CCNY beats Yale!, by Arieh Sclar

In the early years of the twentieth century, basketball thrived at small colleges.  For instance, one historian found that Oberlin College, located in Ohio, did not have the resources to build a ‘big-time’ football program, so it offered basketball as a way to provide athletic opportunities to students, attract loyalty and funds from alumni and fans, and build institutional prestige.[1]  For similar reasons, New York City colleges such as New York University (NYU), and the City College of New York (CCNY) established basketball programs in the mid-1900s.  Along with Columbia University, which focused on basketball after de-emphasizing football, these schools expanded the athletic opportunities of Jewish students.  Jews from the lower East Side competed for these schools as Samuel Melitzer starred at Columbia and Joe Girsdansky played for NYU.  CCNY’s vast Jewish student population and high number of Jewish players, however, led the school to symbolize Jewish athletic achievement in college basketball.[2] 

During the 1900s, Jewish players helped turn CCNY into an early basketball power.  The tuition-free CCNY primarily served a Jewish population and Jewish players from the University Settlement such as Barney Sedran, Ira Streusand, and Harry Brill led CCNY to a record of 9-2 in 1908.  During the 1909 season, Jews made up the entire team and served as manager, assistant manager, and coach.  The team finished 8-3 and its competitive success drew the notice of the New York press and Spalding guides.[3]  More importantly, a ‘Jewish’ team in college sports drew the attention of Jewish newspapers.  In December 1908, at the beginning of the basketball season, the American Hebrew claimed CCNY’s victories over Princeton and Yale, “stamps them as the premier college five.”[4]  Yet, even as CCNY became a prominent program due to its Jewish players, the school experienced problems associated with the basketball program.

In November 1907, the student newspaper The Campus had exclaimed that basketball could “advertise” the school “to the public outside of New York City.”  The paper equated the fame of Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, known as the “Big Three,” to their prestige in the athletic world, and stated, “there can certainly be no harm in athletics flourishing in any college.”  Commentators had been denouncing the commercial and competitive pressures of ‘big time’ college sport since the 1890s, and The Campus ignored the recent ‘crisis’ of college football caused by brutal and violent play.  Instead, the newspaper claimed, “athletics have not been detrimental to the growth of any institution or impaired their high standard.”[5]

The Campus wanted basketball to be a positive force at the college.  The editor criticized students in December 1907 for “hissing” at opponents, which “violated the first laws of hospitality.”  The paper condemned similar behavior during a 33-23 loss to Columbia, but had little to say about CCNY’s overwhelming victory over Adelphi the following week by a score of 95-11.  Later that season, an editorial again asked fans to “be manly and display some courtesy toward visitors.”[6]  Controlling crowds upwards of 1,500 proved difficult.  So did attempts to limit basketball’s impact on other campus activities.  In March 1908, The Campus stated that athletics “are not everything.  Last Friday evening, with the game as a counterattraction, not a single one of the literary societies could muster a quorum and conditions very much the same as this have been the rules since the opening of the basketball season.”[7] 

As much as the basketball team’s success drew students away from other campus activities, a lack of success hurt the basketball program.  In 1910, CCNY remained a predominantly Jewish team, although without Sedran, Streusand or Brill.  The basketball team lost early and often, including to Navy, whose “coach told our [coach] Mr. Palmer that his team learned how to play the game from us.”  Such praise meant little to the students who, during the season, became “indifferent and failed to support the team.”  The lack of attendance proved financially costly because the school’s Athletic Association had provided “our basket-ball men with the best outfits that money could purchase.”  As a result, the team barely made a profit since “it was never dreamt that our student body could be so devoid of any semblance of college pride as to be interested in a team only so long as it is always the victor.”[8]

CCNY’s basketball fortunes returned in 1911 and students looked to avenge the previous season’s loss to Yale.  As the date of the rematch drew close, The Campus appealed for the students to organize more cheers in order to “help the players.”  It became important to beat Yale in order to “maintain the reputation which we have built up by the hardest kind of work.”[9]  CCNY’s 20-15 victory merited a three-page article in The Campus, which exclaimed: “the high standards of our curriculum could not have done, in years, what the glorious triumph of the varsity basketball team over Yale accomplished in one short evening.”[10]

