The City Game: Endnotes

Preface

City College Beavers: For many years the City College basketball team had no name at all, and was referred to simply as the “Lavender” (a nod to the school color), or sometimes the “St. Nicks,” a reference to St. Nicholas Terrace, the avenue that abuts the western edge of the campus. In 1934 City College’s Student Life department initiated a contest to choose a team mascot, and the beaver was selected as “a symbol of intelligence, industry, and earnest endeavor.” Beavers are also native to New York City; two even appear on the municipal flag. Bernie Friedman and Eli Glassman, “Benny the Beaver’s Background Is Bared,” The Ticker, September 27, 1949; Alex Gelfand, “From Ichthyosaurus to Today’s Bearcat,” Baruch College Alumni Magazine, November 2011.

Nearly constant movement: City College was by no means the only team to feature a movement-based offense, or to employ specific aspects of it. But no team more strongly emphasized the five-man weave, or was less reliant on set plays, than CCNY.

“Spontaneous play”: See Holman on Basketball, 117-122. Though Nat Holman is credited as the author, the book was actually written by Bobby Sand.

“Every play in basketball”: Ibid., 288.

Worked mostly as laborers: Norm Mager’s father was a window washer. Eddie Roman’s father was a house painter. Al Roth’s father drove a seltzer truck. Herb Cohen’s father was a blacksmith.

“The way college basketball draws”: Padwe, 48.

Unlisted phone numbers: See the discussion in Cohen, 6-7.

Chapter 1

“Nature herself”: Willauer, 163.

The most heavily discolored ones: Rudy, 257.

“Violent and disturbing”: Schuyler, 175.

“The schist has aged”: Federal Writers’ Project, WPA Guide, 295.

“Will hear them talking”: Frank, “College,” 35.

Raymond the Bagel Man: Raymond can be seen on YouTube, in a City College student film called The Balloon and Five Pence.

“Liberally sprinkled”: Robert Gurland interview, New York City, October 8, 2014.

“Speech that is careless”: The City College Bulletin, College of Liberal Arts and Science, Fall and Spring Sessions, 1949-1950, 72.

Women were barred: Judith Cline and Vincent Harding, “School of Arts Yields; 300 Females Admitted,” The Campus, September 17, 1951.

Mathematical formulas: Fred Lipschitz phone interview, April 2, 2015.

“Probably no group”: Frank, “College,” 102.

When a City College student flunked out: Middlebrook, 608.

“May be a matter”: Ibid., 611.

“Unskilled laborers, on relief”: Frank, “College,” 102.

“Of all the institutions”: Irving Howe, World of Our Fathers (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1976), 281.

Founded in 1847: Traub, 9.

Seventy-five percent … Jewish: Howe, 281.

“The most militant student body”: William L. O’Neill, American High: The Years of Confidence, 1945-1960 (New York: Free Press, 1986), 38.

Ninety-eight square feet: “Drive, Drive, Drive!” Newsweek, December 4, 1950, 76.

“Pneumonia Gulch”: Leonard Kreuter phone interview, March 30, 2015.

“The all work and no play”: Schuyler, 179.

A vast amphitheater: For descriptions of Lewisohn Stadium, see Federal Writers’ Project, WPA Guide, 294; Frommer and Frommer, Manhattan, 85; Ritter, 85-87.

“On Sunday nights”: Nat Hentoff, Hear Me Talkin’ to Ya: The Story of Jazz by the Men Who Made It (New York: Rinehart, 1955), 336.

“Almost any good Nebraska high school team”: “LIFE Congratulates. . . C.C.N.Y. and Joins in ‘Allagaroo’ for Its Basketball Champs,” Life, April 10, 1950, 42.

Milton Luchan set up a tent: “Tenting Tonite on Campus,” The Campus, October 17, 1950; “Luchan Hall Razed,” The Campus, October 27, 1950.

“Our best sports”: Liben, 65.

Chapter 2

A nickel or a dime: Anderson and Millman, 21.

“He was more than just a star”: Ibid., 20.

Earning $6 a night: Ibid., 22.

Named All-City in four sports: Ibid.

720 wins against only 75 losses: Nat Holman Interview, September 30, 1978. American Jewish Committee Oral History Collection, Box 10, Nat Holman Papers, Cohen Archives, Morris Raphael Cohen Library, City College of New York.

“They have the greatest forward”: City College of New York 1950-1951 Basketball Guide, 29.

Fix his record player: Bruce Holman interview, Boca Raton, Florida, April 21, 2014.

“The Master was proud of you tonight”: Cohen, 115.

“Natural assumption of superiority”: Frank, “Basketball’s Nat Holman,” 19.

Bought at Saks Fifth Avenue: Alexander Holman interview, Englewood, New Jersey, June 5, 2014.

A broguish roll to the R’s: “Drive, Drive, Drive!” Newsweek, December 4, 1950, 77.

“Where did he get this phony accent?”: Harold Bauman interview, New York City, October 31, 2014.

“Noosty”: “He wasn’t known as Nat Holman then,” recalled a friend of his from the Lower East Side. “He was Noosty Holman, a kid with a dirty neck, but I’ll tell you, when he got a basketball in his hands there was no one as serious about the game.” Milton Gross, “Speaking Out,” New York Post, January 2, 1951.

Without being forearmed: Alexander Holman interview.

Jump shot had not yet been invented: No one can state with certainty when the first jump shot was attempted, but credit is generally given to Kenny Sailors, who played at the University of Wyoming in the early 1940s.

Abhorred careless play: “Man of the Year in Sport,” Sport, February 1951, 80.

“Had many a brush”: Ibid.

Offered Nat Holman $50 a month: Aamidor, 46.

“Right way”: Gerald Ehrlich, “And the Greatest of them All, Nat Holman,” 11. Box 5, Folder 1, Nat Holman Papers, Cohen Archives, Morris Raphael Cohen Library, City College of New York.

“Mighty Midgets”: “Harold ‘Bobby’ Sand,” City College Basketball Information 1949-1950, 11.

Shaving even before his bar mitzvah: Bobby Sand interview, Series VI, Box 16, Peter Levine Working Papers, MSS 362, Special Collection, MSU Libraries, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI.

Fluent in five and could read four more: Wendie Sand interview, Wilmington, Vermont, May 13, 2015.

Only a single City College basketball player: Bobby Sand interview; Maurice Silverstein, “Coach Sand Vital Link In Developing Potential CCNY Hoopster Stars,” The Ticker, November 22, 1949; Milton Gross, “Speaking Out,” New York Post, November 25, 1951.

Hired him to teach: Bobby Sand interview.

Moved in with her parents: Wendie Sand interview.

“I think it’s time”: Ron Nadell interview, Massapequa, New York, March 7, 2014.

“One of the few men here”: Tony Shub, “Sports Slants,” The Campus, May 20, 1947.

Yellow legal pad: Wendie Sand interview; Herb Cohen interview, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, April 22, 2014.

He’d move pits: Wendie Sand interview.

Task had fallen mainly to Bobby Sand: Buell Gallagher letter, May 28, 1954. “Basketball Folder I,” Records 1941-1952, Harry N. Wright Papers, Cohen Archives, Morris Raphael Cohen Library, City College of New York; Rayner Pike and Linda Valentine, “Sand to Challenge Ouster; Labels Himself ‘Scapegoat,” The Campus, November 21, 1952.

“When I have to take Bobby out”: Leonard Shecter, “Redmen: After Zawoluk?” New York Post, November 17, 1950.

“It’s more or less an established fact”: Dick Kaplan, “In the Press Box,” Observation Post, October 18, 1949.

“Concerned over Roman’s stamina”: Leonard Ansell, “City Five Sparkles with Sophs,” New York Sun, November 16, 1949.

Chapter 3

Raucous impromptu V-J parade: Ultan, 265.

Horse race … City College basketball game: Samtur and Jackson, 208.

Especially ones with the Marx Brothers: Tammy Cantatore phone interview, October 26, 2014; Ron Schechter phone interview, November 7, 2014.

Aide in the high school biology lab: 1948 Yearbook, William Howard Taft High School, Bronx, New York, 51.

“The biggest keister you ever saw”: Stan Isaacs, “The Grand Slam, A Grand Scandal,” Newsday, March 5, 1988.

Julius stood only about five-foot five: Leonard Ansell, “City College Whiz Kid,” New York World-Telegram and Sun, undated clipping.

“Genial giant”: Leonard Shecter, “On a Roman Holiday – He Practices,” New York Post, April 3, 1950.

A cumulative average of 87: “Rehabilitation,” Main Events, City College of New York, February 26, 1951.

Ranked 78th: Letter from Robert B. Brodie to Irving W. Halpern, Chief Probation Officer, Court of General Sessions, September 7, 1951. Provided to the author by Tammy Cantatore.

“An exemplary record”: Ibid.

“If Eddie has money”: Richard Roman interview.

“Some of us would steal”: Schechter interview.

A hallway of Taft High School: The story of Marty Force noticing Ed Roman in the school hallway is from Justin Kodner phone interview, May 5, 2015; Schechter interview; Leonard Shecter, “On a Roman Holiday – He Practices,” New York Post, April 3, 1950.

“I can make a ballplayer”: Kodner interview.

Once when he was twelve: Leonard Ansell, “City College Whiz Kid,” New York World-Telegram and Sun, undated clipping.

“I’ll do it”: Kodner interview.

Every day when practice was over: The description of Ed Roman’s practice routine is from Howard Stein phone interview, November 4, 2014; Richard Roman interview; Schechter interview; Leonard Shecter, “On a Roman Holiday – He Practices,” New York Post, April 3, 1950.

Make a shot without even looking: Marty Gurkin interview, Boynton Beach, Florida, April 7, 2015.

“I remember going to see him once”: Bernie Cohen interview, Floral Park, New York, May 11, 2015.

Eddie never played in a game: Kodner interview; Leonard Shecter, “On a Roman Holiday – He Practices,” New York Post, April 3, 1950.

The starting five: 1946 Yearbook, William Howard Taft High School, Bronx, New York, 66.

Reminded people of Li’l Abner: Arnold Smith phone interview, June 1, 2015.

“A red-blooded American boy”: Kodner interview.

Poor cab driver who had fled Poland: Katrin Dambrot phone interview, March 13, 2015.

“People held their breath”: Kodner interview.

Romatsky: The discussion of the Roman family is taken from Richard Roman interview; Marilyn Cassotta phone interview, March 6, 2015.

“The values of social justice”: Richard Roman, “Comments at Mel’s Memorial,” November 16, 2002.

A stint in the Navy: Joseph E. Weill, “Taft Quintet Is Formidable,” New York Sun, January 6, 1947.

Scoring 306 points: 1948 Yearbook, William Howard Taft High School, Bronx, New York, 72.

Led all scorers with thirteen points: Ben Gould, “Locals Stand Out in East Hoop Win,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, March 26, 1948, 15.

“If Eddie made it, we’d all make it”: Richard Roman interview.

“Please do me a favor”: Bernie Cohen interview.

New York University … Columbia University: Schechter interview.

University of New Mexico: Bernie Cohen interview.

Played basketball in the Catskills: Jack Laub phone interview, December 21, 2015.

Cincinnati submitted their offer: This is the offer as recalled by Dick Roman, and which is confirmed by Judge Saul S. Streit’s decision, rendered November 19, 1951, in the New York Court of General Sessions. The Cincinnati player who transmitted the offer, Jack Laub, denies that it included a car. Richard Roman interview; Roberts, 107; Laub interview.

Athletic Department … ten hours a week: Rosen, Scandals, 70.

$12 to $15: Sam Winograd testimony, In the Matter of Charges Preferred Against Nat Holman and Harry Robert Sand, 1337.

Help Mel get into a master’s program: Rosen, Scandals, 62.

Get his father a job: Richard Roman interview; Rosen, Scandals, 62; Jerry Izenberg and the CCNY 1950 Grand Slam TEAM Partnership, When Foul Was Fair: The Real Story Behind the 1949-51 CCNY Basketball Scandal, undated book proposal.

Dim fluorescent light: Sansone, 190.

Winograd asked Reilly: Sam Winograd testimony, In the Matter of Charges Preferred Against Nat Holman and Harry Robert Sand, 1336.

“Meanwhile I was putting in”: Ed Roman undated interview with Charley Rosen, provided to the author.

Assessed at only $8,500: Record of Assessments, Block 2782, Lot 95, 1372 Teller Avenue, Bronx, New York, New York City Municipal Archives.

“You promised my father”: Jerry Izenberg interview, Henderson, Nevada, July 8, 2015.

“Go ask the man”: Jerry Izenberg and the CCNY 1950 Grand Slam TEAM Partnership, When Foul Was Fair: The Real Story Behind the 1949-51 CCNY Basketball Scandal, undated book proposal.

Tremain Scholarship: “Student Council Will Discuss Tremains and Student Aids,” The Campus, November 2, 1950; “Rehabilitation,” Main Events, February 26, 1951.

Nat Holman on the line: In his book Scandals of ’51, Charley Rosen suggests that the meeting was in person, but in his interview with Rosen Ed Roman said, “I was going to quit the team. Holman called me up and gave me a whole bunch of incoherent philosophy.” Ed Roman undated interview with Charley Rosen, provided to the author.

“The only thing that counts”: Rosen, Scandals, 70.

“May be the answer”: Souvenir Program, City College vs. Queens College, November 25, 1948, 16.

Chapter 4

“The jungle law of atomic diplomacy”: Gerald Meyer, Vito Marcantonio: Radical Politician, 1902-1954 (Albany, New York: State University of New York Press, 1989), 39.

Training pigeons … Good Humor trucks: Fried, 90.

New York’s Feinberg Law: Fariello, 425; Caute, 433-434.

“Perhaps we were only reflecting”: “Class History,” Microcosm, City College of New York, 1952.

“I’m teaching”: Dave Anderson, “Nat Holman ‘Taught Team Basketball,’” New York Times, February 14, 1995.

“You’re not thinking!”: This and the other quotes in this paragraph are from “Drive, Drive, Drive!” Newsweek, December 4, 1950, 76.

“Very exacting”: Nat Holman Interview, September 30, 1978. 99-100. American Jewish Committee Oral History Collection, Box 10, Nat Holman Papers, Cohen Archives, Morris Raphael Cohen Library, City College of New York.

Might have several dozen professors: See the discussion in Cohen, 115.

“He swore like a sailor”: Bauman interview.

“He was a street man”: Nadell interview.

“He knew all the words”: Stuart Schwartz interview, New York City, October 31, 2014.

“Dambrot … how tall are you?”: Dambrot interview.

“If he remembered the guy’s name”: Morty Schwartz interview, Queens, New York, May 13, 2014.

“Get in there”: Nadell interview; Arthur Glass phone interview, May 22, 2014.

2,500 spectators were on hand: “Quintet Faces Lafayette Saturday,” The Campus, December 1, 1949.

“It was so loud in there”: Nadell interview.

“In theatrical circles”: Marvin Kalb, “Beavers Must Live Up to Rave Notices,” The Campus, December 1, 1949.

Joined by some of the players: Herb Cohen interview; Glass interview.

“Nowadays, if New York has a heart”: Federal Writers’ Project, New York Panorama, 314.

Five million spectators: Ibid.

104 sections of hardwood: Durso, 175.

Installed glass backboards: Ibid.; Bischoff, 109.

Haze of cigar and cigarette smoke: Gerald Eskenazi, “Kentucky’s Baron Still Holding Court,” New York Times, March 14, 1976; Bischoff, 109; Dorian Fliegel phone interview, May 22, 2014.

Average attendance of 18,196: Koppett, 24 Seconds, 17.

College basketball tripleheader: Frank, “Basketball’s Big Wheel,” 132; Packer, 26; Durso, 159.

A young writer: For background on Ned Irish, see Frank, “Basketball’s Big Wheel,” 133.

