society.

In 1912, New York area YMHA’s formed the YMHA Athletic League.[2]  The league provided young Jews with competitive athletic opportunities, and the Bulletin explicitly connected the league’s public presence to an internal Jewish project.  Jews should socialize with, and play against, other Jews.  An article, “Jews in Athletics,” stated that the absence of a Jewish athletic club culture had forced Jews to join athletic clubs or even YMCA’s and their names became “linked with some Christian Association.”  As a result, the athlete “was not recognized as a Jew.  This league will have the tendency to bring these Jewish young men together.”[3]  YMHA officials also believed competitive sports were “splendid preparation for the duties and obligations of citizenship.”  The league’s initial mention in the Bulletin stated it had formed “to develop and encourage clean sport between the boys of the different Associations.”[4]

Commitment is needed for competitive structures to succeed.  Organized rules, governance, and scheduling meant the league supported elite specialization in sport over mass participation.  The league’s competitiveness encouraged member institutions to develop the hierarchical structures that would support an athletic club culture.  At the 92^nd Street YMHA, internal competitions and tournaments between house and club teams expanded the pool from which representative teams could draw talent.  Intra-association teams swelled from thirty in 1910 to more than fifty in 1915 and “representative” teams such as the Mohegans received attention in mainstream newspapers as they played against athletic clubs, public schools, YMCA’s, settlements, and even the occasional college team.[5]  All of this activity served the Association’s participation in the YMHA League, which limited participation to “only five regular players and a few substitutes [who] can represent us directly on the field.”  Members, however, could “represent us indirectly by their presence,” at games as attendance became a “duty” and “organized rooting” encouraged the team to victory.  At the end of the first season, the 92^nd Street YMHA captured the league title in front of “an average attendance of 150 visitors.”[6]

Soon after the formation of the league, YMHA basketball became a financial endeavor.  In 1914, the 92^nd Street YMHA’s Bulletin explained: “Athletics should be self-supporting.  We have the opportunity to make it so by attending the basketball games…every cent taken in at these games goes to encourage track and field sports and baseball, as well as basketball itself.”  During the 1910s, the physical department needed to fund itself in order to grow and survive, and basketball’s success allowed the YMHA to develop boxing, handball, and swimming programs.[7]  Athletic departments at other institutions also increased their commitment to competitive sport out of economic necessity.

The YMHA League provided a centralized location for Jewish athletes, their fans, and the media to find a Jewish presence in sport.  The success of the 92^nd Street YMHA basketball team led to expanded coverage in the Bulletin.  An “Athletic News” column reported on star players and representative teams as they competed against a vast array of amateur and college teams, succeeded in AAU tournaments, and won league championships.  The Bulletin also published articles such as “Clear the Floor for Basketball”, “Basketball and its Possibilities”, and “Play Fair,” that educated, informed, and entertained readers.[8]  Beginning in August 1912 and covering a number of months, the American Hebrew ran sporadic articles on the activities of the YMHA League, including swimming, cross-country, and basketball.[9]  The mainstream media also noticed the growth of Jewish basketball at the YMHA, thus confirming the notion that Jewish athletes would gain public recognition as Jews.

In the 1910s, Spalding published two articles on YMHA basketball.  The 1913-14 guide explained that New York’s large Jewish population supported a competitive league that “popularized the game more than ever” at YMHA’s.[10]  Three years later, Spalding published an article entitled “Basket Ball in YMHA’s” which included Associations in a variety of locations, including Portland (Oregon), Kansas City, Louisville, Richmond (Virginia), New Orleans, Syracuse, and of course, New York.  The author, Harry Henshel of the 92nd Street YMHA, explained that YMHA basketball existed in “various stages of development” comparable to the “difficult struggles which our Christian [YMCA’s] friends suffered for many years.”  Due to a lack of financial support, a number of Associations struggled to complete “successful” seasons.[11]  Many YMHA’s had not “developed to the point where they have big enough gymnasiums to encourage basket ball of high caliber.”  Both Spalding articles singled out the 92^nd Street YMHA for having a “splendidly equipped building, including a fine gymnasium and basket ball court.”[12]

Henshel based his Spalding article on a questionnaire issued by the Council of Young Men’s Hebrew and Kindred Association (CYMHKA).  Formed in 1913, the organization intended to merge settlements and YMHA’s into a national Jewish Center movement.  Officials believed the Jewish community center (JCC) would overcome the fragmentation of Jewish communal life based on religious, ‘ethnic,’ and class differences by providing social, cultural, and religious programs that unified “all members of the community.”[13]  An official CYMHKA publication stated: “Athletics are absolutely necessary and a gymnasium is an essential feature of the YMHA.”  The Council primarily promoted outdoor sports over basketball, which as an indoor game, was “perhaps the least to be recommended.”  The Council’s attitude toward basketball notwithstanding, Henshel stated that basketball had become “the feature indoor sport in YMHA’s throughout the country.”[14]

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[1] “The Jew as an Athlete,” YMHA Bulletin, April 1907.