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[1] Horger, “Play By The Rules,” 210-215.  ‘Big-time’ programs existed as an abstraction between the absolutes of professional and amateur sport.  ‘Student-athletes’ received no pay, but universities often earned large amounts of revenue from competitions.  On the history of college basketball, see Neil D. Isaacs, All The Moves: A History of College Basketball (New York: Harper and Row, 1984); Peter C. Bjarkman, Hoopla: A Century of College Basketball (Indianapolis: Masters Press, 1996).  On college sport, see Smith, Sports and Freedom.

[2] On early college basketball, see Isaacs, All The Moves, 39-45.  Columbia abolished football in the early 1900s and expanded the basketball program to compete with professional, non-college, and amateur teams.  New York provided the infrastructure and acceptance for Columbia basketball to thrive in the 1900s and 1910s as it dominated the Ivy League. 

[3] For information on the CCNY team, see Basketball, CCNY Microcosm, 1909.  The New York Times provided regular coverage of CCNY games during the late 1900s, although with only brief commentary on the game.  On CCNY in Spalding, see the guides in 1906, 1908, and 1909.

[4] “The Jewish Athlete,” American Hebrew, December 18, 1908.

[5] Editorial, The Campus, November 25, 1907. In 1907, CCNY moved from 23^rd Street to 137^th Street (its present location).  The new campus included expanded facilities, including a gymnasium.  That same year, the college hired Leonard Palmer as a “tutor in the department of Physical Instruction and Training at a salary of $600 per annum.”  In October, Palmer’s salary was increased to $800.  See Proceedings of the Board of Trustees of the College of the City of New York, February 25, 1907 and October 21, 1907.  On the football crisis of 1905, see Smith, Sports and Freedom, 191-208; Oriard, Reading Football, 164-165, 170-171. 

[6] Condemnation of fan behavior as well as Adelphi score in Editorial, The Campus, December 11, 1907.  Columbia score found in The Campus, December 4, 1907.  The second condemnation found in The Campus, January 8, 1908.

[7] Editorial, The Campus, March 18, 1908.  The same issue contained an article entitled “Basketball Statement,” which illustrated the team had produced net revenue of $440.14 for the season.  On the financial considerations involving basketball at CCNY in the 1900s and 1910s, see reports in the CCNY Microcosm: Official Annual of the College.

[8] “Basketball,” The Campus, February 9, 1910; “Athletics: The Last Straw,” The Campus, February 23, 1910.

[9] “Athletics: Soon,” The Campus, December 7, 1910.

[10] “Our Recent Victory,” The Campus, December 21, 1910. 

CCNY makes history in 1950, by Ari Sclar

In 1950, the CCNY team included a class of sophomores that sportswriters considered the best recruiting class in school history.  Jewish starters, 6’3” sophomore guard Al ‘Fats’ Roth, 6’6” sophomore center Ed Roman, and 6’4” senior forward Irwin Dambrot played alongside two African-American starters, sophomores 6’3” guard Floyd Layne and 6’4” forward Ed Warner.  Basketball historian Neil Isaacs described the team as “taller than a typical Holman squad and more versatile.”  The team played well early in the year, rose to a No. 7 ranking in the Associated Press (AP) poll, and finished the season with a record of 17-5.  The team went undefeated against Metropolitan opponents and earned an invitation to the NIT.[1]  Many believed the team would again lose in the first round.  Instead, over an 18 day span, CCNY achieved one of the greatest feats in college basketball history.