NCAA championship game: Rappoport, 4-5; Roberts, 18-19.

Salary of $48.60 . . . $150,000: Frank, “Basketball’s Big Wheel,” 25.

Park Avenue: An acquaintance quoted in Frank’s article refers to Irish’s apartment as being on Fifth Avenue, but a memo from the time written by Irish gives his residence as 885 Park Avenue.

“I don’t care what they say”: Ibid., 133.

“All that the walls”: Frank, “Basketball’s Big Wheel,” 25.

Second balcony: Herb Bard interview, New York City, April 24, 2015.

Glickman would be broadcasting: For more, see Marty Glickman interview, American Jews in Sports Collection, William E. Wiener Oral History Library of the American Jewish Committee, 1979; Glickman, 72-73; Marty Glickman, “Putting a Game on the Air,” 69th Regiment Armory Program, February 18, 1949.

A couple of Knick players: The players were Sonny Hertzberg and Leo Gottlieb. Glickman, 74.

Early on the score was close: For accounts of the game, see David Eisenberg, “City 76-44 Victor,” New York Journal- American, December 4, 1949; Everett B. Morris, “City College, Siena Down Garden Foes,” New York Herald Tribune, December 4, 1949; Leonard Ansell, “City College Is Court Power,” New York Sun, December 5, 1949; Gary Fiske, “City Impressive in Debut,” Daily Compass, December 5, 1949; Louis Effrat, “City College Five Downs Lafayette in Garden, 76 to 44,” New York Times, December 4, 1949.

“Rebound-up-no-good”: Cohen, 31.

The end balcony: Bernie Friedman, “’Charge’ Sounds Again as Pop Replaces Son,” The Ticker, December 20, 1949; Robert H. Prall, “Time Out for Joy at CCNY,” New York World-Telegram, undated clipping.

Pleated black taffeta skirts: Ruth Relkin Green phone interview, March 24, 2015.

The strange word allagaroo: City College of New York 1950-1951 Basketball Guide, 32.

“Allagarooters”: Jerry Jacobson phone interview, September 22, 2014.

“All the glowing reports”: Louis Effrat, “City College Five Downs Lafayette in Garden, 76 to 44,” New York Times, December 4, 1949.

Chapter 5

Bronx Wildcats: Joe Potozkin phone interview, March 24, 2015; Bernie Cohen interview.

Liked to make gruesome faces: Vincent Harding, “Floyd Layne Looks Ahead to Pro Career – in Baseball,” The Campus, December 23, 1949.

Lina Griffith Layne: Information about Lina Griffith Layne is from Layne interviews, June 9, 2014 and February 17, 2015.

“Bunty”: Layne interview, February 17, 2015; Izenberg interview.

Club 845: Layne interview, June 9, 2014.

“These are my two Eddies”: Layne interview, February 17, 2015; Izenberg interview.

“Dual loves”: “Beaver Sportraits,” Souvenir Program, City College vs. Queens College, November 26, 1949, 16.

“Al has an address book”: Marv Kalb, “Femme-Filled Black Book Adds Glamour to Hoopster Al ‘Hooks’ Roth, Soph Star,” The Campus, December 15, 1949.

Ed Richelson men’s shop: Julian Cohen interview.

Wanted to come back as a WASP: Gloria Roth interview, New York City, May 7, 2015.

Owned a seltzer delivery business: Gloria Roth interview; Julian Cohen interview.

“A basketball bum”: Bobby Sand testimony, In the Matter of Charges Preferred Against Nat Holman and Harry Robert Sand, 1926.

“Basketball … has been adopted”: “Who’s Clean?” Newsweek, March 5, 1951, 82.

$300,000 was regularly being wagered: Milton Gross, “Basketball’s No. 1 Menace,” Look, January 31, 1950. 69.

“You could place a bet”: Laterman interview.

Pari-mutuel machines: “Dribble Time,” Newsweek, December 18, 1944, 83.

“There was booing and catcalling”: Glickman, 80.

“The greatest invention”: Davies and Abram, 55.

“One of the most influential figures”: Robert H. Boyle, “The Brain that Gave Us the Point Spread,” Sports Illustrated, March 10, 1986, 34. See also William Barry Furlong, “Of ‘Lines,’ ‘Point Spreads’ and ‘Middles,’” New York Times Magazine, January 2, 1977, 14.

A system of 6-5 wagering: Milton Gross, “Basketball’s No. 1 Menace,” Look, January 31, 1950, 69.

“Vigorish”: Vigorish is from a Russian word meaning either “profit” or “winnings”; it likely came to America by way of Yiddish.

Nearly all of the city’s papers: The New York Post, Daily News, Journal-American, World-Telegram and Sun, Daily Mirror, and Daily Compass all published point spreads.

Leo Hirschfield: Paul Gardner and Allan Gould, “The Brain of the Bookies,” Collier’s, October 25, 1947, 106-109; Davies and Abram, 55-57.

“If Joe Zilch”: Davies and Abram, 56.

“If you sidle up to a boy”: Woodward, 76.

A new term of art: Davies and Abram, 57.

“I don’t see why”: “Every College Doing It,” New York Post, January 30, 1945. See also Arch Murray, “5 Basketball Players at Brooklyn College Confess Bribe Taking,” New York Post, January 30, 1945.

Paul Schmones: Paul Schmones testimony, In the Matter of Charges Preferred Against Nat Holman and Harry Robert Sand; “Highlights of the BHE Basketball Report,” Observation Post, November 19, 1952.

Offered $1,000 to David Shapiro: See Cohen, 63-64; Teitelbaum, 73; Figone, 25-26.

“Big-money wagers”: “Heavy Betting Hurting Game, Says Holman,” Berkshire Eagle, December 7, 1949.

Chapter 6

A pack a day: Scott Mager interview, New York City, November 3, 2014.

“Spewed profanity”: Sid Trubowitz, “Basketball Reunion,” unpublished essay provided to the author.

A gray convertible: “Tintype,” The Ticker, December 20, 1949.

Fashion model: Glass interview.

“What did you expect?”: Bernie Cohen interview.

Mager’s father David: The information on the Mager family is from Scott Mager. See also Sid Friedlander, “Mager . . . From Sub to Star,” New York Post, March 31, 1950.

“There’s a right way”: Eli Sadownick, “The Holman Story,” The Campus, September 16, 1954.

Rinsing out his socks: Scott Mager interview.

Would receive three dollars: “Background Material on Alvin Roth,” New York County District Attorney’s Office, 1951.

Brought in professional teams: Before the 1949-50 season, for instance, the City College Beavers practiced against the Scranton Miners and the Hartford Hurricanes of the American Basketball League. Holman, “Looking Ahead,” 6; “Beaver Hoopsters Start to Mesh,” Observation Post, October 25, 1949.

“If you can’t play major league basketball”: Norman Mager testimony, In the Matter of Charges Preferred Against Nat Holman and Harry Robert Sand, 2339.

Norm Mager made point-shaving … the ones he felt he could trust: The information in this section has been drawn from a number of sources, including: Richard Roman interview, Toronto, Canada, September 16-17, 2014; Cantatore interview; Sid Trubowitz interview, New York City, January 28, 2016; Julian Cohen interview; Schechter interview; Izenberg interview; Jerry Izenberg and the CCNY 1950 Grand Slam TEAM Partnership, When Foul Was Fair: The Real Story Behind the 1949-51 CCNY Basketball Scandal, undated book proposal; Rosen, Scandals, 68; Paul V. Beckley, “Why the Boys Took the Bribes,” New York Herald Tribune, February 20, 1951; “Roth Regretful, Cautions Others,” New York Times, February 20, 1951.

Eddie began to suspect: Rosen, Chosen, 107-108.

To the Renaissance: Layne interview, February 17, 2015.

Antigua in the West Indies: Ed Warner told his sons that he had immigrated to New York with his parents from Antigua when he was a small boy, but Ed’s birth certificate, filed with the borough of Manhattan, lists his place of birth as New York City. That birth certificate indicates that he was born on July 5, 1929, but an intake record from Sing Sing prison gives his date of birth as a year earlier than that. His son Dana says that he has found two separate birth certificates for his father. Edward L. Warner birth certificate #21986. Births Reported in 1929, Borough of Manhattan. New York: O’Connell Press, 1930, 422; Dana Warner interview, New Rochelle, New York, June 27, 2104.

Known around town as “Pops”: Luther Ackson Jr., “Ed Warner, Ex-Altar Boy at St. Philips Church,” The Afro-American, March 3, 1951.

The numbers racket: White, et al., 26-30, 169; Frommer and Frommer, Manhattan, 14; Louis Seaton, “Inside Story of Numbers Racket,” New York Amsterdam News, August 21, 1954.

“Dangerously inadequate”: Federal Writers’ Project, WPA Guide, 258.

First picked up a basketball: Alvin Davis, “Warner. . . What Basketball Means to a Harlem Kid,” New York Post, April 5, 1950; Leroy Moorehead interview, March 10, 2015.

Sang in the choir at St. Philip’s: Ibid.; “Ed Warner, Choir Singer, Hailed as Cage Champion,” The Afro-American, March 25, 1950

Fashioned zip guns: McMurren, 22; Dr. George Jordan phone interview, February 14, 2015; Moorehead interview.

Dozens of gangs in Harlem: McMurren, 22; Schneider, 65-67; Bradford Chambers, “The Boy Gangs of Mousetown.” Reader’s Digest, August 1948, 144-158; Bradford Chambers, “Boy Gangs of New York: 500 Fighting Units,” New York Times Magazine, December 16, 1944.

Ed was arrested: Edward L. Warner, Ind. No. 1171-51, Notice of Criminal Record, District Attorney of the County of New York, September 30, 1951.

Ed wanted to quit basketball: Luther Ackson Jr., “Ed Warner, Ex-Altar Boy at St. Philips Church,” The Afro-American, March 3, 1951.

Started passing the hat: Dan Burley, “Back Door Stuff,” Los Angeles Sentinel, March 8, 1951.

A 39-inch sleeve: Vic Ziegel, “CCNY Pulls Double Duty,” New York Post, undated clipping.

“He was built like an Adonis”: Edward Chenetz phone interview, May 27, 2014.

Put on cologne before games: “Basketball Bugaboos All Come Out in the Wash,” The Campus, December 5, 1950.

Joe Galiber’s father … construction worker: Ruby Wint interview, Highland Mills, NY, September 26, 2014; Layne interview, June 9, 2014; Watkins, Jr. interview.

Nearly 17,000 fans were on hand: For accounts of the game, see “Beavers Rope Mustangs, 67-53,” Observation Post, December 9, 1949; Leonard Ansell, “Undefeated City Five Now Coasts Before Rugged Tests,” New York Sun, December 9, 1949; Sid Friedlander, “Lavender Five Looms Best Ever – Potentially – at City,” New York Post, December 9, 1949; “CCNY Toast of Manhattan After 67-53 Victory,” International News Service, December 9, 1949.

With Irwin it would be the arms: Jerry Izenberg and the CCNY 1950 Grand Slam TEAM Partnership, When Foul Was Fair: The Real Story Behind the 1949-51 CCNY Basketball Scandal, undated book proposal.

“Let’s get out of here”: Schechter interview.

“What are you, crazy?”: Rosen, Scandals, 70.

“You owe them a game now”: Izenberg and the CCNY 1950 Grand Slam TEAM Partnership, When Foul Was Fair: The Real Story Behind the 1949-51 CCNY Basketball Scandal, undated book proposal.

“The Combine”: Ed Reid, “Lucrative Borough Rackets Feed Vast Crime Syndicate, Brooklyn Daily Eagle, December 11, 1949.

“The Combine could not exist”: Ed Reid, “Racket Expose Reveals: Huge Payoff for Protection,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, December 12, 1949.

“The Department will investigate”: “O’Brien’s Comment on Racket Series,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, December 15, 1949.

Chapter 7

“Government should permeate”: “The Big Bonanza,” Time, June 7, 1948, 26.

“Desperately afraid”: Caro, 756.

Twenty-five dollars: Ibid., 41.

“It was with these hands”: Ibid., 40.

“The dainty people”: “The Big Bonanza,” Time, June 7, 1948. 26.

Mistakenly handed her: Walsh, 137.

Masterminded by a public-relations firm: Mockridge and Prall, 46.

A small cocktail party: See Walsh, 214-217; Mockridge and Prall, 79-84; Raab, 64.

“I know the leaders”: Walsh, 7.

“If Frank Costello wanted me”: Pileggi, 62.

“Acted as though he owned O’Dwyer”: Moscow, 33.

Some who heard the two: Caro, 755.

Jim Moran: See Mockridge and Prall, 47-50; Caro, 755-756; Oursler, 3.

Special attendant: Mockridge and Prall, 50.

“As close to O’Dwyer as his shirt”: Elmaleh, 108.

“I have a certain amount of gutter wisdom”: Oursler, 3.

An audacious form of shakedown: Mockridge and Prall, 232-233.

124 alleged bookmaking sites: Walsh, 169.

“There are more serious things”: Ibid.

“Over river and hill”: Tom O’Connor, “A Day in the Life of a Candidate,” Daily Compass, October 26, 1949.

Thick-soled black Oxfords: Walsh, 113.

Six months later he still broke down: Walsh, 138.

“Misgivings”: O’Dwyer, 333.

Almost overcome with dizziness: Mockridge and Prall, 216-217.

Sometime around five o’clock: Ibid., 217-219. This is the version of the story presented by Norton Mockridge and Robert H. Prall in 1954; it was, they wrote, “told here for the very first time.” Thirteen years later Warren Moscow presented a slightly different version (one cited by Robert Caro in The Power Broker), in which Moran removes the resignation letter from the files of the city retirement board and brings it with him to O’Dwyer’s hospital room. This version seems doubtful, however, as December 4, 1949 was a Sunday. Moscow, 33.

Twenty New York City firemen: Mockridge and Prall, 218; “Puff of Smoke Brings Help for O’Dwyer,” Associated Press wire story, December 5, 1949.

“What’s the trouble?”: Mockridge and Prall, 219.

An amusing item: See, for example, “O’Dwyer Sleeps Through Fire in Bellevue Suite,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, December 5, 1949.

“The Mayor … slept through it all”: “Puff of Smoke Brings Help for O’Dwyer,” Associated Press wire story, December 5, 1949.

Chapter 8

It had been nineteen days: Information about Irwin Dambrot is from Dambrot interview; Izenberg interview; Izenberg and the CCNY 1950 Grand Slam TEAM Partnership, When Foul Was Fair: The Real Story Behind the 1949-51 CCNY Basketball Scandal, undated book proposal.

“Potentially the greatest ballplayer”: Marvin Kalb, “Sports’ Slants,” The Campus, March 8, 1950; Jerry Jacobson, “Dambrot Ends Career as Holman’s ‘Greatest,’” The Campus, March 29, 1950.

City College against the Bruins: For accounts of the game, see “U.C.L.A. Five Dumps C.C.N.Y. 60 to 53 in Garden Battle,” Independent News Service, December 28, 1949; “UCLA Turns Back City College in Garden Cage Tilt,” Associated Press wire story, December 28, 1949.

“Those City College sophs”: Marv Kalb, “Campus Sports . . . Among the Vets,” The Campus, December 20, 1949.

“Committed more wild throws”: Milton Gross, “Holman Blasts City ‘Stars’ After Upset Defeat by UCLA,” New York Post, December 28, 1949.

“Hope … based on a consistent flow”: Ben Gould, “Sophs Bolster City Cage Squad,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, December 5, 1949.

Twice-a-year tryouts: Gildea, 224, 253; Rosen, Scandals, 34.

Private rooms … free meals and books: Charles Grutzner, “School Athletes Face Many Lures,” New York Times, March 19, 1951.

A few extra dollars: Hobson, 65; “Sollazzo, 5 Stars Get Prison Terms,” New York Journal-American, November 19, 1951.

Touchdown Club: Hobson, 65.