[2] The Athletic League was first proposed in April 1912.  See Minutes of the Board of Directors, April 3, 1912, Young Men’s Hebrew Association records, 92^nd Street Y Archives, New York. The YMHA Athletic League was mentioned in Gym Notes, Y Bulletin, October 1912.  The section declared, “Our YMHA is looked to as the Mecca of all similar institutions and it was up to us to lead this undertaking and only with our guidance and active support could the league be assured of success.”

[3] Mike Taub, “Jews in Athletics,” Y Bulletin, January 1913. The league encouraged a number of Jews to transfer to the YMHA from prominent athletic clubs.  The year after the formation of the league, the American Hebrew covered a controversy over a Jewish youth’s desire to join the 23^rd Street YMCA in New York City.  The youth objected to the YMCA’s policy to restrict the number of Jews to 5% of its membership.  The Hebrew denounced the youth’s desire to join the YMCA rather than the restrictive policy and stated: “a Jewish youth man should become a member of the YMHA if he desires club privileges.”  See “Jews and the YMCA,” American Hebrew, December 5, 1913.

[4] Young Men’s Hebrew Association, Fortieth Annual Report, 1913 (New York: 1914); re-printed in the Y Bulletin, March 1913.  The report’s budget contained an “Athletics” column, probably in reference to the league. Also see “Athletic League,” Y Bulletin, October 1912.

[5] On the number of inter-association teams in 1910 as well as information on the Mohegans, see “Gymnastic Notes,” Y Bulletin, December 1909.  On the number of teams in 1915, see “Athletic News,” Y Bulletin, December 1915.  The YMHA used the term ‘representative’ to describe any team that competed against outside teams.  Most of the ‘representative’ teams in the early 1900s were club teams that also competed in inter-association tournaments.  The most successful team was the Mohegans, led by Lazarus Joseph, a player and coach at YMHA.  Joseph played at NYU prior to joining the 92^nd Street YMHA  and was the grandson of Rabbi Jacob Joseph. The Mohegans and other “representative” teams occasionally traveled to New Jersey to compete.  In 1912, the Mohegans had a record of 25-1.

[6] Editorial, Y Bulletin, November 1912.  Though competitive sport was intended to provide a wholesome environment and not deride the opposition, “organized rooting” was seen as providing an advantage to the home team.  On the championship season, see “YMHA Athletics,” Y Bulletin, March 1913.  The team defeated YWHA teams from Yonkers, Brooklyn, Brownsville, Perth Amboy (NJ), Mt. Vernon, Bayonne (NJ), and even Philadelphia in a post-season contest.

[7] Basketball, Y Bulletin, December 1914.  The statement regarding self-sufficiency indicates the desire that athletics not take funding away from other programming, and thus ensure the relative autonomy of the athletic department.

[8] “Clear the Floor for Basketball,” Y Bulletin, December 1912; “Basketball and its Possibilities,” Y Bulletin, October 1913; “Play Fair,” Y Bulletin, March 1915; The ‘Athletic News’ column began in December 1913.

[9] See “YMHA Athletic Games,” American Hebrew, August 16, 1912; “The YMHA Athletic League,” American Hebrew, November 8, 1912.

[10] “YMHA Athletic League, 1912-13,” Spalding’s Official Basket Ball Guide 1913-14 (New York: American Sports Publishing Company, 1913).  The YMHA League was not the first mention of a specific Jewish league, but it was the most extensive.  In the 1910-1911 Spalding Guide, under the section “Basket Ball in Detroit,” there was a brief mention of a four-team league in the local YMHA. No further mention of this specific league occurred. Spalding provided only a single article on the league compared to annual publication of various YMCA leagues. Also see “Local YMHA in the Lead,” New York Times, December 16, 1912 for a report on early results during the first year of the YMHA Basketball League.

[11] Harry Henshel, “Basket Ball in YMHA’s,” Spalding’s Official Basket Ball Guide 1916-17 (New York: American Sports Publishing Company, 1916).  Despite these struggles, YMHA’s had decided to go down the path that YMCA’s had determined not to go.  YMCA’s continued to play basketball, but refused to become full-fledged athletic clubs.

[12] Ibid.

[13] Kaufman, Shul with a Pool, 63.

[14] Quote from Harry Glucksman, The Boys’ Club in the YMHA (Publications of the Council of YMH and Kindred Associations, 1915); Coleman Silbert, Clubs for Jewish Work (Publications of the Council of the YMH and Kindred Associations, 1915).  On the Council, see Rabinowitz, The Young Men’s Hebrew Association, 85-87.  Among the financial and ideological leaders of the Council were Louis Marshall, Judah Magnes, Julian Mack, and the 92^nd Street YMHA’s president, Felix Warburg.  Henshel, “Basket Ball in YMHA’s.”