On March 12, 1950, CCNY defeated San Francisco, the twelfth ranked team in the country, in the first round of the NIT.  The team then triumphed over the two-time defending NCAA champion, No. 3 Kentucky by a score of 89-50.  CCNY defeated No. 6 Duquesne in the semifinals before beating No. 1 Bradley in the championship game.  CCNY then played in the NCAA tournament, which began four days after the NIT final.  CCNY proceeded to defeat No. 2 Ohio State and No. 5 North Carolina State to set up a rematch with Bradley in the final.  The game began with Holman absent due to a 103 degree temperature and became a thrilling affair that came down to the final seconds.  With a one point lead, CCNY’s ‘super sub’ Norm Mager stole the ball from Bradley’s star Gene Melchiorre and scored a final basket to complete CCNY’s 71-68 victory.[2]

CCNY became the only school in basketball history to win both the NIT and NCAA tournaments in the same season, considered the ‘Grand Slam.’  After winning both tournaments, the school cancelled classes and parades honored the team.  Sport magazine named Holman its “Man of the Year.”  According to historian Edward Shapiro, Holman also “received invitations to speak at Congregation Rodeph Shalom and the Ramaz School, an Orthodox day school” in Manhattan.  New York newspapers hailed the coach and the players, who the New York Herald Tribune called “our boys.”  When asked about his players’ “exceptional gifts,” however, Holman downplayed their talent and “insisted that the 14 players – all of them products of a teeming city’s public schools – were essentially ‘just a group of intelligent boys in excellent physical condition.’”[3]

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[1] Isaacs, All the Moves, 95.

[2] On the CCNY championships, see Isaacs, All the Moves, 97-100; Bjarkman, Hoopla, 63-68; Stanley Cohen, The Game They Played (New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1977).  Many believed Mechiorre was fouled, which was not called because the game was held in New York City.

[3] See Edward Shapiro, “The Shame of the City: CCNY Basketball, 1950-51,” in Kugelmass, Jews, Sports, and the Rites of Citizenship,  181-183. “Basketball: Bradley Weardown,” Newsweek, April 10, 1950.  Levine, Ellis Island to Ebbet’s Field, 78-81.  In the early twentieth century, it became common to hail the coaches for their ability to turn players, including those not considered athletics, into winning teams.  See Overman, The Influence of the Protestant Ethic on Sport and Recreation, 166-169.

'The New York Massacre,' by Ari Sclar

Despite the reemergence of Holman’s CCNY teams in 1946 and 1947, New York basketball, and its connection to Jewish basketball, seemed to have suffered in the post-war era.  The New York and Jewish presence in the NIT declined during and immediately following the war.  Three New York City teams played in the NIT in 1943 and two teams played in 1947, but only one city school appeared in 1944, 1945, 1946, and 1948.  The declining number of schools inevitably impacted the success of New York and Jewish basketball.  Between 1945-1948, no New York school won the NIT, and only one school, NYU in 1948, even reached the championship game.[1]  In 1949, the NIT expanded its field to 12 teams in order to include more city schools.  The result brought the entire culture of New York and Jewish basketball into question.

In 1949, four New York teams received invitations to the NIT because tournament officials did not want to decide between them for the eighth, and final, spot.  New York sportswriters had argued prior to the tournament that “New York rated no representative in the tourney,” and the result seemed to prove that “none of the local quintets justified its presence on the court.”  All four New York teams, CCNY, NYU, St. John’s, and Manhattan, lost in the first round, which led the New York Times to state that, “some fans are calling it the ‘New York Massacre.’”[2]  The ‘massacre’ led commentators to conclude that New York basketball had fallen to previously unseen depths.  Louis Effrat of the New York Times blamed a peculiarity of New York basketball for local schools’ failure.  The losses “proved that what New York needs, possibly even more than a good ten-cent cigar, are good big men on its college quintets.  Whereas, invariably, visiting teams move in with elongated talent, the locals have to play with comparatively small athletes.”[3]

Much like the condemnation of the ‘Metropolitan player’ after the Stanford-LIU game in 1936, negative values were attached to the New York player.  The belief that the ‘Metropolitan’ player could not compete with taller, more athletic players had been proven unequivocally false during the late 1930s and 1940s.  The ‘massacre’ appeared to concretely illustrate that the city’s short, speedy player no longer had a place in college basketball.  Effrat did not explicitly connect the ‘small’ New York player to the ‘Jew,’ but New York basketball had long been associated with Jewish basketball and Effrat’s ‘small’ athletes conformed to the continued perception of Jewish players.  Yet, the following season, CCNY’s recovered from the ‘massacre’ in a manner which indicated that even Nat Holman had determined the basketball Jew could no longer succeed.  As Holman put together the greatest team in school history, he did so with players that bore little physical resemblance to the traditional CCNY player. 

