User:Claude Johnson

Claude Johnson (born July 7, 1960) is an American author, historian, lecturer, columnist, writer, blogger, and business executive. He is the founder and C.E.O of Black Fives, Inc., a vintage sports licensing company which strives to be the world’s leading resource and steward for the research, preservation, education, and promotion of the pre-NBA history of African-American basketball teams, as well as a leading advocate for the proper recognition of its pioneers and their contributions.

Johnson was born in Vienna, Austria — his father is African American, from the South Side of Chicago, and his mother was German, from the Römerstadt section of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. He also lived in Leopoldville, in what was then known as the Republic of the Congo in West Africa (now Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo) before moving to the United States with his parents in 1966 at the age of six.

Johnson earned a degree in Civil Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in 1982, and a masters degree in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University in 1984, before embarking on a 20-year corporate career during which he held management and executive positions in various disciplines in organizations that included IBM, American Express, NBA Properties, Nike, Phat Farm, and Benetton Sportsystem.

He began writing by establishing a blog at BlackFives.com, his business website, in 2007. Johnson’s continues to blog today, and his insightful, evocative articles and commentaries have since been published in SLAM Magazine, Bounce Magazine, the Greenwich Post, and online. He has appeared on television and radio programs as well as in print, in a variety of venues that include NPR, Sirius Radio, Sports Illustrated, The Wall Street Journal, and ESPN. Johnson is a lecturer, a former trustee of the Greenwich Public Library, an accomplished hobby photographer, and a volunteer youth football coach. He is also a former candidate for the Connecticut State House of Representatives, having run for the office in 2010.

Johnson's first book -- the first of a series -- is Black Fives: The Alpha Physical Culture Club's Pioneering African American Basketball Team, 1904-1923 (2012).

He lives in Greenwich, Connecticut with his wife and their three sons.