Rupp was able to offer: Small, 141; Sperber, 331.

“If a man won some money”: The reporter was Dave Kindred of the Washington Post, referring to Kentucky star Ralph Beard. Sperber, 337.

“Thousands more”: Tommy Holmes, “A Wild Evening At the Garden,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, January 4, 1950.

Reporter had dubbed them: Jim O’Connell and Paul Montella, 100 Years of St. John’s Basketball (Queens, New York: St. John’s Athletic Department, 2008), 144.

“A lifetime lease”: Ibid. The authors note that the two students eventually paid the drugstore owner for the pilfered Chief Blackjack.

As the game got underway: For accounts of the game and its aftermath, see Ben Gould, “St. John’s U. Suffers First Court Defeat,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, January 4, 1950; Tommy Holmes, “A Wild Evening At the Garden,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, January 4, 1950; Leonard Ansell, “Scalping Redmen Gives City’s Five New Hopes for National Cage Honors,” New York Sun, January 4, 1950; Gary Fiske [Stan Isaacs], “City’s Victory Puts Ratings in a Stew,” Daily Compass, January 5, 1950; Milton Gross, “Roman, Warner ‘Convert’ Holman,” New York Post, January 4, 1950.

Controlled by a puppeteer’s strings: Cohen, 18.

A favorite trivia question: Glickman, 77.

“Yelling, shoulder slapping, and handkerchief waving”: Ralph Haller, “Balcony Pow-Wow,” The Campus, January 6, 1950.

Chapter 9

Boasted 2,632 guest rooms: “Hotel St. George,” 1932 promotional pamphlet. Hotel St. George Collection, Brooklyn Historical Society.

Twenty-nine young men: In an article published in True magazine in February 1951, Ed Reid claimed that the number was forty, and dubbed the squad “The Fabulous Forty.” Initially, though, the squad comprised twenty-nine men, and only later was it augmented by another eleven officers. Mockridge and Prall, 142; Arm, 1.

“McDonald”: Mockridge and Prall, 141; Arm, 1.

“I hear a new guy has taken over”: Reid, “I Broke…,” 26. In their account of the incident, Norton Mockridge and Robert H. Prall indicated that Reid saw three men rather than two at the bar. Mockridge and Prall, 150.

“Thousands of people … thirty pounds drinking”: Reid, “I Broke…,” 26.

Norfolk jackets: Joanne Roddy phone interview, September 14, 2015.

John McDonald: See “J. R. M’Donald, Chief Surrogate Clerk, Succumbs,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, April 29, 1932; “W. Flatbush Group Pressed Change in Gravesend Ave.,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, July 12, 1933; Mockridge and Prall, 98-99.

Renamed McDonald Avenue: Leonard Benardo and Jennifer Weiss, Brooklyn by Name: How the Neighborhoods, Streets, Parks, Bridges and More Got Their Names (New York: New York University Press, 2006), 111.

Straightest road: Mockridge and Prall, 98.

How far a path: For more on Miles McDonald and his family, see Violet Brown, “Life Story of M’Donald – Boro’s Racket Buster,” Brookyn Daily Eagle, October 8, 1950; “Dad, Admitted to Bar at 38, Sparked McDonald’s Career,” Brookyn Daily Eagle, October 9, 1950; “Family Scorned ‘Free Ride,’ D.A. Earned Keep at School,” Brookyn Daily Eagle, October 10, 1950; “Setauket Haven of the D.A. – And He Rates as a Cook,” Brookyn Daily Eagle, October 11, 1950; “Racket-Buster McDonald ‘a Moralist With a Smile,” Brookyn Daily Eagle, October 12, 1950; Virginia Irwin, “They Figured Him for a Dope,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 11, 1950.

“I never liked him”: Mockridge and Prall, 111.

Holbein portrait of St. Thomas More: “Racket-Buster McDonald ‘a Moralist With a Smile,” Brookyn Daily Eagle, October 12, 1950; Virginia Irwin, “They Figured Him for a Dope,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 11, 1950; Mockridge and Prall, 138.

A trace of a Brooklyn accent: Ed Reid can be seen playing himself in a cameo role in the 1958 movie The Case Against Brooklyn, loosely based on an article that Reid wrote for True magazine.

“I was having a beer”: Mockridge and Prall, 150.

“If we can get the people”: Ibid., 131.

In this and seven subsequent articles: Ed Reid, “Lucrative Borough Rackets Feed Vast Crime Syndicate,” “Racket Expose Reveals: Huge Payoff for Protection,” “Who Is the Top Boss of Brooklyn’s Rackets?” “Gamblers Infest Schools, Prey on Kids’ Lunch Money,” “Police Inspectors Get Paid Off, Bookie Charges,” “Dockmen Enslaved by Crime Bosses,” “Duce Regime Paid Combine $500,000 to Slay Carlo Tresca,” “Policy Bosses Prey on Rich and Poor Alike,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, December 11-19, 1949.

Judge Leibowitz granted that request: “Extend Grand Jury for Rackets Probe,” Brookyn Daily Eagle, December 22, 1949. Samuel Leibowitz was best known as the defense counsel for the Scottsboro Boys, nine young African-American men falsely accused of raping two white women in Alabama in 1931 and sentenced to death. Ultimately charges were dropped against four of the men; five served prison sentences but were not executed.

The response was strong: See, for instance, “Celler Demands U. S. Crime Probe,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, December 13, 1949; “School Chiefs Launch Wide Probe of Racket-Led Student Gambling,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, December 15, 1949; “Bill Drafted to Halt Pupil Policy Sales,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, December 17, 1949; “Boro Religious Leaders Urge Crime Cleanup,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, December 18, 1949; “Citizen Committee to Turn Spotlight on Boro Rackets,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, December 20, 1949.

Flooded with calls and letters: Ed Reid, “McDonald’s Appeal For Boro Crime Data Brings Flood of Tips,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, December 25, 1949; Ed Reid, “Crime Tips Pour In To D.A., Spur Drive,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, December 30, 1949.

Smoked one cigarette … miniature anvil: Violet Brown, “Life Story of M’Donald – Boro’s Racket Buster,” Brookyn Daily Eagle, October 8, 1950.

Investigation would likely fail: Mockridge and Prall, 137.

Catholic schools: Virginia Irwin, “They Figured Him for a Dope,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 11, 1950.

A man had to sleep nights: Mockridge and Prall, 138.

“Quarterback” sessions: Arm, 84.

“As you know”: Mockridge and Prall, 136.

“We’re going to catch bookies”: Ibid., 137.

Counter-espionage operations: Wendell Hanmer, “Bill Dahut, Top Bet Prober, Loves Life – and Work, Too,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, October 1, 1950.

“Spot a liar faster than anyone”: Arm, 7.

“Gray hair combed straight back”: Ibid., 2.

“You know what you guys are?”: Helfand’s dialogue is drawn from slightly differing accounts in Arm, 2-5; and Mockridge and Prall, 141-143.

Dahut felt his throat tighten: Mockridge and Prall, 142.

Chapter 10

Lapse into a kind of tunnel vision: Nadell interview; Chenetz interview; Bauman interview; Gurkin interview.

“I’m the big shot here”: Rosen, Scandals, 57.

Schools like Pepperdine and Penn State: Norm Mager undated interview with Charley Rosen, provided to the author; Wendie Sand interview.

Taken an advance: In the Matter of Charges Preferred Against Nat Holman and Harry Robert Sand, 32; Floyd Layne testimony, Ibid., 3385.

“Endless drive”: Tony Shub, “Sports Slants,” The Campus, May 20, 1947.

Ceiling rises sixty-three feet: For descriptions of the Great Hall, see “Great Hall Rich in Colorful History,” Observation Post, March 16, 1954; Rudy, 260-261; Kay, 14.

“City College’s answer”: “Registration: Hardest Test of All,” The Campus, February 6, 1950.

Entire varsity basketball team: In 1949 the number of basketball players permitted to register early was raised to 15. “Athletic Association-Student Athlete Guidance Report 12/12/51,” Records 1941-1952, Harry N. Wright Papers, Morris Raphael Cohen Library, City College of New York.

Having trouble with Eli Kaye: Jerry Izenberg and the CCNY 1950 Grand Slam TEAM Partnership, When Foul Was Fair: The Real Story Behind the 1949-51 CCNY Basketball Scandal, undated book proposal.

“I’ve had enough”: Alfred E. Clark, “3 More Athletes from City College Seized in ‘Fixes,’” New York Times, March 28, 1951.

“I would look up”: Herb Cohen interview.

“It is our understanding”: Jack Gould, “Union Outlaws School Bands at Garden Basketball Games,” New York Times, December 7, 1949.

“I hated that motherfucker”: Izenberg interview.

Dambrot had also said no: Alfred E. Clark, “3 More Athletes from City College Seized in ‘Fixes,’” New York Times, March 28, 1951; “Game Fix Suspect Caught in Miami,” New York Times, April 29, 1951.

Niagara broke out fast: For accounts of the game, see Ray Haller, “Beavers Dumped by Niagara, 68-61,” The Campus, Friday, February 17, 1950; “Niagara Upsets City College, 68-61, at Garden,” New York Times, February 17, 1950; Rosen, Scandals, 72.

“Somewhere along the line”: Dick Kaplan, “Off Both Backboards: The Case of the Expanded Hatbands,” Observation Post, February 15, 1950.

Kaplan was having lunch: Dick Kaplan interview, Briarcliff Manor, New York, April 23, 2015.

“Holder of the unofficial New York diadem”: Marty Deutsch, “Quintet Must Check Manhattan in Garden Game Thursday Eve,” Observation Post, February 28, 1950.

A record of 13-10-1: Only in the most unusual circumstances did a college basketball team’s record include a tie. Earlier that season Manhattan had played St. Peter’s in a game in which no fewer than 83 fouls were called. With the score tied at 69 one of the referees got between two players battling for a loose ball and accidentally took a blow to the head that required several stitches. After conferring, the two opposing coaches decided that the game had become too rough for the single remaining referee to handle, and they agreed to stop play and call the game a tie. “Ref Calls 83 Fouls, Injured; Game Called,” Associated Press wire story, December 18, 1949.

As play got underway: For accounts of the game, see Everett B. Morris, “City College Downs Manhattan Five,” New York Herald Tribune, March 3, 1950; Sid Friedlander, “’Lucky’ Beavers Sit Back to Await Tournament Bid,” New York Post, March 3, 1950; Jim McGlinley, “Green’s Closing Drive Scares City; Byrnes’ 64-Footer Breaks Record,” Manhattan Quadrangle, March 8, 1950; Cohen, 21.

McDonald announced the first three arrests: Milton Honig, “3 Held in Brooklyn Gaming Inquiry,” New York Times, March 3, 1950.

Chapter 11

A secret meeting: Arm, 13.

“You didn’t need to know anyone”: “290 More Added to Police Force,” New York Times, December 13, 1949.

Barely three thousand dollars a year: At the time, the annual salary for a rookie patrolman was $3,150. Chin, 67.

This is a hell of a way: Arm, 11.

A lieutenant to supervise: Mockridge and Prall, 178; Arm, 49; Reid, 21.

A kind of palace guard: Chin, 14.

“Independence of action”: Arm, 49.

Anthony P. Russo: See Arm, 12-17; Mockridge and Prall, 146-147.

His courses at the Police Academy: See Burr Leyson, Fighting Crime: The New York City Police Department in Action (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1948), 172-173.

Russo ate lunch: See the accounts in Mockridge and Prall, 146-147; Arm, 14-16.

A horse named Red and Green: Arm, 16. In their account, Mockridge and Prall gave the horse’s name as Sing Song.

An investigation of Gamblers’ Court: Ed Reid, “Are Bookies ‘Jail-Proof’ in Boro Courts?,’ Brooklyn Daily Eagle, March 20, 1950.

The backlash came: See Mockridge and Prall, 176-178; Arm, 48.

Gigante was subsequently indicted: Ed Reid, “Boro Cage Star Bares Racket Details at College,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, May 24, 1950.

One afternoon the phone rang: Mockridge and Prall, 148-149.

Chapter 12

Madison Square Garden locker room: See the description in Alfieri, 188.

Al Maxtutis: Jerry Strear, “Men Behind the Scenes,” Observation Post, December 8, 1953.

A man with a cigar in his mouth: This description of the attendant is from “The Talk of the Town: Professionals,” The New Yorker, September 16, 1950.

“Basketball fanatic”: Gerry Grob phone interview, March 24, 2015. Also Laub interview; Trubowitz interview.

218 pounds: Leonard Shecter, “On a Roman Holiday – He Practices,” New York Post, April 3, 1950, 50.

A world of delicious food: Michael Weinberg phone interview, June 2, 2015.

Normie had called a meeting: Rosen, Scandals, 81; see also Cohen, 148.

The game was on: For accounts of the game, see Louis Effrat, “L.I.U. Upset, 80-52, but C.C.N.Y. Checks San Francisco Five,” New York Times, March 12, 1950; Everett B. Morris, “La Salle, C.C.N.Y., Western Kentucky Win in N.I.T.,” New York Herald Tribune, March 12, 1950; Dana Mozley, “City Rips Dons, 65-46, W. Ky. Wins, 79-72,” New York Daily News, March 12, 1950.

On display: Souvenir Program, 1950 N.I.T. Finals, Bradley University vs. City College, March 18, 1950, 7.

“The secret of my success”: Rosen, Scandals, 83.

He had worn a brown suit: See “Bluegrass Sage,” Newsweek, January 6, 1947, 62; Small, 142; Lancaster, 113-115; Nelli and Nelli, 41.

Never had a close friend: Lancaster, 19.

“I know I have plenty of enemies”: Rosen, Scandals, 83.

“You are all now in business”: Chandler and Hatton, 31.

“He made the rules”: Nelli and Nelli, 42.

“On and on it goes”: Rice, Rupp, 29.

He owned a pair of farms: Small, 142; Rosen, Scandals, 86.

A deeply segregated city: Thomas, 120-121; Lowell H. Harrison and James C. Klotter, A New History of Kentucky (Lexington, Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky, 1997), 389.

The city’s schools: Hardin, 11, 9-97; Martin, 232; Wade Hall, The Rest of the Dream: The Black Odyssey of Lyman Johnson (Lexington, Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky, 1988), 154-157.

Seven crosses were burned: Hall, Ibid., 156. See also “U.K. Experiences 2nd Cross Burning,” Associated Press wire story, July 8, 1949; “Cross Burned Before Main Building on University of Kentucky Campus,” Associated Press wire story, July 9, 1949.

Until after World War II: Martin, 233; Nelli and Nelli, 76.

By 1950 no black player had yet appeared: Solly Walker was the first African-American to play at Memorial Coliseum, when St. John’s traveled to Lexington in December 1951. That game had been scheduled a year earlier, when the two schools signed a contract for a “home-and-home” series. After the contract was signed, Kentucky came into Madison Square Garden to play the first game of the series, which was when Adolph Rupp first learned about the freshman Walker, who would likely be a member of the St. John’s starting five the following season. According to news reports Rupp “dramatically raised his eyebrows” upon hearing the news and asked aloud, “What’s going to happen at Lexington?” in the event that Walker came to play there. According to St. John’s coach Frank McGuire, Rupp called him several times to object to Walker appearing in the game, declaring, “You can’t bring that boy down here.” McGuire is said to have snapped back, “Then cancel the game.” Rupp eventually gave in and the game proceeded without incident, though before the game Walker was refused service in the hotel restaurant, and McGuire and several St. John’s players joined him in the kitchen to eat dinner. Ben Gould, “St. John’s Rift with Kentucky Over Walker,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, June 1, 1951; Philip Newman, “Once Upon a Time St. John’s Redmen Almost Captured NCAA Crown,” Queens Times-Ledger, March 14, 2002; Martin, 233; Jacobs, 184.

“I remember walking ”: Fitzpatrick, 133.