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[1] Douchant, Inside College Basketball.

[2] “Afternoon, Night Twin Bills Today on Invitation Court Tourney Slate,” New York Times, March 14, 1949.

[3] Louis Effrat, “Loyola Conquers City College Five in Garden 62 to 47,” New York Times, March 13, 1949.

Anti-Semitism at the Garden, by Ari Sclar

Despite the disappointment of the 1946 season, CCNY had greater success in 1947.  That year, Holman led the team to a regular season record of 15-4, including a 91-60 victory over NYU.  CCNY then defeated Syracuse to qualify for the NCAA tournament, where it finished in fourth-place.  CCNY included Holman’s first African-American players, Sonny Jameson and Joe Galiber, both of whom would serve as captains in future seasons.  The team, which remained predominantly Jewish with four starters and five reserves, became involved in an incident at the Garden that reflected the intensity of college basketball.  The incident’s aftermath indicated American Jews’ growing acceptance in American society and their continued anxiety regarding the permanence of this acceptance.

On December 27, 1946, CCNY played the University of Wyoming at the Garden.  A close game until the final minutes when CCNY pulled away, the “thrill packed struggle” almost turned into “bedlam” as a result of “two near-fights, one on the court involving the players and the other on the rival benches.”  The New York Times reported that “when the players tangled on the floor, everyone knew what it was about – a lot of tense athletes, pushing each around in the heat of battle.”  In contrast, “no one could imagine what was behind the verbal conflict – with threatening gestures – that went on on the benches.”

During the game, CCNY’s Nat Holman advanced toward Wyoming coach Everett Shelton twice.  Holman then refused to shake Shelton’s hand at the end, which made it “apparent that something was radically wrong.”  After the game, Holman explained in an interview that, “I heard Shelton uttering derogatory remarks and took exception.  In fact, I threatened to punch him if he repeated them.”[1]  Newsweek quoted Shelton as stating: “those New York Jews are getting away with everything.”  Three days after the game, Shelton apologized, although he “denied that his words…were anti-Semitic.”  He explained: “I am very sorry that my remarks caused such a disturbance…what I said about Jews had nothing to do with religion or anything else.  The word ‘Jew’ was merely descriptive.  I did not swear.  In our section of the country, when we play against Indians we call them Indians and we call Swedes Swedes.”[2]

The incident triggered an outpouring of anti-Semitic letters sent to Holman.  ‘Anonymous’ exclaimed that Christians “hate you and your hooked-nose foreigners.”  A letter from Dallas differentiated “we Americans” from the “Jew” and stated that “Hitlers” will continue “springing up all over the world unless the jew changes himself…it is not the people that need changing as much as it is the jew.”  Another letter broached the stereotype of the weak Jew.  “You people should learn to punch and not squeak and everyone would give you more credit. That is the real American way.”  Finally, a self-proclaimed Irishman declared that when “we Irish” were attacked, “we simply laugh the jackass down.”  Jews needed to learn this skill, since, “the jockeying in sports is part of the game and this incident at the Garden was much akin to such doings.”[3]

Holman also received supportive letters from both Jews and non-Jews.  The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) hoped Shelton would provide a sincere apology because he “was guilty of an unsportsmanlike, an un-American and a dangerous act.” [4]  The CCNY faculty athletic committee passed a resolution that the school would no longer schedule games “against teams coached by Shelton.”  Milton Gross, the former vice president of the Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association, declared that “Shelton had forfeited his right to coach a basketball team.” [5]  Other individuals and organizations condemned Shelton’s remarks and sent letters of support to Holman.  The Labor Sports Federation, the Jewish Postal Workers Welfare League, National Negro Congress, and the American Labor Party all praised Holman for his actions.  Some of Holman’s former players also expressed pride in his actions as “a long step in striking against racial and religious intolerance which unfortunately prevails in our institutions of higher learning today.”[6]  The incident and response, from Holman’s supporters and opponents, reflected the experiences of American Jews in the 1940s.

