Henry's (clothiers)

Henry's was a family-owned

The store sponsored the Henry Clothiers basketball team which won three consecutive national Amateur Athletic Union championships in 1930-1932 at a time when colleges, corporate-sponsored teams, and private athletic clubs competed in the same tournament.

Store history

The franchise was founded as B. Levitt & Sons in 1911 by Russian immigrant Bernard Levitt.

After Bernard died his sons Henry (1894-June 20, 1968),^[1] Leo (known as Buddy)(died 1978) and Isadore (1898-1985)^[2] Levitt renamed the business Henry's. He opened a new store at 420 E. Douglas two blocks west of the original store. A 1929 renovation included Wichita's first large neon store.^[3]

In 1948 a store opened at Broadway and William. It was followed by one in 1954 at Douglas and Oliver which eventually expanded to two stores across from each other (referred to at the time as "Twin Corners"). During the 1970s it opened in the Twin Lakes Shopping Center, Towne East Square and in the early 1980s it opened a store at Towne West Square. In 1982 it closed the Twin Lakes store, the downtown store in 1984 and the Towne West store in 1988.^[4]

Henry Clothiers basketball

Henry Levitt organize the Henry Clothiers basketball team in 1928–29 to provide around Barry Dunham and

In the 1929–30 season, the team won the national championship in Kansas City under new coach Gene Johnson (a former WSU coach) defeating San Francisco Olympic Club 29–16 in Kansas City.^[7] Playing on that team was Tex Gibbons.

In the 1930–31 season, the team lost two of its players including Gibbons to

In the 1932–33 season, the team played an expanded season of 50 games. It placed third in the national tournament losing to Diamond DX Oilers, 34-20 in the semifinals but beat Southern Kansas Stage Lines, 26–24 in third place game.[10]

Levitt quit sponsoring the team after the 1933 season.^[11]

In 1968 after Henry died, the