“The Lord never meant”: Lewis Burton, “Hits for Keeps,” New York Journal-American, October 21, 1951. Over the years Adolph Rupp was heard using racial slurs on several occasions. In the 1960s, for instance, the University of Kentucky’s new president, John Oswald, began to demand that the basketball team be integrated. Assistant coach Harry Lancaster has reported that Rupp would come back from meetings with the president complaining bitterly. “Harry,” he would say, “that son of a bitch is ordering me to get some niggers in here. What am I going to do? He’s the boss.” Lancaster, 88.

9,779 undergraduates: The University of Kentucky, Its History and Development: A Series of Charts Depicting the More Important Data, 1862-1955, Lexington, August 1956, 22.

Congress of Racial Equality: A. C. Ettinger, “Revolt on the Campus,” 2007 Reunion of the Students for Democratic Action, 1.

Young Progressives of America: “Basketball powerhouse Joe Galiber, co-captain of the CCNY quintet, scores straight down the line for YPA sports programs.” The Young Progressive, October-November 1949.

Some sixty nationalities: Stern et al., 14.

“The buildup to the game”: Marvin Kalb, “The College Basketball Victory that Seemed too Good to Be True – and Was,” www.theatlantic.com, April 25, 2013.

Chapter 13

Taken his players to see: Tom Diskin, “DisKintucky Sports Review,” Kentucky Kernel, March 10, 1950.

“Our boys left a lot”: Rupp, 188.

A daily schedule: Ibid.

A pair of opening-round games: Larry Shropshire, “Wildcats Face Potent Foe Tonight in Toot Factory,” Lexington Leader, March 14, 1950.

Rupp strongly objected: Rice, Rupp, 120.

“Best sophomore basketball team”: Larry Boeck, “U.K. Plays First N.I.T. Tilt Tonight Against C.C.N.Y.,” Courier-Journal (Louisville), March 14, 1950.

“We like to take chances”: Rupp, 85.

“We do not believe”: Ibid., 86.

“Orthodox order of mobile warfare”: Tom Meany, “New York’s Basketball Is Better Basketball,” Saturday Evening Post, February 22, 1941.

Only four positions on the floor: Holman, “What to Look For,” 47.

“The boys like to play”: Rupp, 87.

“Once the pattern is diagnosed”: Holman on Basketball, 146.

Three Kentucky radio stations: The stations were WLAP, WKLX, and WHAS. Tom Diskin, “DisKintucky Sports Review,” Kentucky Kernel, March 24, 1950.

“The finest exhibition of ball handling”: Rupp, 28.

“The Kentucky warmup”: Wexler was interviewed for the 1998 HBO documentary City Dump: The Story of the 1951 CCNY Basketball Scandal, directed by George Roy and Steve Stern.

“Bedlam broke loose”: “’We Want Leroy’ Implore Rooters,” The Campus, March 17, 1950.

“Greatest thrill of my college career”: Ibid.

Sand had conducted a “jump-off”: Layne interview, June 9, 2014; Nadell interview, March 7, 2014; Morty Schwartz interview.

Sand suggested to Nat Holman: According to Ron Nadell, “Bobby told Nat to have Leroy Watkins jump center.” Nadell interview, March 7, 2014.

Wildcats turned away: Layne interview, June 9, 2014; Nadell interview, March 7, 2014; Sand interview; Marvin Kalb, “The College Basketball Victory that Seemed too Good to Be True – and Was,” www.theatlantic.com, April 25, 2013.

“They’re not gonna want”: Sand interview.

“We’re gonna go out there”: Layne interview, June 9, 2014. In the 1998 documentary City Dump, Marvin Kalb states that when the Kentucky player refused to shake hands, he heard Floyd Layne say angrily, “You gonna be pickin’ cotton in the morning, man.” However, Layne himself adamantly denies that he ever said this. In 1951, a City College sports reporter named Dick Kaplan wrote an article for Our World magazine in which he described a moment during the NCAA tournament when Layne was being heckled by North Carolina State players at the free-throw line. According to Kaplan, Layne grinned and said, “You boys better shut up and start playing ball or you’ll be back picking cotton tomorrow.” Dick Kaplan, “College Basketball’s Shooting Stars,” Our World, February 1951, 42.

Jocko Collins tossed up the ball: For accounts of the game, see Everett B. Morris, “Wildcats Tamed,” New York Herald Tribune, March 15, 1950; Louis Effrat, “Beavers Trounce Kentucky, 89-50,” New York Times, March 15, 1950; Sid Friedlander, “How About an Allegaroo!” New York Post, March 15, 1950; Marvin Kalb, “’Five’ Plows Under Kentucky, 89-50,” The Campus, March 15, 1950; Hank Wexler and Herman Cohen, “CCNY Sends Old Kentucky Home, 89-50,” Observation Post, Wednesday, March 15, 1950; Larry Boeck, “C.C.N.Y. Routs Kentucky 89-50,” The Courier-Journal (Louisville), March 15, 1950; Larry Shropshire, “CCNY Rates Favorite’s Role After Blitzing Cats 89-50,” Lexington Leader, March 16, 1950; Tom Diskin, “CCNY Blasts Wildcat Five,” Kentucky Kernel, March 17, 1950.

Many later accounts: See, for instance, Holman on Basketball, 277; Rosen, Scandals, 86; Wilner and Rappoport, 123.

“Let them play your game”: Nadell interview, March 7, 2014.

Sixth-highest mark in the nation: “One-Game Scoring Leaders,” Souvenir Program, 1950 N.I.T. Finals, Bradley University vs. City College, March 18, 1950, 18.

Watkins … had stood in for Spivey: John Nadel, “Remembering Special Era at City College of New York,” Associated Press wire story, March 19, 2000.

“Hipper-dipper stuff”: Lou Miller, “City’s Sensational Warner Shuns Globetrotter Role,” New York World-Telegram and Sun, March 23, 1950.

“Pour it on, City!”: Tom Diskin, “CCNY Blasts Wildcat Five,” Kentucky Kernel, March 17, 1950; “CCNY Swarms Over Kentucky by 89-50,” Associated Press wire story, March 15, 1950; Kaplan interview.

“The excitement was unbelievable”: Myron Neugeboren phone interview, March 30, 2015.

“We were afraid to leave our seats”: Martin Schaum interview, Boca Raton, Florida, April 8, 2015.

“Though I walk through the aisles”: Marvin Kalb, “Sports’ Slants,” The Campus, March 17, 1950.

“Do these guys play like this”: Marvin Abraham phone interview, April 20, 2015.

“CCNY was an unknown type of team”: Rice, Kentucky, 223.

“We kept expecting the roof to fall in”: Mark Maged interview, Norwalk, Connecticut, September 29, 2014.

“Greatest ever given”: Gralla, 23.

“Most of us knew the words”: Jerry Koral phone interview, April 19, 2015.

“Like something of a revolution”: Maged interview.

“It was City College’s way”: Marvin Kalb interview, City Dump.

Most lopsided loss: Larry Boeck, “C.C.N.Y. Routs Kentucky 89-50,” The Courier-Journal (Louisville), March 15, 1950; Tom Diskin, “CCNY Blasts Wildcat Five,” Kentucky Kernel, March 17, 1950.

“I want to thank you boys”: Rice, Kentucky, 212.

Accounts of the game: Sid Friedlander, “How About an Allegaroo!” New York Post, March 15, 1950; Harold Weissman, “City Humbles Kentucky, 89-50,” New York Daily Mirror, March 15, 1950; Louis Effrat, “Beavers Trounce Kentucky, 89-50,” New York Times, March 15, 1950; Everett B. Morris, “Wildcats Tamed,” New York Herald Tribune, March 15, 1950; Larry Boeck, “C.C.N.Y. Routs Kentucky 89-50,” The Courier-Journal (Louisville), March 15, 1950.

“There isn’t much left to say”: Tom Diskin, “DisKintucky Sports Review,” Kentucky Kernel, March 24, 1950.

“Add insult to injury”: “No Flag Half Mast for Kentucky’s Loss,” Associated Press wire story, March 16, 1950.

Chapter 14

“At that moment”: Ron Nadell interview, Massapequa, New York, November 4, 2014.

City jumped out to an early lead: For accounts of the game, see Louis Effrat, “City College and Bradley Quintets Gain Final Round of National Invitation,” New York Times, March 17, 1950; Marvin Kalb, “Beavers Dunk Dukes, 62-52,” The Campus, March 17, 1950; “CCNY Quintet Defeats Dukes,” Peoria Star, March 17, 1950.

Paid scalpers as much as $12.50: Ben Gould, “On the Rebound,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, March 17, 1950.

District 2 slot: “NCAA Names City College District 2 Team for Tourney,” Associated Press wire story, March 18, 1950.

Excuse his players from classes: Holman on Basketball, 308; Cohen, 31.

They checked into rooms: A few of the players had Friday classes that they could not miss, and did not arrive at the hotel until the evening. Floyd Layne, for one, had an afternoon biology lab and he was already struggling to maintain a passing average in that course. Floyd Layne testimony, In the Matter of Charges Preferred Against Nat Holman and Harry Robert Sand, 3423.

Sand would have liked to stay: Wendie Sand e-mail to author, April 12, 2017.

He had taken ill: “After 31 Years,” Time, March 27, 1950; Holman on Basketball, 309; Sand interview.

His physician: His name was William Hitzig, and he was one of the most distinguished doctors in New York. Ronald Sullivan, “Dr. William M. Hitzig, 78, Aided War Victims, New York Times, August 30, 1983.

That night the winds began: “Hold Your Hat! Winds Hit 63 MPH,” New York Journal-American, March 19, 1950; “Gale Lashes City, Delays Trains, Ships,” New York Herald Tribune, March 19, 1950; “High Winds Lash City, Report One Lost at Sea,” New York Post, March 19, 1950.

Thrown in a shot: The shot immediately entered Bradley basketball lore. Within the week the Peoria Journal had published a long poem in honor of the miraculous basket, the first stanza of which read: When tales are told in future years/ Of athletic feats of glory/ No deed of court can ever outshine/ The shot of Gene Melchiorre. An enthusiastic group of Bradley students also proposed, along the lines of the joining of the transcontinental railroad, that a golden spike be driven into the exact spot on the court from which Melchiorre had released the basketball; the Bradley Athletic Council chose not to act on the suggestion. Fay, 65.

Ballet lessons: Ibid., 66.

Wouldn’t want to follow Eddie: Sand interview.

Tied his Phi Beta Kappa key: Sid Miller, “Allegaroo and Friedlander, Too,” The Campus, March 20, 1950.

“Except for Brooklyn”: Morrow, 20.

“The world’s most beautiful drive”: Ibid.

“By the end of the 1949-1950 season”: Edwards-Lindstrom, 63.

“Peorians are talking”: “Lookin’ ‘em Over,” Peoria Star, March 14, 1950.

Workmen wheeled electric scoreboards: This and the subsequent information in the paragraph is from Fay, 27.

“Bradley … small-town provincialism”: Edwards-Lindstrom, 66.

Never had a black player: The Bradley basketball team would not integrate until 1957.

Son of a Baptist minister: Fay, 66.

“Paul works in a Peoria haberdashery”: “All-America in College Basketball,” Collier’s, March 25, 1950.

Twenty-nine spotlights: Durso, 137.

Caspar Lane: In a thirty-seven-year career Caspar “Cappy” Lane had run the clocks for every basketball game that had ever been played at Madison Square Garden, at every level from grade school to professional, and had not missed a single game. Clair Bee, “Mass of Detail Makes Clocker a Vital Part of Cage Sport,” New York Journal-American, December 16, 1950; John McCallum, “Madison Square Garden Exec Paid to Watch Clock,” Newspaper Enterprise Association, November 9, 1952.

“I joined the team”: Holman on Basketball, 309.

“I made all the assignments”: Sand interview.

Controlling the opening jump: For accounts of the game, see Louis Effrat, “18,000 See C.C.N.Y. Top Bradley, 69-61, in Final at Garden,” New York Times, March 19, 1950; “CCNY Quintet Beats Bradley for NIT Title,” New York Daily Mirror, March 19, 1950; Irving T. Marsh, “Crowd Saves an Allagaroo for Warner, Most Valuable,” New York Herald Tribune, March 19, 1950; Ralph Rehmet, “City Wins NIT, 69-61; Ohio State NCAA Foe,” The Campus, March 20, 1950; Edwards-Lindstrom, 68.

Compared to a snake pit: Packer, 51.

“Thirty-eight plus two”: See, for instance, the explanation in Holman on Basketball, 181. See also “2-Minute Rule Declared Unfair to Trailing Teams,” The Sporting News, December 21, 1949; Sid Miller, “Basketball Cut to 38 Minutes by New Rule,” The Ticker, December 28, 1949.

“The finest exhibition”: Holman on Basketball, 181.

“The darkest of dark horses”: “Bradley, City College Gain Final Round of NIT,” Associated Press wire story, March 16, 1950.

Quinn broke down and cried: Fay, 27.

President … Basketball Association: Holman on Basketball, 309. In the Herald Tribune, reporter Irving T. Marsh said that the announcement was made by Garden public-address announcer Barclay Cooke. Irving T. Marsh, “Crowd Saves an Allagaroo for Warner, Most Valuable,” New York Herald Tribune, March 19, 1950.

“My heart thumped with every play”: Howie Evans, “Sort of Sporty,” New York Amsterdam News, December 24, 1966.

Already left: Holman on Basketball, 309.

No celebration had been planned: Rosen, Scandals, 90.

Leone’s restaurant: In later years it would become known as Mamma Leone’s. Dave Anderson phone interview, December 12, 2014; John F. Mariani, How Italian Food Conquered the World (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011), 55; Glickman, 78; Gildea, 189.

Official reception: Morty Schwartz, “City Wins NIT, 69-61,” The Campus, March 20, 1950.

Chapter 15

“The biggest, richest city”: “The Big Bonanza,” Time, June 7, 1948, 24.

“An air of unreality”: Freeman, 6.

“Good Lord, I’m the mayor”: Hamburger, 91.

Had to admit … he was frightened: Ibid.

“You know, the city’s too big”: Ibid., 110.

“Personal problems”: O’Dwyer, 334.

“A victim”: “Mayor O’Dwyer’s Vacation,” New York Times, December 12, 1949.

“Look, I’ll never put my hand out”: Mockridge and Prall, 39.

Frank Bals: Mockridge and Prall, 45, 87-88; Robert Williams and Irving Lieberman, “Bet Graft Jury to Hear Wallander and Bals Before Calling O’Dwyer,” New York Post, October 16, 1950.

John M. Murtagh: Mockridge and Prall, 89-90; Arm, 224-230.

Known Murtagh since he was a boy: O’Dwyer, 174.

“Bromo-Seltzer for the mayor”: Frank Anechiarico and James B. Jacobs, The Pursuit of Absolute Integrity: How Corruption Control Makes Government Ineffective (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996), 80.

Never filed a written report: Mockridge and Prall, 89.

“It would be silly to deny”: Pileggi, 62.

Four thousand bookmakers: Ellis, 570. This estimate came as the result of an investigation by reporter Ed Reid of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. The New York Daily News suggested that the number was closer to thirty thousand. O’Dwyer, 275.

“All forms, except on-track pari-mutuel”: Lait and Mortimer, 294.

Champ Segal’s restaurant: Pileggi, 61,

Monogrammed gold tie clasps: Ibid., 57.

Contributed more than $300,000: George Trow and Irving Lieberman, “DA Probes Tip that Bookmakers Kicked in 360 G to Reelect O’D,” New York Post, October 12, 1950.

Half a million dollars a year: Cunningham, 117; “Shining Example,” Life, March 17, 1952, 47.

“That boy is learning”: Spivack, 89.

“Oh, well, no matter”: Mockridge and Prall, 48.