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[1] “City College Tops Wyoming Quintet in Garden, 57 to 48,” New York Times, December 28, 1946.

[2] “Basketball Coach Makes An Apology,” New York Times, December 31, 1946; “Basketball: Heated Words,” Newsweek, January 6, 1947.  One report found in the Nat Holman archives indicated that Shelton actually stated that, “those New York Jews and Niggers are getting away with everything.”  However, the press focused on Shelton’s use of the word ‘Jew’ and no other correspondence or report confirmed this account.

[3] Many of the correspondence held in the CCNY Archives contained vicious attacks on Holman personally and American Jews in general.  See Anonymous to Nat Holman, January 2, 1947; W.B. Johnson to Nat Holman, undated; George Biltman to Nat Holman, January 6, 1947; John J. Hurley to Nat Holman (and Dan Parker of the New York Daily Mirror), January 3, 1947. All letters in the Nat Holman Papers, Box 2, Holman, Nat. Correspondence. Wyoming Game. 1946. CCNY Archives, New York.

[4] Meier Steinbrink to Harry Wright, December 31, 1946, Nat Holman Papers, Box 2, Holman, Nat. Correspondence. Wyoming Game. 1946. CCNY Archives, New York.

[5] “Basketball Coach Makes An Apology,” New York Times, December 31, 1946.

[6] See Leon Slofrock to Nat Holman, December 30, 1946; Louis Brumberg to Nat Holman, December 30, 1946; Max Yergen to Nat Holman, December 30, 1946; Samuel Kaplan to Nat Holman, December 30, 1946. All letters in Nat Holman Papers, Box 2, Holman, Nat. Correspondence. Wyoming Game. 1946. CCNY Archives, New York. Quote from player Sam Liss to Nat Holman, January 7, 1947.

CCNY locked out from 1946 tournaments

In 1946, CCNY returned to their previous level of success and entered its final regular season game with a record of 13-4.  Few sportswriters or fans gave CCNY a chance against the No. 1 ranked NYU team, which had a record of 18-1 and had won 13 consecutive games.  The build-up to the game reminded many writers of the 1934 CCNY-NYU game and “fans started camping out in front of the ticket booths” four hours before tickets went on sale at 9:00am.  The ticket demand led to nine arrests for “ticket speculation” and the temporary suspension of ticket sales at 9:20am because the “line had become so long and so out of hand.”  Eventually, “ten mounted policemen and a detail of foot police restored order.”  By 3pm, “16,000 tickets” had been sold.[1]

In a surprising upset, CCNY defeated NYU by a score of 49-44 and set off a wave of celebration.  According to the New York Times, “within fifteen minutes after the game ended, a band of about 1,000 C.C.N.Y. rooters massed near the Garden” and paraded through the streets with “a ‘casket’ painted in black and covered with NYU pennants and lettering.”  When the “marchers” reached Broadway, they “started a huge snake dance which caused a traffic tie-up and created an uproar as motorists sounded their horns in an effort to break through.”  The parade entered Times Square and “then headed for the Hudson [River] to dispose of the casket.”[2]

The intense celebration reflected the belief among CCNY students and fans that the victory would result in an invitation to the NIT.  Considering the school’s absence from post-season tournaments since 1942, many hoped this would revitalize the basketball program.  Yet, the day after CCNY’s victory, the NIT announced that Rhode Island State and not City College would be the tournament’s final entrant.  Students, furious with the decision, “assailed the tournament committee for what they termed publicity ‘exploitation’ in creating the impression that City would receive a berth if it defeated N.Y.U.”[3]  Students condemned Garden promoters and NIT officials for using the promise of a tournament berth to increase fan interest, and thus profit, in the CCNY-NYU contest.  Letters of protest to Ned Irish stated that the tournament committee should have named Rhode Island State before the game.  The ticket demand for the game, the celebration following the CCNY victory, and the angry response to the team’s exclusion from the tournament indicated the popularity of CCNY within New York basketball and the intense passions involved in college basketball at Madison Square Garden.

