Cumberland Posey Makes Another Hall of Fame
April 5, 2016 at 12:40 pm Bill DiFilippo Leave a comment
Cumberland Posey is headed to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. It was announced on Monday that Posey ’11 — and yes, that’s 1911 — who passed away in 1946 and was the first African-American athlete in Penn State history, was selected by the Hall of Fame’s Early African American Pioneers Committee.
Posey’s basketball career occurred long before the NBA existed. He led two teams — Monticello Athletic Association (1911-12) and Loendi Big Five (1919-23) — to five Colored Basketball World’s Championships during his hoops career. He formed Monticello Athletic Association after he left Penn State in 1911, and in addition to a playing career with Loendi Big Five, he acted as the team’s operator.
This election is historic because Posey is now the only person in the basketball and baseball halls of fame. Posey was selected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006 by the Committee on African-American Baseball. He spent his entire career with the Homestead Grays of the Negro League, first as a player, then as a manager and owner. His outstanding career led to one Pittsburgh sports writer calling Posey “the smartest man in Negro baseball and certainly the most successful.”
For more information on Posey, we recommend reading this feature from Onward State.
Bill DiFilippo, online editor
Entry filed under: Athletics. Tags: Baseball Hall of Fame, Basketball Hall of Fame, Cumberland Posey, Penn State Basketball.
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