 A 6'6" forward/center, DeZonie attended Clark Atlanta University in the 1940s and then joined the Dayton Rens, an all-black travelling basketball team named after the Harlem Renaissance.The Rens joined the integrated National Basketball League in 1948, and during the 1948–49 NBL season, DeZonie averaged 12.4 points per game in 18 games.By August 1949, most of the teams in the NBL had been absorbed by the fledgling NBA.