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[1] “Basketball Fans Stage Ticket Rush.” New York Times, March 6, 1946.

[2] “Times Square Parade Marks C.C.N.Y. Victory,” New York Times, March 8, 1946.

[3] “C.C.N.Y. Protests Choice of R.I. State,” New York Times, March 9, 1946.

CCNY, representing 'Jewish' basketball, by Ari Sclar

During the 1946 season, Jewish players had considerable success in New York college basketball.  Jews made up six of the top eight scorers in the Metropolitan district, and seven of the ten players named All-Metropolitan.  They also remained well represented at the predominantly ‘Jewish’ schools of CCNY, NYU, LIU, and St. John’s, although not as extensively as the previous decade.  CCNY and NYU each had four Jewish starters at different times during the season, St. John’s had three starters, and LIU had two Jewish starters as well as 5’8” Jackie Goldsmith, who came off the bench to lead the Metropolitan district in scoring.[1]  These teams continued to headline the double-headers at Madison Square Garden and receive attention from the national press.  Yet, CCNY, the school that continued to represent Jewish basketball in the minds of American Jews, had minimal success as the basketball culture changed between 1938 and 1945.

In the 1930s, Nat Holman served as the ‘face’ of both New York and Jewish basketball.  His professional experience led the mainstream press to praise his ‘scientific’ coaching and his authorship of books such as Scientific Basketball (1922) and Winning Basketball (1932) solidified his reputation as a basketball expert and led to commercial and promotional opportunities.  As early as 1936, he had a ten-minute radio program on WNYC and in 1934, Time explained his unique place in college basketball: “in his spare time, he studies sculpture.”[2]  Historian Peter Levine illustrated that the Jewish press often portrayed Holman as a link between the immigrant past and the native-born future.  He served as the sole representative of basketball in the 1938-39 edition of Who’s Who in American Jewry.[3]

Holman could not have represented Jewish basketball by himself.  The preponderance of Jews on CCNY team, which Levine estimated at 83% of all players during Holman’s tenure, meant the school continued to represent the broader success of Jewish basketball.  In addition, CCNY’s reputation for intellectual debate, radical thought, and tough academic admissions encouraged the general belief that Holman could not recruit star players.[4]  Fans believed Holman’s teams “played five-man basketball,” since “talent receives no special consideration” at the school.  In fact, “it is miraculous that out of the paucity of material, Holman could weld a unit able to compete at all in intercollegiate basketball.”[5]  The perception of Holman’s teams reinforced the Progressive idea that teamwork and intelligence could overcome physical ability.  Although no successful sport program existed without talent, press reports concentrated on Holman’s ability to “mold” individuals into a competitive team since “outstanding individual stars are missing, and perhaps Holman would have it that way.  His contention is that basketball is essentially a team game.”[6]

In the early years of the national tournaments, Holman refused to acquiesce to the changing structure of college basketball.  Convinced that basketball remained a “small man’s game,” Holman continued to produce teams that represented this ideology.  Prior to the 1938-39 season, analysts declared that CCNY would have a poor season because the team, “sets an all-time high for low stature, even at City College, where a six-footer is as rare.”  In December 1938, CCNY had a surprising victory over the “tall firs” of Oregon, the eventual NCAA champion that year, which the New York press celebrated as “a great start in the New York vs. Rest of the World rivalry.”  This win only provided brief success as the team struggled during the rest of the season and then finished with a record of 8-8 in 1939-1940.  CCNY earned a spot in the NIT the next two seasons, finishing in third place in 1941, but the school had a losing record in 1943 and did not play in either postseason tournament between 1943 and 1946.[7]

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[1] On scoring, see “Individual Scoring,” New York Times, March 11, 1946.  Also see “All-Met,” New York Times, March 10, 1946.