New York should legalize betting: Thomas P. Ronan, “Mayor Asks State to Legalize Bets on Sports Events,” New York Times, January 10, 1950; Robert G. Spivack, “Lawmakers Frown on Legalized Betting,” New York Post, January 10, 1950; Walsh, 183.

An outmoded Puritanism: O’Dwyer, 277.

“Thyroid ailment and virus infection”: “Mayor Due Back at Desk by St. Valentine’s Day,” New York Times, February 5, 1950.

A reception celebrating: See Michael Strauss, “Triumphant Beaver Squad Hailed by Mayor at City Hall Ceremony,” New York Times, March 21, 1950; Leonard Lewin, “Beavers Get Congrats of O’D at Reception,” New York Daily Mirror, March 21, 1950; Dick Kaplan, “O’D Hails Beaver NIT Champs” Observation Post, March 21, 1950; “Mayor Salutes Champs,” The Campus, March 24, 1950.

Chapter 16

“Only two men on that outfit”: Lou Miller, “City’s Sensational Warner Shuns Globetrotter Role,” New York World-Telegram and Sun, March 23, 1950.

Stories of the barnstorming life: Anderson and Millman, 29-30; Fox, Ball, 311.

Grown up playing stickball: Layne interview, June 9, 2014.

“Jackie Robinson was everything”: Layne interview, June 9, 2014.

“This guy was the ultimate gentleman”: Philip Rucker, Rucker Basketball Wars: The Inside Story of Rucker Basketball (Bloomington, Indiana, 2003), 71.

“I was in awe”: Bauman interview.

Best player on the court: Gary Fiske [Stan Isaacs], “City’s Victory Puts Ratings in a Stew,” Daily Compass, January 5, 1950.

“Hell, that’s a compliment”: Alvin Davis, “Floyd Layne’s Solution – ‘We Just Grew Up,’” New York Post, April 4, 1950.

“New York’s darling”: David Eisenberg, “Spirit Should Keep City at Peak in NCAA,” New York Journal-American, March 22, 1950.

“Pray”: Joe Goldstein, “Let’s Hear One Last ‘Allagaroo’ for City College,” New York Times, April 1, 1990.

First game of the evening: For accounts of the game, see Louis Effrat, “City College and N.C. State Quintets Gain Eastern Final,” New York Times, March 24, 1950; Leonard Lewin, “City Nips Ohio State, 56-55, After 40-40 Half,” Daily Mirror, March 24, 1950; Barney Nagler [Stan Isaacs], “City Beats Ohio State, 56-55, in NCAA Opener,” Daily Compass, March 24, 1950; Vincent Harding, “Beavers Eke By Ohio State, 56-55; Qualify for Semi-Finals Tomorrow,” The Campus, March 24, 1950.

Two-minute rule: See, for example, “2-Minute Rule Declared Unfair to Trailing Teams,” The Sporting News, December 21, 1949.

“The game was played last night”: Joe Gergen, “CCNY Doubles Its Pleasure,” The Sporting News, undated clipping.

Reynolds Coliseum seated 12,400 fans: Peeler, 47.

“All visiting teams”: Ibid., 100.

Head coach of Penn State had agreed: Bradsher, 92.

Matched NC State break for break: For accounts of the game, see Louis Effrat, “C.C.N.Y. Tops N.C. State, 78-73, in Eastern Final,” New York Times, March 26, 1950; Dana Mozley, New York Daily News, “NCAA East Title to City,” March 26, 1950; “Braves, City Make History,” United Press wire story, March 26, 1950; Stern, 61.

Had been working on in practice: Holman on Basketball, 23.

“You boys better shut up”: Dick Kaplan, “College Basketball’s Shooting Stars,” Our World, February 1951, 42.

“We confess”: “Under Two Flags,” New York Post, March 28, 1950.

“The opportunity for revenge”: “Bradley’s Braves Get Wish – Another Crack at Beavers,” Souvenir Program, 1950 NCAA East-West Finals, Bradley University vs. City College, March 28, 1950, 4.

Chapter 17

“When City College of New York”: Sullivan’s introduction can be seen in the HBO documentary City Dump: The Story of the 1951 CCNY Basketball Scandal, directed by George Roy and Steve Stern.

“Cinderella Kids”: See, for instance, Stan Isaacs, “Bradley Rated 3-Point Choice,” Daily Compass, March 19, 1950.

“Those riotous Dead Ends Kids”: Harold Weissman, “City 6 1/2, Bradley 4 Over Duquesne, St. John’s,” New York Daily Mirror, March 16, 1950.

“You’re going out there tonight”: Hannan Wexler interview, City Dump; Irving T. Marsh, “City College Five Is Acclaimed Amid Confetti, Clanging Bells,” New York Herald Tribune, March 30, 1950.

Into the room walked Jackie Robinson: Layne interview, June 9, 2014; Nadell interview, November 4, 2014.

Visited the campus: “Jackie Robinson Discusses ‘Y’ Work at Soc. Meeting,” The Campus, February 18, 1949.

“Feasible and imminent”: “Fans Okay Negroes in Big Leagues,” Pittsburgh Courier, February 15, 1947.

A college basketball star: Robinson played varsity basketball at UCLA from 1939 to 1941, and was selected as a Pacific Coast Conference second-team all-star. Chalk, 118.

“This is a great moment”: Layne interview, June 9, 2014.

Never been a black player: Fitzpatrick, 54.

325 of them: Madison Square Garden had twenty-nine spotlights and 296 lights of other types. Durso, 137.

The two referees: “Braves, Beavers Welcome Finish of Cage Season,” Peoria Star, March 29, 1950.

Eight minutes after ten: “City Five Cops NCAA Title, 71-68,” Peoria Star, March 29, 1950.

The players took their positions: For accounts of the game, see Louis Effrat, “City College Conquers Bradley for First Sweep of National Basketball Titles,” New York Times, March 29, 1950; Irving T. Marsh, “C.C.N.Y. Downs Bradley, 71-68; Wins National Basketball Title,” New York Herald Tribune, March 29, 1950; John Barrington, “CCNY A Team of Destiny in Copping Double Crown,” International News Service wire story, March 28, 1950; “CCNY Registers Grand Slam, 71-68,” Associated Press wire story, March 28, 1950; “City College Conquers Bradley, 71-68, to Gain First Hoop Grand Slam,” United Press wire story, March 28, 1950; “City Five Cops NCAA Title, 71-68,” Peoria Star, March 29, 1950; Marvin Kalb, “CHAMPS!!!” The Campus, March 29, 1950; “Braves Second,” The Bradley Scout, March 29, 1950.

Met at the airport: “Fans Welcome Braves Home,” Peoria Star, March 22, 1950.

TWA Constellation circling the city: “Braves Navigate in Fog Before New York Landing,” Peoria Star, March 28, 1950.

Dr. Vincent Nardiello: Saul Pett, “Madison Square Garden House Physician Never Runs Short of Variety,” Associated Press wire story, August 12, 1949.

Require five stitches to close: Sid Friedlander, “Mager… From Sub to Star,” New York Post, March 31, 1950; Irving T. Marsh, “C.C.N.Y. Downs Bradley, 71-68; Wins National Basketball Title,” New York Herald Tribune, March 29, 1950.

A piece of balsa wood: Hal Bock, “A Sweep that Stands Alone,” Associated Press wire story, March 12, 2000.

Half a dozen physicians: Joe Goldstein, “Let’s Hear One Last ‘Allagaroo’ for City College,” New York Times, April 1, 1990.

“After losing all that blood”: Sid Friedlander, “Mager… From Sub to Star,” New York Post, March 31, 1950.

“Four Horsemen” play: Sand interview; Holman on Basketball, 171-172; Nelson W. Nitchman, “The NCAA 1950 Basketball Finals,” The Athletic Journal, May 1950, 28-30, 51-53.

“A tall, handsome, agile young man”: Leonard Koppett, “Dambrot, of City College, Wins Trophy as Outstanding Player,” New York Herald Tribune, March 29, 1950.

Isaacs had grown up: Mark Herrmann, “Stan Isaacs, Former Newsday Sports Columnist, Dead at 83,” Newsday, April 3, 2013.

“This was more than a basketball victory”: Stan Isaacs, “It’s the ‘Greatest’ Thrill – Until a ‘Greater’ One Comes Along,” Daily Compass, December 26, 1951. Isaacs refers to the team as “Jewish and Negro kids mostly,” but in fact every member of the team was either Jewish or African-American.

Chapter 18

“It was ‘Allagaroo’”: Irving Spiegel, “C.C.N.Y. Rallies, Parades Hail Basketball Feat,” New York Times, March 30, 1950.

“Nearly all of New York”: Irving T. Marsh, “City College Five Is Acclaimed Amid Confetti, Clanging Bells,” New York Herald Tribune, March 30, 1950;

“Lavender tint”: Jerome Edelberg and Philip Santora, “Eager Beavers Paint the Whole Town Lavender,” Daily Mirror, March 30, 1950.

“Greatest thing that ever happened”: Irving Spiegel, “C.C.N.Y. Rallies, Parades Hail Basketball Feat,” New York Times, March 30, 1950.

“We were all basketball fans”: Selma Wassermann phone interview, March 30, 2015.

“There was elation”: Mort Sheinman interview, New York City, February 9, 2014.

“From one end of the country”: Marvin Kalb, “The College Basketball Victory that Seemed too Good to Be True – and Was,” www.theatlantic.com, April 25, 2013.

“We were the immigrants”: Jacobson interview.

“Everybody shared in the victory”: Ron Nadell interview, City Dump.

“Our boys … our champs”: “Allagaroo!” New York Herald Tribune, March 30, 1950; “Cheers for Our Champs,” New York Daily Mirror, March 20, 1950.

“Not that they did it for us”: Wexler interview, City Dump.

“We were invited”: Herb Cohen interview.

“Glittering array of celebrities”: Joe Bostic, “The Scoreboard,” New York Amsterdam News, April 1, 1950. See also “Portrait of a Champion,” New York Amsterdam News, April 8, 1950.

“Tex and Jinx”: Sid Miller, “PET Rally Closes Out Cage Season,” The Ticker, April 4, 1950.

Full-page photograph: “LIFE Congratulates . . . C.C.N.Y. and Joins in ‘Allagaroo’ for Its Basketball Champs,” Life, April 10, 1950, 42.

Bust of Abraham Lincoln: The bust was presented to City College in 1908 by the sculptor, Gutzon Borglum (best known as the sculptor of Mount Rushmore), and is still on campus today; the two others made from the original cast are located at the White House and Lincoln’s gravesite.

“Nobody allows the assistant coach”: Sand interview.

“My father got us up”: Wendie Sand interview; also Wendie Sand email to author, May 30, 2017.

“Kiss my white Jewish ass”: Gloria Mandels White phone interview, March 30, 2015.

Commemorative Bulova watches: Nadell interview, March 7, 2014; Morty Schwartz interview.

“It looked as if the whole town”: Bradley Scout, March 30, 1950.

WAS SQUEAKY FOULED?: Fay, 65.

“Movies show ‘Squeaky’ driving in”: “Films Show How Braves Got Business,” Peoria Star, April 1, 1950.

“Definitely” no foul: “’No One Hit Him,’ Referee Says of Melchiorre Shot,” New York Herald Tribune, March 30, 1950.

“One of our home-state boys”: Wilner and Rappoport, 126.

“We didn’t lose”: Edwards-Lindstrom, 74. According to Victory, Honor & Glory, the final play of the 1950 NCAA championship game “would gall the Bradley faithful for decades.” In 1979 Paul Unruh told Ken Rappoport, the author of a history of the NCAA tournament, “It was really a traumatic experience. In fact, it still is. We’ve lived with that game to this day. It still hurts thirty years later.” Rappoport, 74.

“There is no mistake about it”: “How Bradley Lost that NCAA Title,” Peoria Star, March 31, 1950.

“This is a fascinating remark”: “Sis-Boom-Bah,” New York Post, March 30, 1950.

“The offer was just too good”: “Flash!!!,” Observation Post, April 26, 1950.

104th commencement: “City College Is Set to Graduate 3,710,” New York Times, June 15, 1950.

“Members of the plainclothes squad”: “Report of Special Investigation by the District Attorney of Kings County, and the December 1949 Grand Jury,” in Chin, 84.

Chapter 19

“You should get a diploma”: Brown, 111.

Basketball games featuring college stars: Cohen, 97-99; Kanfer, 103, 210; Frommer and Frommer, Catskills, 123-125; “Borscht Basketball,” Life, August 28, 1950, 63-69; “A Hoop-Crazy Mountain,” Scholastic Coach, November 1950, 5, 62.

“Where did you play your ball?”: Frommer and Frommer, Catskills, 125.

Every morning he rose at 7:30: Patti Posner phone interview, June 17, 2017; Larry Weiner, “Summer Basketball: Borscht Circuit Cagers Earn Pay,” New York Post, August 1, 1950.

“Scarfing”: Brown, 168.

Working in the Grossinger’s boathouse: “Borscht Basketball,” Life, August 28, 1950.

Ned Harvey’s Orchestra: Posner interview.

Exhibition game … women’s varsity basketball team: The name of the team, regrettably enough, was the Lady Beavers. Dan Sanders, “Girl Hoopsters Tie Grand Slam Champs in Rough Contest,” The Campus, May 11, 1950; Anita Friedman Plaxe phone interview, March 24, 2015; White interview.

“You serve spoiled food”: Larry Weiner, “Summer Basketball: Southern Cagers Quit Resort Life,” New York Post, August 8, 1950.

Wrapped in lap robes: Larry Weiner, “Summer Basketball: Coaching Jobs Open to Pro Aces,” New York Post, August 29, 1950.

Hat containing numbered slips of paper: For more on the basketball pools, see Kanfer, 210-211; Frommer and Frommer, Catskills, 125; Paul Schmones testimony, In the Matter of Charges Preferred Against Nat Holman and Harry Robert Sand, 2168-2175; Sam Winograd testimony, Ibid., 1299-1300.

The proposition was simple enough: Kanfer, 103, 210-212; Rosen, Scandals, 43-44.

“Teams didn’t throw games”: Frommer and Frommer, Catskills, 125.

Suits were custom made: Rice, 245.

Sollazzo’s personal history: The most extensive history of Salvatore Sollazzo is in Robert Rice’s book The Business of Crime, pages 237-250. See also Rosen, 44-47; “What Made Sollazzo Run? – Story of Man in a Bad Fix,” New York Daily Mirror, February 22, 1951.

“Raven-haired”: See, for instance, “Wife Vows to Stick by Sollazzo,” New York Journal-American, February 20, 1951.

Eddie Gard: See Background Material on Eddie Gard, 79 Avenue Z, Brooklyn, N.Y., New York County District Attorney’s Office, 1951.

In charge of LIU’s point-shaving: Rosen, 37; Kanfer, 211-212.

“He could have been a bookie”: Herb Cohen interview, April 22, 2014.

“A wheeler-dealer”: Trubowitz interview.

“Eddie was lovable”: Kanfer, 211.

“A diseased gambler”: Rice, 245.

“Two cockroaches running across the floor”: Milton Gross, “Sol Levy Tells His Story,” New York Post, November 5, 1951.

Four-bedroom apartment: Fred Curran, “Fixer’s Wife Tells of Ordeal with DA,” New York Journal-American, February 28, 1951.

$450 a month in rent: Malcolm Logan and Alvin Davis, “Aggressive, Flashy, and a Plunger – That’s a Brother’s View of Sollazzo,” New York Post, February 21, 1951; Rice, 237.

Lost a quarter of a million dollars: Rice, 245.

Life of opulence: Fred Curran, “Fixer’s Wife Tells of Ordeal with DA,” New York Journal-American, February 28, 1951; “Say Fixer ‘Schooled’ Pet – But Ignored Son,” New York Journal-American, March 7, 1951.

A whole city full of crooked teams: See the discussion in Rosen, Scandals, 44.

