"Ren" is short for this in the name of the Rens, a black basketball team of 1920s Harlem
Ethnic sports teams were hardly a unique concept in the 1920s; the New 
York Rens, a black-owned team operating out of the Ren-aissance Ballroom in 
Harlem, .... other differences as well: tall and short, adult and child, white and 
black.