YMHA' continue the struggle to control basketball, by Arieh Sclar

Similar to the 92^nd Street YMHA, the structure of the Metropolitan League, formerly known as the YMHA League, evolved during the 1920s.  The original YMHA Athletic League had member institutions in Westchester (Mt. Vernon and Yonkers), Brooklyn, and New Jersey (Bayonne and Perth Amboy).  Re-named the Metropolitan League to represent non-YMHA members such as the Educational Alliance, the league’s expansion in the 1920s reflected the changing demographic patterns of New York Jews.  Economic prosperity allowed Jews to leave the lower East Side, and by 1925, only 15% of New York Jews remained in the immigrant neighborhood.[1]  The migration to the Bronx and Brooklyn made communal contact among Jews more difficult.  Jewish centers attempted to fill the void caused by the dispersal.  By the mid-1920s, sport served as the “principal means of establishing cordial relations between the members of the YMHA’s in the Metropolitan district.”  In 1925, the Metropolitan League existed as “solely an athletic group,” although officials hoped to “enlarge the scope of activity…to include debates, oratorical and music contests, etc.”  That same year, the league issued a report that asked the Jewish Welfare Board (JWB), a national organization that oversaw YMHA’s and JCC’s, to help stimulate “athletic competition on a larger scale.”[2]

In the mid-1920s, the league formed an Athletic Committee to control member behavior, standardize rules and regulations, and encourage league competition by awarding cups and trophies.  Minutes of the league’s various committees reveal an inordinate amount of time spent ruling on the validity of team protests, the suspension and reinstatement of players, the standardization of rules, referees decisions, and decisions regarding awards, trophies, and other minutia.[3]  The Metropolitan League also confronted gambling, which it banned at all events:

No man who has been found guilty of placing or attempting to place a bet or acted as an agent for others in betting on athletic contests in the Metropolitan League shall be eligible to represent a constituent organization in any League activity one year from the date of the occurrence of the act.  The Board of Directors of the organization of which he is a member is to be notified and requested to take similar action.[4]

The wording of the ban indicated the familiarity of such activity within YMHA sport and the mention of ‘agents’ meant players themselves may have gambled.  Jewish institutions outside of New York also confronted gambling.  A reader’s letter in the Baltimore Jewish Times commented that “open gambling is being conducted by Jewish young men.”  During YMHA games in the Baltimore Basketball League, “they flash their money in the open and call aloud for bettors.”  The Times’ columnist stated the gamblers “leave a bad taste in the mouth of the respectable Jewish young men.”[5]  Officials became concerned that incidents of gambling reflected poorly on the larger community.  They also remained concerned about professionalism at Jewish centers and sought to restrain the capitalistic behavior of their basketball champions.

During the early and mid-1920s, Metropolitan League officials had frequent discussions regarding the professional status of individual players.  The league’s Athletic Committee declared: “No man who has ever competed as a professional shall be eligible to play in this League.”  The committee generally gave Centers the benefit of the doubt regarding their ignorance of a players’ professional standing.  The sheer volume of incidents indicated, however, that institutional control and supervision was often lacking.  As a result, the Athletic Committee also “went on record disapproving any YMHA giving out free athletic membership as an inducement to enroll athletes.”[6]

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[1] Beth S. Wenger, New York Jews and the Great Depression: Uncertain Promise (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996), 83.

[2] “1925 – Its History, Aims, and Plans,” folder, 1922-26, Metropolitan League Records, Young Men’s Hebrew Association, 92^nd Street Y Archives, New York. Samuel Leff to Jack Nadel, April 29, 1925, Correspondence Files,  Metropolitan League, Young Men’s Hebrew Association, 92^nd Street Y Archives, New York.  Metropolitan League, “Metropolitan League of YMHAs to Extend Activities,” press release, May 11, 1925.

[3] For minutes of the Athletic Committee, Presidents Committee, Administrative Council, and Physical Directors Society, see Metropolitan League records, 92^nd Street Y Archives, New York at the 92^nd Street YMHA archives.

[4] Report on Minimum Standards of Health Education Recommended by the Metropolitan League, undated, Metropolitan League records, Young Men’s Hebrew Association, 92^nd Street Y Archives, New York.

[5] “Thru Sportdom,” Baltimore Jewish Times, December 17, 1926.

[6] Report on Minimum Standards of Health Education Recommended by the Metropolitan League, no date, Metropolitan League records, 92^nd Street Y Archives, New York.  A similar document titled “Athletic Committee Rules” was found in a miscellaneous folder titled ‘1922-26,’ Athletic Committee records, Young Men’s Hebrew Association, 92^nd Street Y Archives, New York. Minutes of the Athletic Committee, September 22, 1924, Metropolitan League records, 92^nd Street Y Archives, New York. Minutes of the Athletic Committee are located in the Metropolitan League records, 92^nd Street Y Archives, New York. Though not complete, the minutes provide a good amount of detail regarding the internal workings of the league.  For examples of rulings on the professional status of players, see January 9, 1923.  In these minutes, the Committee ruled on establishing a reinstatement policy for professionals.