Claude Johnson

Claude Johnson is an author, historian, writer, and founder of the tax-exempt public charity, the Black Fives Foundation, whose mission is to research, preserve, showcase, and teach the pre-NBA history of African-American basketball teams while honoring its pioneers and their descendants. This is his first book. He was born in Vienna, Austria - his father is African American, from the South Side of Chicago, and his mother was German, from the R�merstadt section of Frankfurt am Main - and...See more

Claude Johnson is an author, historian, writer, and founder of the tax-exempt public charity, the Black Fives Foundation, whose mission is to research, preserve, showcase, and teach the pre-NBA history of African-American basketball teams while honoring its pioneers and their descendants. This is his first book. He was born in Vienna, Austria - his father is African American, from the South Side of Chicago, and his mother was German, from the R�merstadt section of Frankfurt am Main - and lived in the Republic of the Congo (now Democratic Republic of the Congo) before moving to the USA with his parents at age six, where he attended public schools outside Boston and in Cincinnati. During a 20-year career in corporate America, Claude held management and executive positions at IBM, American Express, NBA Properties, Nike, Phat Farm, and Benetton Sportsystem. He has a BS in Civil Engineering and Economics from Carnegie Mellon University and an MS in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University. A former regular columnist with the Greenwich (CT) Post, he also has been published in SLAM Magazine, The Undefeated, and Bounce Magazine as well as on BlackFives.org. Editorial coverage of Johnson and his work has appeared in the New York Times, the BBC, NPR, the New York Daily News, The Root 24/7, Sports Illustrated, SI for Kids, The Wall Street Journal, and ESPN. He is a former trustee of the Greenwich Public Library. Claude and his family live in Greenwich, Connecticut. See less