Chapter 20

Room 405: “Brooklyn’s Marathon Grand Jury,” Life, July 9, 1951, 75-83.

“Bookmaking ring whose ramifications”: Ed Reid, “Crime Quiz Puts 6 Cops on Spot,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, April 18, 1950.

“Had paid the cops”: Mockridge and Prall, 180.

“Nobody had the guts”: Ibid., 183.

“That knucklehead”: Ibid.

“It may have been a justifiable label”: O’Dwyer, 278.

“Ready wit and sense of humor”: “We Need Sense of Humor, Mayor Tells Menzies,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, August 4, 1950.

“It seems to me”: Mockridge and Prall, 228. See also “Flynn Not Harried in Racket Probe, Leibowitz Asserts,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, July 29, 1950.

“I went to Brooklyn”: Ibid., 229.

“I somehow felt things getting away”: O’Dwyer, 338.

Bogs and stone huts: O’Dwyer, 108.

Not elected a single Republican: Flynn, 34. The sole exception to unitary Democratic rule came in 1948, when a young left-wing lawyer named Leo Isaacson won a Congressional seat while running on the American Labor Party ticket.

“In like Flynn”: Eric Partridge, A Dictionary of Catch Phrases from the Sixteenth Century to the Present Day (London: Routledge, 2003), 247.

Thirteen-room penthouse: Rovere, “Nothing,” 30.

He often flew to Kentucky: Moscow, 88. In 1944 Flynn sold his fifty-thousand-acre ranch in Nevada to Bing Crosby. Rovere, “Nothing,” 28.

Uncomfortable in crowds: Rovere, “Nothing,” 28.

Abhorred back-slapping: Jean Edward Smith, FDR (New York: Random House, 207), 225; Moscow, 85.

Jobs … local Republican party: Moscow, 85.

“Amateur politicians”: Jonnes, 86.

Mayoral election on the same day: Moscow, 87; Mockridge and Prall, 235.

Convincing party leaders: Moscow, 88.

“Don’t worry”: Mockridge and Prall, 236.

It was almost midnight: This scene is derived from the account in Mockridge and Prall, 236.

Flowered Charvet tie: Jonnes, 49.

Poured them a pair of whiskeys: This is supposition, based on the fact that both men had a known taste for whiskey. See, for instance, “The Big Bonanza,” Time, June 7, 1948, 26; Rovere, “Nothing,” 28.

At six o’clock: Warren Moscow, “Naming of O’Dwyer as Envoy to Mexico Is Held Imminent,” New York Times, August 15, 1950.

“I had a conversation”: Alexander Feinberg, “Truman ‘Sold’ Job to Him, Mayor Says,” New York Times, August 16, 1950.

Would resign his office: See, for instance, Paul Crowell, “’Out of Politics,’ O’Dwyer Declares,” New York Times, August 17, 1950. In its account of the mayoral resignation the New York Times presented the sequence of events that William O’Dwyer would later assert in his memoir – that O’Dwyer himself had asked Ed Flynn to intervene with President Truman to give him the ambassadorship – but few New Yorkers were willing to accept that explanation at face value. The New York Post noted, for instance, “A persistent report in Democratic circles had it that Bronx Boss Flynn had engineered the Mexico appointment for O’Dwyer to eliminate him as a possible issue in deliberations of the state convention,” strengthening the idea a few days later: “There now appears little doubt but that Flynn, as National Democratic Committeeman from New York, submitted the name of Mayor O’Dwyer to President Truman for appointment as Ambassador to Mexico and then pulled the strings which made the nomination a reality.” See O’Dwyer, 337; Edward Katcher and Robert G. Spivack, “O’Dwyer Conferring with Truman; May Quit City Hall to Become Envoy,” New York Post, August 15, 1950; Al Sostchen, “O’Dwyer Coup Makes Flynn Party’s Boss in City, State,” New York Post, August 17, 1950; Ellis, 572.

“I am saying this morning”: Paul Crowell, “Mayor Bids Board a Tearful Good-by; Pension Approved,” New York Times, August 18, 1950.

“One of the most shocking appointments”: Mockridge and Prall, 245.

The City Clerk received a letter: Paul Crowell, “Impellitteri Takes Full City Powers,” New York Times, September 3, 1950.

Burst into Room 1116: See the account in Mockridge and Prall, 1-4.

Chapter 21

A detective named Theresa Scagnelli: Mockridge and Prall, 154-157; Arm, 66-68.

“This is a woman”: Mockridge and Prall, 165.

“He had a sharp mind”: Ibid., 19.

Though he was bright: For biographical details on Harry Gross, see Mockridge and Prall, 19-38; Robert D. McFadden, “The Lonely Death of a Man Who Made a Scandal,” New York Times, April 5, 1986.

Jimmy Reardon: For biographical details on Jimmy Reardon, see Mockridge and Prall, 33-35. In 1980 James Reardon published a lightly veiled autobiographical novel about his career with Harry Gross, entitled The Sweet Life of Jimmy Riley.

Flatbush section of Brooklyn: Today that location would be considered part of Crown Heights.

Conducted inside precinct houses: See “overt acts” numbers 12, 19, and 21 in the final report submitted by the Kings County December 1949 grand jury. Chin, 39-41.

Payment plans: See Gross’s statement in Walsh, 181.

“Double ice”: Ibid., 182.

Empty bushel basket: Arm, 203.

“The basic objective”: Chin, 73.

Officers … destroyed the tapes: Ibid.

“Should have been a written record”: “Indict 2 Cops in Gross Case,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, October 27, 1950.

Join him for a small party: Mockridge and Prall, 37-38.

“You fat jerk”: Ibid., 35.

He was placing his bets: This section is drawn from slightly divergent accounts in Mockridge and Prall, 35-36; and Arm, 177-178.

“Make yourself comfortable”: Mockridge and Prall, 4.

“It’s nice to have you with us”: Ibid., 9.

“What should I do?”: The transcript of the closed-door meeting between Leibowitz and Gross is in Arm, 104-108.

“I have a hunch”: Walter Arm quotes Gross as referring to “a lot of worried people in the city.” Norton Mockridge and Robert H. Prall quote him as saying that there would be “a lot of sleepless heads in New York tonight.” Arm, 86; Mockridge and Prall, 18.

Chapter 22

United Press poll: Joe King, “’No Longer Sweetheart of Crowds,’” The Sporting News, undated clipping. See also Stan Opotowsky, “CCNY, Kentucky, Bradley Rate 1-2-3 In UP’s Weekly Cage Poll,” United Press wire story, December 6, 1950.

Asked of him everywhere: Nat Holman, “Can We Repeat?” The City College Alumnus, December 1950, 3; “Holman in Berkshire Talks About Prospects for CCNY,” Berkshire Eagle, September 12, 1950.

“A strange electrical charge”: Larry Gralla, “Cagers’ War-Dance,” The Campus, October 27, 1950.

Handkerchief no longer dangled: Ibid.

“Club must repeat”: Leonard Ansell, “City College Whiz Kid,” New York World- Telegram and Sun, undated clipping.

“Quietly and cautiously”: Morton Sheinman, “A New Coach – A New Attitude,” The Campus, November 7, 1950.

A virtual all-star team: Cohen, 99.

“The first time I met Sollazzo”: Jerry Izenberg and the CCNY 1950 Grand Slam TEAM Partnership, When Foul Was Fair: The Real Story Behind the 1949-51 CCNY Basketball Scandal, undated book proposal.

“I’m back in school now”: Leonard Ansell, “City College Whiz Kid,” New York World-Telegram and Sun, undated clipping.

Warner might begin to wonder: Roberts, 88.

Without the participation of his co-captain: Richard Roman e-mail to author, September 18, 2017.

Initially Warner had seemed not interested: “Edward Warner,” Outline of Proof as to Various Counts of the Indictment, District Attorney’s Office of the County of New York, 1951.

Fifteen thousand dollars a year: Ibid.

“When Eddie Gard recruited me”: Jerry Izenberg and the CCNY 1950 Grand Slam TEAM Partnership, When Foul Was Fair: The Real Story Behind the 1949-51 CCNY Basketball Scandal, undated book proposal.

Take Roth and Roman: Roberts, 88; Cohen, 101; “Find $3,050 ‘Fix,’” New York Journal-American, February 19, 1951. Frank Hogan’s handwritten notes regarding the interrogation of Solazzo, Gard, and the players on February 19, 1951 also contain this notation: “(2) knew (4) for many years HS basketball. Talked to (4) then shortly after talked to (3). Agreed to meet (1) at CPW [Central Park West] one evening after game, beginning of Dec.” In Hogan’s notes, (1) refers to Salvatore Sollazzo; (2) to Eddie Gard; (3) to Eddie Roman; (4) to Al Roth. Notes contained in research materials for the 1998 HBO documentary City Dump: The Story of the 1951 CCNY Basketball Scandal, directed by George Roy and Steve Stern; provided to the author by George Roy.

Beavers finally held on to win: Sid Friedlander, “Squeaker in Garden Hints Woes Ahead for Beavers,” New York Post, December 6, 1950. In his book The Business of Crime, Robert Rice suggested that Salvatore Sollazzo paid Ed Warner and Floyd Layne $500 apiece to exceed the point spread in the game against BYU. “They did their best,” he wrote, “but their fellow players, Roman and Roth, played so poorly that City College lost the game and Sollazzo lost five thousand dollars” (Rice, 258). There is no evidence for this claim. None of the players were ever charged with accepting money to fix the Brigham Young game, and no mention of that game was made in the Manhattan DA’s Outline of Proof as to Various Counts of the Indictment; nor was the BYU game discussed in the subsequent Board of Higher Education hearings. Moreover, it hardly needs to be stated that City College did not lose the game, as Rice claimed, but won 71-69; and that far from playing poorly, Eddie Roman scored 26 points – more than any other player on either team – while Floyd Layne scored only nine.

Eighteenth floor: Malcolm Logan and Alvin Davis, “Aggressive, Flashy, and a Plunger – That’s a Brother’s View of Sollazzo,” New York Post, February 21, 1951; Rice, 237, 245.

Made of orange brick: For a description of the Majestic, see Christopher Gray, “Where the Name Says It All,” New York Times, August 12, 2007.

“Good evening, Mr. Logan”: This was the alias Gard used on all his appointments with Sollazzo at the Majestic. Rice, 254; Kanfer, 213; “Feurtado,” Outline of Proof as to Various Counts of the Indictment, District Attorney’s Office of the County of New York, 1951.

Star sapphire pinky ring: “Gard Tells Jury How ‘Fixes’ Work,’ Washington Post, March 6, 1951.

Salvatore Sollazzo’s apartment: Fred Curran, “Fixer’s Wife Tells of Ordeal with DA,” New York Journal-American, February 28, 1951.

He wanted to make it clear: This description has been drawn from numerous accounts of Sollazzo’s overtures to players. See, for instance, Kanfer, 213.

“A considerable sum of money”: Roberts, 88.

A bulk that conveyed authority: Ibid., 212.

Coincidence seemed too obvious: See the discussion in Cohen, 136.

Liked to host lavish parties: See, for instance, “Wife Vows to Stick by Sollazzo,” New York Journal-American, February 20, 1951; Malcolm Logan and Alvin Davis, “Aggressive, Flashy, and a Plunger – That’s a Brother’s View of Sollazzo,” New York Post, February 21, 1951; Milton Gross, “Sol Levy Tells His Story,” New York Post, November 5, 1951.

Players would each receive $1,500: Danforth and Horan, 339; Roberts, 57.

“Forget it”: “Layne’s Arrest Spurs DA’s Search for Second ‘Money Man’ Behind Fix,” New York Post, February 28, 1951; “Floyd Layne,” Outline of Proof as to Various Counts of the Indictment, District Attorney’s Office of the County of New York, 1951; Layne interview, June 9, 2014.

“That stopped me in my tracks”: Layne interview, June 9, 2014.

Sat home with his books: Layne, 82.

He would stop and coach them: Jerry Domershick interview, Delray Beach, Florida, April 24, 2014.

Shooing away the gamblers: Al White, “Cage Payoffs Old Stuff in New York,” Philadelphia Tribune, March 13, 1951.

“Well, I’m going to make sure”: Layne interview, June 9, 2014.

Attended a basketball game together: “Floyd Layne,” Outline of Proof as to Various Counts of the Indictment, District Attorney’s Office of the County of New York, 1951; Layne interview, June 9, 2014; “Layne’s Arrest Spurs DA’s Search for Second ‘Money Man’ Behind Fix,” New York Post, February 28, 1951.

“I’m the payoff man”: “Layne’s Arrest Spurs DA’s Search for Second ‘Money Man’ Behind Fix,” New York Post, February 28, 1951.

Would let him know: “Floyd Layne,” Outline of Proof as to Various Counts of the Indictment, District Attorney’s Office of the County of New York, 1951.

“You might as well”: “Layne’s Arrest Spurs DA’s Search for Second ‘Money Man’ Behind Fix,” New York Post, February 28, 1951.

Account for his whereabouts: Floyd Layne undated interview with Charley Rosen, provided to the author.

Watching him play youth football: Layne interview, February 17, 2015.

Work clothes folded in a paper bag: A vivid and poignant undercover account of the work lives of Bronx cleaning women was provided by the African-American journalist Marvel Cooke in a series of articles in the Daily Compass newspaper. See, for instance, “I Was a Part of the Bronx Slave Market,” Daily Compass, January 8, 1950. See also Rosenblum, 152-157.

“Bet on Missouri”: Ira Citron phone interview, April 30, 2015.

“Hey, kid”: Larry Gralla interview, Hartsdale, New York, September 30, 2014.

Margin had gone down to six: Leonard Shecter, “Beaver Dumps Followed Pattern,” New York Post, February 19, 1951.

“Missouri did not rate highly”: For accounts of the game, see Michael Strauss, “Missouri Topples City College Five at Garden, 54 to 37,” New York Times, December 10, 1950; David Eisenberg, “Perfect Cage Planning Set Up City for Upset,” New York Journal-American, December 11, 1950; Milton Gross, “Speaking Out,” New York Post, December 11, 1950; Bill Wanek, “Can Hoopsters Rebound? Answer Tonight,” The Campus, December 14, 1950.

A disciplined ball-control strategy: In an era of college basketball when teams typically took about eighty shots in a game, on this night Missouri took only fifty-four.

Eddie Gard … Fifth Avenue: “Edward Warner,” Outline of Proof as to Various Counts of the Indictment, District Attorney’s Office of the County of New York, 1951.

They weren’t going to get paid: Ibid.

Gard introduced him as “Sol”: “Edward Warner,” Outline of Proof as to Various Counts of the Indictment, District Attorney’s Office of the County of New York, 1951.

Lowered one of the sun visors: Ibid.

“My friend is okay”: Ibid.

Buried the bundle in a flowerpot: Layne interview, February 17, 2015; Rosen, Scandals, 132; Cohen, 121; Ira Berkow, “Final Four, A Look Back: Scandal, the Unwanted Scar of Triumph,” New York Times, March 29, 1996.

Chapter 23

“What the hell’s happening”: Bobby Sand interview with Charley Rosen, November 4, 1976, provided to the author.

“Nat, get them out”: Rosen, Scandals, 104; Bobby Sand testimony, In the Matter of Charges Preferred Against Nat Holman and Harry Robert Sand, 1386-1387.

Brought his concerns to Frank Thornton: Bobby Sand interview.

Winograd asked him to identify: Sam Winograd testimony, In the Matter of Charges Preferred Against Nat Holman and Harry Robert Sand, 1256.

A meeting was arranged: “Edward Roman,” “Alvin Roth,” Outline of Proof as to Various Counts of the Indictment, District Attorney’s Office of the County of New York, 1951.

“Yawned, although politely”: Irving T. Marsh, “L.I.U. Subdues Georgetown, 75-66; City College Defeats Washington State, 59-43,” New York Herald Tribune, December 15, 1950.

