Appletown Sporting Goods (store in Harlem, 1966-2015)

Appletown Sporting Goods opened in Harlem in 1966, at 2489 Seventh Avenue (Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard) and West 145th Street. The store, which closed about 2015, was owned by Freddie Crawford (who played basketball for the New York Knicks), Bruce Spraggins (who played basketball for the New Jersey Americans, now called the Brooklyn Nets) amd Joe Irvin.
 
Freddie Crawford discussed Appletown Sporting Goods in an article in the New York (NY) Post on July 16, 1968. “We named it after New York, which is called ‘The Big Apple,” Crawford said. Appletown Sporting Goods was named before “Big Apple” became popular in the 1970s, through an official campaign by the New York Convention and Visitors Bureau.
 
 
Corporation Wiki (archived record)
Sporting Goods, Inc. Overview
Appletown Sporting Goods, Inc. filed as a Domestic Business Corporation in the State of New York and is no longer active. This corporate entity was filed approximately fifty-nine years ago on Thursday, September 29, 1966 , according to public records filed with New York Department of State.
 
Harlem Gallery of Science
FREDERICK R. CRAWFORD
FORMER NBA PLAYER
AND COMMUNITY LEADER
Fred’s basketball story is one of never giving up despite great odds. Crawford graduated from New York City’s Samuel Gompers HS., 1959, making ALL PSAL and choosing St. Bonaventure University as his next steppingstone. At St. Bonaventure, he broke Tom Stith’s all- time freshman record as a sophomore and was voted sophomore of the year, making the All East All American Team. St. Bonaventure was the No. 2 team in the nation.
 
Fred has continued to be active by giving of his time and energy to numerous community and nonprofit organizations. He worked as a Supervisor in the Visiting Nurses’ Service Intensive Case Management Services. He owned and operated the Appletown Sporting Goods Store, served as President of Community School Board 10, Central Harlem Chairman – Housing and is a Board Member of the Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce.
   
Whiting’s Funeral Home
Official Obituary of
Warren Bruce Spraggins
August 31, 1939 ~ September 12, 2021 (age 82)
(...)
He continued to excel in basketball and was drafted in the fifth round by the Philadelphia Warriors of the National Basketball Association but signed with the Washington Tapers American Basketball League, ending his professional basketball career with the New Jersey Americans of the American Basketball Association. He was also inducted into the Brooklyn Hall of Fame and the Rucker Professionals Hall of Fame.
 
His next life adventures led him to become a co-owner of Appletown Sporting Goods in Harlem, New York. He never lost his desire to make a difference. He worked with youth programs under the New York City Housing Authority, holding basketball ball clinics in public housing with Fred Crawford, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Emmette Bryant.  He was a youth counselor with the Harlem YMCA-Youth Division, Harlem Youth Unlimited, and a Project Manager for the Patterson Task Force-Street Academy High School Dropouts.  He worked with the Harlow Corporation in New York and Texas, where children of all ages and adults furthered their education.  Before moving back to Virginia, Bruce worked with the New York City Board of Education as a substitute counselor and teacher.
 
1 March 1967, The Trentonian (Trenton, NJ), “Spraggins: Why’d They Trade Me?” by Bus Saidt, pg. 43, col. 1:
Ideally, all this conversation will be taking place in the spacious showrooms of the Appletown Sporting Goods, Inc. store which only recently has opened at 2489 Seventh Ave. in uptown Manhattan. Appletown is a project very dear to the hearts and pocketbooks of Messrs. Spraggins, Freddy Crawford, the former WIlington Blue Bomber who seems to have made it back to the bigs with the New York Knicks, and Charley Riley, a long-time friend and associate.
 
18 March 1967, New York (NY) Amsterdam News, “Sort of Sporty” by Howie Evans, pg. 32, col. 1:
The other day I was at Appletown, the sporting goods store operated by basketeers, Freddie Crawford of the Knicks, Bruce Spraggins, formerly of Virginia Union and now a standout in the Eastern League and Charles Riley, formerly of Winston-Salem and the St. Louis Hawks.
 
23 September 1967, New York (NY) Post, “Strictly Personal: A Talk With Alcindor” by Al Harvin, pg. 76, col. 4:
“Freddie Crawford (of the Knicks) has the Appletown Sporting Goods store up in Harlem.”
(Spoken by Lew Alcindor/Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.—ed.)
 
16 July 1968, New York (NY) Post, “Ex-Knick Happy In a Good Cause” by AL Harvin, pg. 80, cols. 4-5:
For ex-Knick Freddie Crawford, who grew up in Harlem and now lives in the Bronx with his wife and two kids, New York is a nice enough place to live.
(...)
(Bruce—ed.) Spraggins and Joe Irvin are Crawford’s partners in a sporting goods store they own on Seventh Av. near 145 St., called Appletown.
 
“We named it after New York, which is called ‘The Big Apple,” said Crawford, who still goes around with Lew Alcindor in the Housing Authority sponsored clinics during the summer months as well as working with Operation Sport Rescue. 
 
Newspapers.com
20 August 1973, Daily News (New York, NY), pg. 59, col. 2 ad:
... Appletown Sporting Goods, 2489 Seventh Ave. ...
(Mobil-Harlem National SUmmer Professional Basketball Championship.—ed.)
 
29 March 1978, New York (NY) Post, “These names ring bells” by Peter Vecsey, pg. 75, col. 1:
Fred Crawford: Owns Appletown, a sporting goods store in Harlem.
 
Newspapers.com
6 August 2014, Daily News (New York, NY), Harlem Week 2014, pg. 10, col. 1:
THE FORTY HISTORIC BUSINESSES
(...)
Appletown Sporting Goods