Cheesy Grits: Granddad Ralston's Amateur Years: St. Christopher

St. Philip's Episcopal, 210 W. 134th St.
New York NY
By Americasroof - Own work, CC
Wikimedia Commons

The St. Christopher Club, or "St. C's" as they were called, was one of the better-established African American athletic clubs in New York City. It was "better-established" because it had the backing of one of Harlem's most prestigious churches, St. Philip's Episcopal, on W. 134th St.

St. Philip's Episcopal is the oldest African American Episcopal congregation in New York City. Formed in 1809 by Free Episcopals of Color* from Trinity Church downtown, their first edifice, built around 1818, was located on Centre Street. In 1886, the church and congregation moved uptown to W. 26th St., where they stayed until 1909, when St. Philip's was one of the leaders of the African American migration to Harlem on the north side of Central Park. (As I noted in an earlier post, even as late as 1910, Harlem was still about 90% white.)

During the latter part of the XIXth century, the principles of the Progressive movement, including (for the sake of our discussion here) instruction in healthy living in terms of diet, exercise, and organized sports, were becoming more and more prominent in much of American life. And where there were no community organizations available to bring this new "gospel of healthy living" to people, sometimes churches and church organizations would step in. And in African American communities, where churches were often the strongest social organizations above and beyond their traditional "churchly" functions, some churches also became leaders in promoting practical education for healthy living.

St. Philip's Episcopal was one such church: it took the lead amongst New York's black churches in providing both leadership and space for exercise and physical education for Harlem's black community. St. Philip's new parish house in Harlem included a gymnasium and other exercise and practice facilities for the community and for the parish-sponsored athletic clubs. At St. Philip's, that meant the St. Christopher Club.

By the time Granddad Ralston decided to take his talents to Harlem, the St. C's teams were established as the premier black amateur sports teams in New York City. The basketball team won the first of its "Colored Basketball World Championships" in 1914 and would go on to win three more titles by the end of 1919. Their reputation as champions of course enabled them to attract the best talent, including a Columbia University law student named Paul Robeson, who helped them win those last three championships.

But again, Granddad Ralston's athletic specialty was track rather than basketball, and by now he had moved into leadership of track teams, including St. C's track team. The picture below is one of the very few documents our family has from this part of his career. As the caption notes, it depicts him during his time as manager of the St. Christopher Club track team during the 1915-16 season.

Behold: Granddad George Ralston, age about 23-24.

From the Godfrey family archive.

But Granddad was not long at St. Christopher's. The suggestion is that, if his position as track team manager was a paid position at all, the pay was more ceremonial than functional. In short, Granddad apparently needed a good, steady job—and not just any job, because, as we shall see, he was already putting in hours as an office file clerk in mid-town. But Granddad was clearly looking for more than just a steady paycheck: what he surely wanted was a professional position that combined his athletic skills and his ability to teach and to lead.

Enter the settlement houses, whose broad-based programs were pioneers in providing social services, training/classes, and physical education to Manhattan's less-privileged, including African Americans.

Almost providentially, around 1915, the Henry Street Settlement, which was in charge of Manhattan's settlement houses, re-organized its San Juan Hill operations for African Americans, folding the nearby Stillman House and several smaller programs into a newly-renovated building at 202 W. 63rd St.  And Henry Street was looking for someone to head up the program for boys at the newly-named Lincoln House Settlement. It turned out to be just what Granddad Ralston was looking for—and in more ways than one.



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*I made that term up. They were Free Persons of Color who happened to be Episcopals.

Notes:

The story of the development of basketball in our African American communities is such a rich one that I'm almost embarrassed by the short shrift I've had to give it here. But then, the Smithsonian's new Museum of African American History and Culture only gives one panel to the New York Renaissance (New York "Rens"), the first black professional basketball team. I think they deserve more.

Once again, the Black Fives Foundation website and Kuska's Hot Potato: How Washington and New York Gave Birth to Black Basketball and Changed America's Game Forever (University of Virginia, 2004) are essential sources for learning about this chapter of American sports history.

The Black Five Foundation website also has a page with images of various team logos, including Smart Set and St. Cs. There are sometimes caps, warm-ups, and shoes with logos for sale on places like Ebay.