Jackie Bethards
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Jackie Bethards was a pre-World War II 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.[1]
As early as 1927, playing alongside "Stretch" Cooper for the Philadelphia Scholastics, Bethards was reported to have been "the sensation while in New England" by the Baltimore Afro-American.[2] 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.[3]
By 1933 Jackie Bethards was commonly called the "Clown Prince of basketball",[4] 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.[5]
New York Rens
Following his successful foray as a Chicagoan Jackie Bethards reunited with Bill Yancey and Tarzan Cooper 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[when?] 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."[6]
While he undeniably was a star with the Rens, earning the moniker "ShowBoat," [7] 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 "Fats" 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".[8] 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, 25–23.[9]
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).[10]