The City Game: Triumph, Scandal, and a Legendary Basketball

The City Game: Triumph, Scandal, and a Legendary Basketball Team

The powerful story of a college basketball team who carried an eraâ€™s brightest hopesâ€”racial harmony, social mobility, and the triumph of the underdogâ€”but whose success was soon followed by a shocking downfall

â€œA masterpiece of American storytelling.â€â€”Gilbert King, Pulitzer Prizeâ€“winning author ofÂ Devil in the Grove

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST SPORTS BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

The unlikeliest of champions, the 1949â€“50 City College Beavers were extraordinary by every measure. New Yorkâ€™sÂ City College was a tuition-free, merit-based college in Harlem known far more for its intellectual achievements and political radicalism than its athletic prowess. Only two years after Jackie Robinson broke the Major League Baseball color barrierâ€”and at a time when the National Basketball Association was still segregatedâ€”every single member of the Beavers was either Jewish or African American. But during that remarkable season, under the guidance of the legendary former player Nat Holman, this unheralded group of city kids would stun the basketball world by becoming the only team in history to win the NIT and NCAA tournaments in the same year.

This team, though, proved to be extraordinary in another way: During the following season, all of the teamâ€™s starting five were arrested by New York City detectives, charged with conspiring with gamblers to shave points. Almost overnight these beloved heroes turned into fallen idols. The story centers on two teammates and close friends, Eddie Roman and Floyd Layne, one white, one black, each caught up in the scandal, each searching for a path to personal redemption. Though banned from the NBA, Layne continued to devote himself to basketball, teaching the game to young people in his Bronx neighborhood and, ultimately, with Romanâ€™s help, finding another kind of triumphâ€”one that no one could have anticipated.

Drawing on interviews with the surviving members of that championship team, Matthew Goodman has created an indelible portrait of an era of smoke-filled arenas and Borscht Belt hotels, when college basketball was far more popular than the professional game. It was a time when gangsters controlled illegal sports betting, the police were on their payroll, and everyone, it seemed, was getting richâ€”except for the young men who actually played the games.Â

Tautly paced and rich with period detail, The City Game tells a story both dramatic and poignant: of political corruption, duplicity in big-time college sports, and the deeper meaning of athletic success.
Country USA
Brand Ballantine Books
Manufacturer Ballantine Books
Binding Hardcover
ItemPartNumber Illustrations, unspecified
Color Navy
ReleaseDate 2019-11-05
UnitCount 1
EANs 9781101882832

Country	USA
Brand	Ballantine Books
Manufacturer	Ballantine Books
Binding	Hardcover
ItemPartNumber	Illustrations, unspecified
Color	Navy
ReleaseDate	2019-11-05
UnitCount	1
EANs	9781101882832

The City Game: Triumph, Scandal, and a Legendary Basketball Team

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