[2] On Holman’s commercial activities, see his file at the Edward and Gena Hickox Library at the Basketball Hall of Fame, Springfield, MA. Also see the Nat Holman Papers, the City College of New York Archives, New York; “Hakoah Meets Bruins Tonight in Cage Tussle,” Chicago Tribune, December 26, 1928.  “Basketball: Mid-season Report,” Time, February 19, 1934.

[3] Levine, Ellis Island to Ebbets Field, 56-59. Nat Holman in John Simons, ed., Who’s Who in American Jewry: A Biograhical Dictionary of Living Jews of the United States and Canada (New York: National News Association Inc., 1939).  See Nat Holman, Scientific Basketball (New York: Incra Pub. Co., 1922); Nat Holman, Winning Basketball (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1932); Nat Holman, Holman on Basketball (New York: Crown Publishers, 1950). 

[4] According to historian Sherry Gorelick, less than one percent of the children of Jewish immigrants reached college and even fewer graduated in the first decade of the twentieth century.  Even the celebrated and difficult entrance requirements into City College that caused many people to call CCNY the “Harvard of the Proletariat” only took effect in the late 1930s and before that decade, graduating classes generally numbered in the hundreds.  See Shirley Gorelick, City College and the Jewish Poor: Education in New York, 1880-1924 (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1981), 3. Also see Steinberg, The Ethnic Myth, 128-138.  Joel Perlmann explained that in 1908, well below five percent of the Russian Jewish children in the city graduated from high school.  See Joel Perlmann, Ethnic Differences: Schooling and Social Structure among the Irish, Italians, Jews, and Blacks in an American City, 1880-1935 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1988), 123.

[5] “Readers’ Right,” New York Post, March 12, 1936.

[6] “Holman Stresses Form at CCNY,” New York Post, December 2, 1931.

[7] Quote on ‘small man’s game’ and ‘low stature,’ from “Pessimists Ruled Out as Holman’s Beavers Prepare for Opener,” New York Evening Post, December 1, 1938; “Fury and Finesse Lead to Same Results when Beavers and Redmen Take to Court,” New York Evening Post, December 19, 1938. In the final game of the 1939 season, CCNY defeated previously undefeated (and No. 1) NYU team to finish 8-8.  CCNY also had three straight losing seasons in the mid-1940s.

CCNY v. NYU, March 1934 - by Ari Sclar

The CCNY-NYU game in March 1934 served as the spark that led to college basketball’s emergence into the national spotlight.  The extensive media attention during the season peaked for this final game.  The pre-game coverage generally focused on the strengths and weakness of the teams, players, and coaches.  Sportswriters excitedly discussed the matchup, and used increasingly more elaborate imagery and symbolism in anticipation of a mythic contest.  Both teams entered the contest undefeated and the New York Times stated that the twentieth annual meeting between the two schools had “never before … aroused such widespread interest.”[1]

One central discussion involved speculation whether Holman would play his All-American center, Moe Goldman.  In the days leading up the CCNY-NYU game, Goldman had publicly indicated his intention to join the Philadelphia Sphas immediately following the NYU game.[2]  A conflict emerged between Holman and Goldman, although it did not involve the player’s decision to turn professional.  Rather, Goldman’s “desultory attitude” became the problem as he placed his own aspirations before the team.  Holman hoped a CCNY victory would lead to a “post-season” game against Notre Dame, considered the best team in the Midwest.  Goldman’s decision to turn professional would make him ineligible for a contest many believed would crown a ‘national’ champion.[3]  Writers firmly backed Holman and blamed Goldman for a lack of focus.  In the end, Goldman played, which led the New York Post to state: “In the normal course of events, Holman undoubtedly would keep Goldman on the bench, but this is no normal situation.”[4]

The 1934 CCNY-NYU game involved competitive pressures previously unseen in New York college basketball.  Prior to the season, Holman had won eighty percent of his games at CCNY and had almost complete authority and influence over the basketball program.  The revenue and publicity connected to a possible CCNY-Notre Dame game, however, prevented him from banishing his star player.  NYU ended discussions of a ‘national’ championship by beating CCNY 24-18.  Goldman played, but NYU’s Irwin ‘King Kong’ Klein and Joe Lefft held him to only three points.[5]

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[1] “Unbeaten City College and NYU Fives Clash Tonight in 20^th Annual Game,” New York Times, March 3, 1934.