Sollazzo hailed them a cab: “Alvin Roth,” Outline of Proof as to Various Counts of the Indictment, District Attorney’s Office of the County of New York, 1951.

A bar near Rockefeller Center: Jerry Izenberg and the CCNY 1950 Grand Slam TEAM Partnership, When Foul Was Fair: The Real Story Behind the 1949-51 CCNY Basketball Scandal, undated book proposal.

Crown publishing company: Sand interview; Nat Holman testimony, In the Matter of Charges Preferred Against Nat Holman and Harry Robert Sand, 3072.

A flat fee of $1,000: Holman testimony, Ibid., 3286.

Yellow lined notepaper: Wendie Sand interview.

Set up a filmstrip projector: Ibid.

“Greatest personalities”: Holman on Basketball, vi.

“In the preparation of this book”: Ibid., viii.

“The greatest basketball technician”: Scholastic Coach, January 1951, 56.

Headed out … Davega: Layne interview, February 17, 2015.

He had been saving up: Ibid.

Christmas Day game: “Layne’s Arrest Spurs DA’s Search for Second ‘Money Man’ Behind Fix,” New York Post, February 28, 1951.

Roman was questionable: For accounts of the toe injury and treatment, see Bobby Sand testimony, In the Matter of Charges Preferred Against Nat Holman and Harry Robert Sand, 1899; Sid Friedlander, “Post Hoop Experts Pick St. John’s,” New York Post, January 2, 1951; David Eisenberg, “Warner Doubtful,” New York Journal-American, January 2, 1951.

Maxtutis said that Ed’s knee was bad: Bobby Sand testimony, In the Matter of Charges Preferred Against Nat Holman and Harry Robert Sand, 1900.

“How’s the knee?”: Ibid.

Ed Warner did start the game: For accounts of the game, see Louis Effrat, “L.I.U. Trips Western Kentucky Quintet at Garden; Arizona Upsets C.C.N.Y.,” New York Times, December 29, 1950; “Arizona Hands City 3rd Loss of Year,” New York Post, December 29, 1950; David Eisenberg, “Warner Doubtful,” New York Journal-American, January 2, 1951.

Lift for a jump shot: That very month, Scholastic Coach magazine ran a sequence of photographs demonstrating how Ed Roman shot a free throw. The caption advised, “Notice how Roman comes up on his toes, and how the wrist turns over in the follow through.” “All-American Jump Shooting,” Scholastic Coach, December 1950, 9.

“Right now they look”: Sid Friedlander, “Holman Blames Lethargic Vets for Beavers’ Decline,” New York Post, Dec. 29, 1950.

“Has been playing great ball”: Sid Friedlander, “Post Hoop Experts Pick St. John’s,” New York Post, January 2, 1951.

101-degree fever: Ibid.

“You can take five stars”: Milton Gross, “Speaking Out,” New York Post, January 2, 1951.

Chapter 24

About the size of a double bed: The New Yorker, March 10, 1951.

Nervous and agitated: Mockridge and Prall, 16.

An extraordinary night session: Walter Arm, “Top Bookie Taken in Raid by McDonald,” New York Herald Tribune, September 16, 1950; Arm, 90-98.

Irving Goldstein: Walter Arm, “Bookie Stooge Tells of $100 Fee for ‘Taking’ a Rigged Arrest,” New York Herald Tribune, March 6, 1951.

A “hat”: David Freeman, “Lifestyle of a Pimp,” New York, May 5, 1969, 39.

“Unimpeachable sources”: “O’Brien Is Ousted by Impellitteri,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, September 24, 1950.

Police graduation exercises: Paul Crowell, “O’Brien Out as Police Head; Murphy of Hiss Case Named,” New York Times, September 26, 1950; Walter Arm, “O’Brien Out,” New York Herald Tribune, September 26, 1950; “Changing of the Guard,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, September 26, 1950; Mockridge and Prall, 250.

“I believe Bill O’Brien”: Ed Reid, “2 Top Aides of O’Brien Quit as Murphy Takes Helm,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, September 26, 1950.

The Emerald Society: Daniel Patrick Moynihan, “The Irish,” in Making the Irish American: History and Heritage of the Irish in the United States, edited by J. J. Lee and Marion R. Casey (New York: New York University Press, 2006), 503.

“An organization of Irish policemen”: Calvin Trillin, “Democracy in Action,” in Ibid., 540.

“The number one St. John’s rooter”: Ben Gould, “On the Rebound,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, December 7, 1949.

“Kidded a great deal”: “O’Brien,” March 6, 1949, notes. Speeches, Grand Jury Association, Box 10. Frank Smithwick Hogan Papers, Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University.

Department of Sanitation truck: Milton Gross, “Zawoluk Wasn’t for Sale,” Sport, March 1952, 19.

Jaundice that he had contracted: Chansky, 26.

“When McGuire showed up”: Milton Gross, “Zawoluk Wasn’t for Sale,” Sport, March 1952, 60.

Tall and lean: For descriptions of McGuire, see Chansky, 26-27, 61; Menzer, 46.

“He may not have conspired”: Bradsher, 58.

“No, no, you don’t get it”: Ibid.

“Personal rooting section”: Milton Gross, “Speaking Out,” New York Post, January 15, 1951.

“Frank McGuire and the Commissioner”: Frank Mulzoff phone interview, June 17, 2015.

“Something of a ward”: Milton Gross, “Zawoluk Wasn’t for Sale,” Sport, March 1952, 60.

“More than a rooting interest”: Ibid.

Chapter 25

“We were great friends”: Mulzoff interview.

“Zeke”: The name had been bestowed on him by Dick McGuire. In high school Zawoluk had undergone a tremendous growth spurt, and as his family didn’t have much money for new clothes, he showed up at the schoolyard one day in jeans that were several inches too short; McGuire thought he looked like a hick and named him after Zeke Manners, “the Jewish hillbilly,” a popular radio personality of the time.

Lip-synced to Andrews Sisters songs: Laub interview.

Gossip columnist Leonard Lyons: Milton Gross, “Zawoluk Wasn’t for Sale,” Sport, March 1952, 59.

Prompting Bobby Sand: Milton Gross, “Big Men Big Question Tonight,” Souvenir Program, City College vs. St. John’s, January 2, 1951.

“Favored”: “St. John’s Five Favored,” New York Times, January 2, 1951.

Received a Novocaine shot: For accounts of the game, see David Eisenberg, “Roman’s Brilliance Softens 4th City Loss, Outplays Zawoluk,” New York Journal-American, January 3, 1951; Sid Friedlander, “Roman Hoop Hero in Beavers’ Loss,” New York Post, January 3, 1951; Louis Effrat, “St. John’s Beats City College, Manhattan Routs Dartmouth Five at Garden,” New York Times, January 3, 1951.

Sports editor Max Kase: “Max Kase Is Dead; Sports Editor, 75,” New York Times, March 20, 1974; “Max Kase,” The Complete Biographical Encyclopedia of Pulitzer Prize Winners, 1917-2000, edited by Heinz Dietrich Fischer (Munich: K.G. Saur, 2002), 122.

Regular night-time pinochle game: Dave Anderson interview.

“Every third guy”: Ralph Schoenstein, Superman and Son (New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1995), 78.

Kase began spending time: “Catching the Fix,” Time, March 5, 1951, 50.

Young basketball writers: The reporters were David Eisenberg and Til Ferdenzi. Max Kase, “Here’s How J-A Helped D.A. Hogan Crack Cage Fix,” New York Journal-American, February 21, 1951.

He and … Lewis Burton: Ibid; Danforth, 337; Hogan, 210.

Almost clerical manner: Rovere, “Father Hogan’s Place,” 36.

“Very, very helpful”: “Find $3,050 ‘Fix,’” New York Journal-American, February 19, 1951.

Give the paper inside information: Rosen, Scandals, 115. Frank Hogan’s datebook for February 19, 1951 (the day after the arrests), includes this notation: “Max Kase – Sports Ed.”

Agreed to the deal: In 1952 Max Kase was awarded a Pulitzer Special Citation “for his exclusive exposures of bribery and other forms of corruption in the popular American sport of basketball, which exposures tended to restore confidence in the game’s integrity.”

Ordered a wiretap: Danforth and Horan, 337.

The only one of the Beavers: “Holman to Rest After City Flop,” New York Journal-American, January 12, 1951.

Envelope containing only $1,400: “Alvin Roth,” “Edward Roman,” Outline of Proof as to Various Counts of the Indictment, District Attorney’s Office of the County of New York, 1951; “Al Roth’s Own Story!” New York Journal-American, February 19, 1951.

Favored by seven: Dave Anderson, “When Sherman White Threw It All Away,” New York Times, March 22, 1998; “7 Curious Games,” Daily Compass, February 21, 1951.

“Howled in indignation”: “3 on Another Team Drive Fancy Cars,” New York World-Telegram and Sun, February 19, 1951. The article does not cite the college team by name, but it is clearly Long Island University.

Clair Bee showed them: Rosen, Scandals, 114.

“I thought it was over”: Dave Anderson, “When Sherman White Threw It All Away,” New York Times, March 22, 1998.

Into his bookies for $75,000: Rice, 261.

160 ounces of gold a day: See the discussion in Ibid., 246-250.

Fundraising committee for the ASPCA: “Wife Vows to Stick by Sollazzo,” New York Journal-American, February 20, 1951; Alvin Doyle and Philip Santora, “3 Top Players of LIU Questioned by Hogan,” Daily Mirror, February 20, 1951.

“The big boss”: “Layne’s Arrest Spurs DA’s Search for Second ‘Money Man’ Behind Fix,” New York Post, February 28, 1951.

Arrests of two former players: Philip J. Kanter, “’Biggest Guy’ Hunted in Hoop Bribery; Other College Fives Face Fix Probe,” New York Post, January 18, 1951; Cohen, 80-87; Figone, 27.

“Cancer”: “Sees No Pro ‘Fix’ Threat,” New York Journal-American, January 19, 1951.

“Termites”: “Young Businessmen,” Newsweek, January 29, 1951.

“Calloused greed”: Rosen, Scandals, 6.

“I don’t like to see anything happen”: Sid Friedlander, “Coaches Can Warn – That’s All!” New York Post, January 18, 1951.

“It seems unbelievable”: Stan Isaacs, “Police Seeking More ‘Dumpers,’” Daily Compass, January 18, 1951.

“Is basketball honest?”: Stan Isaacs, “Oh, It’s Dumping Time Again Among the Court Hotshots,” Daily Compass, January 10, 1951.

“They want to stop”: Stan Isaacs, “Everybody Talks About ‘Dumps,’ But Nobody Does Anything,” Daily Compass, January 17, 1951.

Sixty-six counts: Milton Honig, “Gross’ Guilty Plea Cuts Trial Short,” New York Times, January 24, 1951.

“Startling”: “Gross Pleads Guilty!” New York Journal-American, January 23, 1951.

Chapter 26

In the Catskills on vacation: Cohen, 102.

“Why pick on us”: Figone, 27.

Considered turning themselves in: Cohen, 102.

Attended a Christmas party: “New College Involved: More Players Face Arrest,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, February 28, 1951.

Gold-velvet bedcover: Fred Curran, “Fixer’s Wife Tells of Ordeal with DA,” New York Journal-American, February 28, 1951.

Done with point shaving: Rosen, Scandals, 115; Rice, 261.

“Sally”: “Detective Belsky,” Outline of Proof as to Various Counts of the Indictment, District Attorney’s Office of the County of New York, 1951. See also George Grady and Erwin Savelson, “U.S. Jurors Examine Sollazzo’s Returns,” New York Daily Mirror, February 24, 1951; Rosen, Scandals, 121-122.

Having missed only four shots: Frank O’Gara, “CCNY Tops Temple, 95-71; St. Joseph’s Bows,” Philadelphia Inquirer, February 18, 1951.

“Trounced”: “City College Five Trounces Temple,” Associated Press wire story, February 17, 1951.

“The Lavender five”: “Trio Set Records in Last Outing Sat.,” Observation Post, February 20, 1951.

More than any team: “City Five Set Mark Beating Owls, 95-71,” New York Journal-American, February 18, 1951.

The 11:26 train: Official Guide of the Railways and Steam Navigation Lines of the United States, Porto Rico, Canada, Mexico, and Cuba (New York: National Railway Publication Co.), January 1951, 306.

Ina noticed the two men: Ina Segal-Gonick phone interview, March 25, 2015.

The train passed New Brunswick: Zander Hollander, “Double Title Hollow Now to Holman,” New York World-Telegram and Sun, February 19, 1951.

Identified himself as Abraham Belsky: The two detectives were Abraham Belsky and George Jaeger. Cohen, 96. Nat Holman told a reporter from the Journal-American that only one of the detectives entered his roomette. “Holman to Boys: ‘Tell Them Everything,” New York Journal-American, February 19, 1951. In the HBO documentary City Dump, detective George Jaeger says, “Abe got hold of Nat Holman.”

“I think you ought”: “Holman Shocked,” New York Journal-American, February 19, 1951.

District Attorney would prefer: Sid Friedlander, “Holman Waited, But Roman Never Called,” New York Post, February 19, 1951.

“A City College man”: Sam Winograd testimony, In the Matter of Charges Preferred Against Nat Holman and Harry Robert Sand, 1290.

Fix in a game against Syracuse: Leonard Cohen, “The Sports Parade,” New York Post, January 16, 1948; “Athletic Director of CCNY Scoffs at Rumor of ‘Fix,’” Boston Globe, January 20, 1948; Sam Winograd testimony, In the Matter of Charges Preferred Against Nat Holman and Harry Robert Sand, 1242; Jerry Izenberg and the CCNY 1950 Grand Slam TEAM Partnership, When Foul Was Fair: The Real Story Behind the 1949-51 CCNY Basketball Scandal, undated book proposal.

“Told my father”: Russell, 13-14. John Russell recalls the conversation as having taken place in an upper level of Madison Square Garden, but also notes that “there would never be a reason for my father to be up there, much less for him to encounter another coach by chance there. I may have misplaced the incident – I was present, but only while driving home was I told what had transpired – and wonder whether some trick of memory, which does not want me to place a more or less painful event down near the courtside seats, has caused me to relegate it to those smoky and dark upper regions.”

Only reporter to have been notified: Gildea, 215. Hogan’s diary entry for February 17, 1951, includes this: “Notified Journal-American (Max Kase) that we intended to bring in some basketball players.” 1951 Diary, Box 36, Frank Smithwick Hogan papers, Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University.

“These men are detectives”: Various sources provide slightly different versions of Holman’s statement. See, for instance, “Holman to Boys: ‘Tell Them Everything,’” New York Journal-American, February 19, 1951; Zander Hollander, “Double Title Hollow Now to Holman,” New York World-Telegram and Sun, February 19, 1951; “Stunned Holman Asks Players to ‘Tell All,’” International News Service, February 19, 1951. Also Jerry Izenberg and the CCNY 1950 Grand Slam TEAM Partnership, When Foul Was Fair: The Real Story Behind the 1949-51 CCNY Basketball Scandal, undated book proposal; Nadell interview, November 4, 2014.

Coat collar turned up: George Jaeger interview, City Dump.

Last words Nat Holman ever spoke: Ed Roman undated interview with Charley Rosen, provided to the author.

“Roman never called”: Sid Friedlander, “Holman Waited, But Roman Never Called,” New York Post, February 19, 1951.

Already assigned … Bobby Sand: Sand interview; Rosen, Scandals, 120.

Attending a cousin’s wedding: Richard Roman interview; Cassotta interview.

Feared that his train had crashed: Alvin Davis, “’… I Won’t Believe It,’” New York Post, February 19, 1951.

In the presence of a miracle: Layne interview, February 17, 2015; see also Rosen, Scandals, 120.

District Attorney’s private entrance: Cunningham, 9.

