Book

The City game : triumph, scandal, and a legendary basketball team

Goodman, Matthew, author

Overview

\"The unlikeliest of champions, the 1949-50 City College Beavers were extraordinary by every measure: City College was a tuition-free, merit-based college in Harlem known for its intellectual achievements and political radicalism rather than its athletic prowess. Only two years after Jackie Robinson broke the major league baseball color barrier (and the NBA was still segregated), every single member of the Beavers was either Jewish or African American. Yet this scrappy, come-from-nowhere team thrived in the highly competitive era when college basketball fans dwarfed the numbers that followed the professional teams. Then, less than a year after winning both the NIT and NCAA basketball tournaments in the same season--still the only team to ever have done so--the team's starting five were arrested. Charged with colluding with gamblers to shave points, these celebrated young men became symbols of disillusionment and corruption. Their dramatic story is set against the larger backdrop of post-war New York when gangsters controlled the city's illegal sports gambling, the police were on their payroll, and everyone was getting rich--except the young men actually playing the games. Yet they were the ones who took the fall when the party finally ended\"-- Provided by publisher.

• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Subject: City College Beavers (Basketball team) History. / College of the City of New York (1926-1961). City College Basketball History. / Basketball Corrupt practices New York (State) New York. / College sports Corrupt practices New York (State) New York History. / Basketball Betting United States. / Sports betting United States. / New York (N.Y.) Social conditions 20th century.
• ISBN: 9781101882832

Item info:

1 item available

1 item total in all locations

Holdings :

Call Number	Copies	Material	Location
GV885.43.C57 G66 2019	1	BOOK	AUTOSTORE