[2] On Goldman’s post-CCNY career, see Levine, Ellis Island to Ebbets Field, 66-68.

[3] “Coach May Bench Captain Goldman for NYU Game,” New York Times, March 1, 1934. Goldman was named Converse second team All-America.  He first skipped practice and then Holman barred him from practice.

[4] “Lavender Choice as Smarter Five; Goldman to Play,” New York Evening Post, March 3, 1934. 

[5] “NYU Five Stages Lat Spurt to Halt City College,” New York Times, March 4, 1934; “NYU Quintet May Play Irish,” New York Evening Post, March 4, 1934.  Both NYU and CCNY played Jewish clubs after their game.  In late March 1934, NYU played against the New Haven YMHA and helped raise $160 for the Hebrew Institute, the Home of Jewish Children, the Jewish Home for the Aged, and the YM-YWHA camp. See “Final Basketball Game – Benefit Performance,” Community News, March 30, 1934. CCNY played against the Brooklyn Dux.  See Levine, Ellis Island to Ebbet’s Field, 33-34. Beginning in 1934-35, Holman established a policy of preseason news releases that were provided to all New York area newspapers.  Other city schools followed his lead.  See Applin, “From Muscular Christianity to the Marketplace,” 170.

The Rise of LIU - Ari Sclar

Bolstered by CCNY’s success, New York sportswriters increased their boosterism in 1934 and presented New York as “the college basketball center of the East.”  Other schools contributed to notions of New York superiority.  St. John’s remained an excellent program after the 1931 scandal and NYU defeated Yale, Temple, and St. John’s over a five day span in February 1934.  Stanley Frank declared that NYU’s 47-30 “whaling” of St. John’s was “the most impressive display of power shown this year.”[1]  The strength of CCNY, NYU, and other city schools during the 1934 season led sportswriters to discuss the possible formation of a Metropolitan League, made up of the ‘Big Six.’  If Columbia could not leave the Ivy League, sportswriters begrudgingly decided that it would be replaced by Long Island University (LIU), which had only started its basketball program in the late 1920s.[2]

Considered “small-time” in the early 1930s, LIU found itself denigrated by other New York schools.  Unlike the city’s top programs, this latecomer to New York basketball allowed freshmen to play and had not been included in the first charity triple-header at the Garden.  The program slowly increased its prestige after Claire Bee became the head coach and recruited top high school players from New York.  Bee’s acumen at recruiting had brought some of the best Jewish players to LIU, which became the fourth ‘Jewish’ basketball school in New York, joining NYU, CCNY, and St. John’s.  Yet, its invitation to play in the 1933 charity ‘carnival’ did not mean that sportswriters or fans considered LIU to be in the class of NYU or CCNY.  In 1934, the school announced it would no longer allow freshmen to play on the varsity, but sportswriters belittled LIU’s 20-game winning streak against “second-class competition.”  Ironically, a 33-28 loss to St. John’s provided the school legitimacy as “a new basketball power.”[3]

The 1934 LIU-St. John’s game illustrated the intense passion that basketball could produce.  Thirteen hundred spectators “formed the most rabidly partisan gathering of the campaign,” and watched a “tense, thrilling battle that was worthy of its setting.”  During the game, “the players kept remarkable control of themselves until just 35 seconds before the final gun” when St. John’s Rip Kaplinsky slammed into LIU’s Bill Schwartz.  “Fists started to fly and in an instant one end of the court was a mass of fighting players.”  Eventually, “the constabulary arrived in time to stop a few zealous spectators from throwing sucker punches in the players’ private fight.”[4]   

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[1] Stanley Frank, “Court Chatter,” New York Evening Post, February 19, 1934.

[2] Claire Hare, “How About It?” New York Evening Post, January 20, 1934.

[3] “LIU Joins Court Leaders,” New York Evening Post, February 15, 1934.

[4] “St. John’s Topples LIU Five, 33-28,” New York Times, February 15, 1934.