Dozens of lawyers … process servers: Rovere, “Father Hogan’s Place,” 40.

Twenty detectives: Frank Hogan diary entry, February 17, 1951. Box 36, Frank Smithwick Hogan papers, Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University.

Arrived at ten o’clock: Ibid.

Separate interrogation rooms: Nadell interview, November 4, 2014.

Inside one of them: The information in this section has been drawn from a number of sources, including: Jerry Izenberg and the CCNY 1950 Grand Slam TEAM Partnership, When Foul Was Fair: The Real Story Behind the 1949-51 CCNY Basketball Scandal, undated book proposal; Danforth, 338-339; Hogan, 211-212; “Actual Statement of Ed Warner at Precinct,” research materials for HBO documentary City Dump; Vincent O’Connor interview, City Dump; Nadell interview, November 4, 2014.

“Did you give this boy money, Eddie?”: Danforth, 339.

Served in the Merchant Marines: Background Material on Eddie Gard, 79 Avenue Z, Brooklyn, N.Y., New York County District Attorney’s Office, 1951.

Buy fresh rolls and rye bread: Richard Roman interview.

“Roman was next”: Frank Hogan diary entry, February 18, 1951. Box 36, Frank Smithwick Hogan papers, Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University.

He rushed to the window: In his memoir The D.A.’s Man Harold Danforth wrote that “one player tried to leap from the seventh-floor window of the D.A.’s office,” but did not indicate which player it was. Danforth, 327. In his diary entry for February 18, 1951, however, Frank Hogan wrote that Eddie Gard “helped with Roth, who I thought would go out a window when he realized the disgrace he had brought on [his] family.” 1951 Diary, Box 36, Frank Smithwick Hogan papers, Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University.

No more than three inches: Rovere, “Father Hogan’s Place,” 42.

“Whenever a telephone line is tapped”: Emerson and Haber, 215.

Section 605: In the 1937 case of Nardone v. United States, in which evidence against bootleggers had been obtained mainly through wiretapping, the Supreme Court ruled that the wiretap evidence had been presented in court in violation of Section 605 and was thus inadmissable. In the majority decision, Justice Owen Roberts wrote that “the plain words of Section 605 forbid anyone, unless authorized by the sender, to intercept a telephone message, and direct in equally clear language that ‘no person’ shall divulge or publish the message or its substance to ‘any person.’ To recite the contents of the message in testimony before a court is to divulge the message.” Ibid.

“Intercept … and divulge”: See the discussion in Alan F. Westin, “Wire Tapping,” Commentary, April 1950.

Ten states: The states were Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and Tennessee. Dorothy G. Tompkins, Wire Tapping: A Selected Bibliography (Berkeley: Bureau of Public Administration, University of California, 1955), 20.

About 350 police cases: Emerson and Haber, 222.

81 wiretaps: Alan F. Westin, “Wire Tapping,” Commentary, April 1950.

A careful balancing act: Judge Harold Bauman phone interview, June 29, 2015. See also the contemporaneous discussion in Emerson and Haber, 221-222.

Zawoluk was accompanied: Nadell interview, November 4, 2014; Sand interview.

Henry L. Ughetta: For biographical information on Henry Leopold Ughetta, see “Henry L. Ughetta, Justice, 68, Dead,” New York Times, September 17, 1967; “Henry L. Ughetta,” Historical Society of the New York Courts, www.nycourts.gov.

“A high-ranking Catholic layman”: McCue, 66-67.

A local Catholic retreat house: “Pontifical Mass to Mark 25th Year of Retreat House,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, November 11, 1949.

Ughetta refused to allow: Sand interview; Rosen, Scandals, 123. Rosen maintains that several St. John’s players were questioned that night, but there is no substantiating evidence for that assertion and Frank Hogan’s private diary mentions only Zawoluk.

New Year’s Eve party: “St. John’s Star Reveals Sollazzo Gift Offer,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, March 9, 1951; “St. John’s Star Bares Sollazzo Offer of ‘Gift,’ New York World-Telegram and Sun, March 9, 1951; Milton Gross, “Zawoluk Wasn’t for Sale,” Sport, March 1952.

Visited Sollazzo’s apartment: Milton Gross, “Zawoluk Wasn’t for Sale,” Sport, March 1952.

“I am convinced”: Ibid.

Four pages of notes: These pages were among the research materials provided to the author by George Roy, one of the directors of the HBO documentary City Dump.

Several hours of interrogation: The interrogations continued nearly until Frank Hogan’s press conference on Sunday at 4:00 pm. Frank Hogan diary entry, February 18, 1951. Box 36, Frank Smithwick Hogan papers, Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University.

Vincent O’Connor: O’Connor was the assistant district attorney whom Frank Hogan had placed in charge of the basketball investigation.

“He was glad”: Leonard Shecter, “City’s Desire to Show ‘Em Holman’s Hope for Future,” New York Post, February 20, 1951.

Special night session: The gambler Robert Sabbatini was not there, as he was being held as a material witness rather than as a defendant. New York state law required that a material witness had to be arraigned in a higher court than Felony Court, and so Sabbatini was arraigned at 9:30 that night in an extraordinary session held in the living room of General Sessions Judge John A. Mullen on East 86th Street. Arch Parsons Jr., “New Basketball Fix at Garden Holds 5 Players,” New York Herald Tribune, February 19, 1951.

Overcoat folded neatly: “’No Sympathy’ for Arrested Gambler,” United Press wire story, February 19, 1951.

“You will get no sympathy”: “’No Sympathy’ for Arrested Gambler,” United Press wire story, February 19, 1951.

Class of 1931: Tom Goldstein, “Murtagh’s 40-Year Public Life Was Marked by Stormy Cases,” New York Times, January 14, 1976.

Close friend of Murtagh’s father: Ibid; O’Dwyer, 174.

“No one did more”: Arm, 227.

“Did you finally”: Ibid., 228.

“I would rather be humane”: Ibid., 230.

Murtagh set bail: “Find $3,050 ‘Fix,’” New York Journal-American, February 19, 1951.

Chapter 27

“The sword has fallen”: Rosen, Scandals, 120; Sand interview.

All the next day: The description of the gathering is taken from a number of sources, including especially interviews with Roman family members Richard Roman and Marilyn Cassotta.

“He’s a good boy”: Paul V. Beckley, “Why the Boys Took the Bribes,” New York Herald Tribune, February 20, 1951.

“It’s a terrible shock”: Alvin Davis, “’… I Won’t Believe It,’” New York Post, February 19, 1951.

“Near hysteria”: Ibid.

“This entire business”: Daily Mirror, February 19, 1951.

“Nation-wide coverage”: Frank Hogan diary entry, February 19, 1951. Box 36, Frank Smithwick Hogan papers, Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University.

An accompanying photograph: “Booking of Figures in the Latest Basketball Scandal,” New York Times, February 19, 1951.

“For the express purpose”: Leo Egan, “’Watchdog’ Juries on Politics Asked,” New York Times, February 19, 1951.

“The news of the latest basketball scandal”: City College press release, February 19, 1951. “Basketball Folder I,” Records 1941-1952, Harry N. Wright Papers, Cohen Archives, Morris Raphael Cohen Library, City College of New York.

“The college with the concrete campus”: Robert H. Prall, “Campus Darkens As CCNY Stars Go into Eclipse,” New York World-Telegram and Sun, February 19, 1951.

At City College that day: The quotes in this passage are from the following sources: Sheinman interview, City Dump; Neugeboren interview; Gloria Schulman phone interview, April 18, 2015; Leonard Dauer phone interview, March 25, 2015.

“Inquiring reporters”: “Fix Stuns Faculty, Students; Rally Urges Team Support,” The Campus, February 20, 1951.

“This is a class in history”: Robert H. Prall, “Campus Darkens As CCNY Stars Go into Eclipse,” New York World-Telegram and Sun, February 19, 1951.

“He never got a big head”: Robert H. Prall, “Campus Darkens As CCNY Stars Go into Eclipse,” New York World-Telegram and Sun, February 19, 1951.

“Something that I had thought”: Dorothy Steinmetz phone interview, April 1, 2015.

Attending the weekly luncheon: Mel Stein, “Layne, Nadell Co-Captains,” The Campus, February 20, 1951; “A Shocking Thing,” New York Daily Mirror, February 20, 1951; Ben Gould, “’I Asked Them, They Said “No,” I Believed Them’ – Bee,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, February 20, 1951.

“The most rousing ‘Allagaroo’”: Avrum Hyman, “Fix Stuns Faculty, Students; Rally Urges Team Support,” The Campus, February 20, 1951.

“The whole team”: Sheldon Podolsky, “Varsity Hoopsters Comment on Fix – ‘We Were Shocked,’” The Campus, February 20, 1951.

“As badly”: “New Captain,” Observation Post, February 20, 1951.

Another student rally: “CCNY Students Jam Team Rally,” New York Journal-American, February 21, 1951; “Holman Talks at Rally,” New York Times, February 21, 1951.

Listened to the debates: “Drive, Drive, Drive!” Newsweek, December 4, 1950, 77,

Ron Nadell and Floyd Layne: They were the Beavers’ fourth consecutive racially integrated pair of captains.

“I could never get myself”: Layne, 82.

“We, as a group”: “The Fallen Idols,” The Campus, February 20, 1951.

“We throw a handful”: “On Reinstatement,” Observation Post, March 2, 1951.

“For years they’ve been saying”: Corman, 105.

Student Council had passed: Arnold Workman, “SC Votes Reinstatement of Suspended Trio, 25-1,” The Campus, February 27, 1951.

“I’ve canvassed a number”: Alvin Davis, “’Forgive and Let Them Come Back,’ Urge Students and Teachers at CCNY,” New York Post, February 27, 1951.

“The general alumni sentiment”: Ibid.

“They are not incorrigible”: “The Fallen Idols,” The Campus, February 20, 1951.

“Even though we might not like”: “For Reinstatement,” The Ticker, February 27, 1951.

Chapter 28

Nat Holman stood: The descriptions of the meeting are from Milton Gross, “City’s Answer… ‘We’ll Play!’” New York Post, February 20, 1951; Herb Cohen interview; Nat Holman testimony, In the Matter of Charges Preferred Against Nat Holman and Harry Robert Sand, 3004-3005.

A single window: “Drive, Drive, Drive!” Newsweek, December 4, 1950, 76.

“We were used as a foil”: Herb Cohen interview.

“I’m very disappointed”: Rosen, Scandals, 125.

Saving the money to move out: Dale Wright, “What Will Happen to Stars in Big Basketball ‘Fix’?” New York Amsterdam News, February 24, 1951.

Money in a safe-deposit box: “Alvin Roth,” Outline of Proof as to Various Counts of the Indictment, District Attorney’s Office of the County of New York, 1951; “A Ticket, a Stash It – They Hid but Couldn’t Cash It,” New York World-Telegram and Sun, March 1, 1951.

Swanky clothing: Al Roth, to be fair, had purchased an expensive herringbone overcoat – the very coat in which he was photographed being booked by the police.

“Not to be spending money”: Max Lerner, “Why Do They Do It?” New York Post, February 22, 1951.

“Basketball is the slot machine”: “Jimmy Cannon Says,” New York Post, January 18, 1951.

“Gambling and her odorous sister”: Milton Gross, “Basketball’s No. 1 Menace,” Look, January 31, 1950, 69.

The Post … point spreads: After the CCNY arrests, the Post decided to stop publishing point spreads.

“Many a guy, I suppose”: “Jimmy Cannon Says,” New York Post, January 18, 1951.

“A student would leave”: “NYU Students ‘Bet’ at Garden, Cops Blind,” New York World-Telegram and Sun, February 28, 1951.

“Gold mine”: “Varied Views Held by N.Y. Columnists,” The Sporting News, January 31, 1951.

Twelve-and-a-half percent: Frank, “Basketball’s Big Wheel,” 134.

Oil Painting: Charles Grutzner, “School Athletes Face Many Lures,” New York Times, March 19, 1951; “Coach Bee Says He’d Subsidize Players Again,” New York Herald Tribune, November 21, 1951.

Andrew O’Neil: See Rayner Pike and Linda Valentine, “Sand to Challenge Ouster; Labels Himself ‘Scapegoat,” The Campus, November 21, 1952; “Sollazzo, 5 Stars Get Prison Terms,” New York Journal-American, November 19, 1951; Miller, 71; Roberts, 109.

A single stroke of the pen: In fact the alteration seems to have been made with a red crayon. Milton Gross, “Speaking Out,” New York Post, November 20, 1951.

No fewer than fourteen cases: “Highlights of the BHE Basketball Report,” Observation Post, November 19, 1952.

Fraudulently changed: Dozens of administrative and faculty members had access to the official transcripts, including twenty clerks in the registrar’s office alone. Andrew O’Neil interviewed each one, and took handwriting samples, but he was never able to determine who was responsible for the fraud. “Faked Marks Mystery Still Remains Unsolved,” The Campus, March 1, 1954.

Painters’ union: James B. Jacobs, Mobsters, Unions, and Feds: The Mafia and the American Labor Movement (New York: New York University Press, 2006). 109; Richard Roman interview.

Every night at home: This section is drawn from a number of sources, including Layne interviews, June 9, 2014 and February 17, 2015; Layne, 82; Izenberg interview; Cohen, 123-124.

“Empty of the bookmakers”: Mort Sheinman, “The Greatest Game I Ever Saw,” Microcosm, City College of New York, 1954.

“It was sentimental”: “Jimmy Cannon Says,” New York Post, February 23, 2015.

In the early minutes: For accounts of the game, see Louis Effrat, “City College Tops Lafayette, 67-48,” New York Times, February 23, 1951; Sid Friedlander, “New Allegaroo Kids Click!,” New York Post, February 23, 1951; David Eisenberg, “City Rally Wows ‘Em,” New York Journal-American, February 23, 1951.

“He played the position”: Bill Perry, “’New Look’ Beavers Bounce Back,” Main Events, February 26, 1951.

“I played against Lafayette”: Layne, 82.

An exuberant march: Bill Perry, “’New Look’ Beavers Bounce Back,” Main Events, February 26, 1951; David Eisenberg, “City Rally Wows ‘Em,” New York Journal-American, February 23, 1951; Mort Sheinman, “The Greatest Game I Ever Saw,” Microcosm, City College of New York, 1954; Sheinman interview; Aaron Carton e-mail to author, April 24, 1915.

“They were deliriously happy”: Mort Sheinman, “The Greatest Game I Ever Saw,” Microcosm, City College of New York, 1954.

Leaving class: The class seems to have been Physical Education of Atypical Children. An article in The Campus identifies the class as “Hygiene 35.” The City College of New York course schedule for the 1951 spring semester gives this as the name of that particular course, and indicates that it met on Tuesday afternoons in Lewisohn Stadium. Leonard Dauer, a CCNY student of that time, was participating in ROTC marching drills in Lewisohn Stadium that afternoon and recalls seeing Layne leaving Lewisohn Stadium with the detectives. Gabriel Gelb, “Peace Fears for Future of Athletics; Numbed College Says ‘Not Layne!’” The Campus, February 28, 1951; Dauer interview.

“Well, I was expecting it”: “Layne’s Arrest Spurs DA’s Search for Second ‘Money Man,’” New York Post, February 28, 1951.

“Appeared relieved”: David Eisenberg, “New Holman Woe – Wife Ill,” New York Journal-American, February 28, 1951.

Red-and-black lumber jacket: “Basketball Ban at Garden Hinted,” New York Journal-American, February 28, 1951. See also the photograph captioned “Layne Gives Up $2,890,” New York Daily Mirror, February 28, 1951.

In the District Attorney’s office: Vincent Harding, “Layne Admits ‘Dumping’; College Ends Garden Play,” The Campus, February 28, 1951.

“The sickly feeling”: Layne, 82.

“What are you doing”: Layne interview, June 9, 2014.

“These gentlemen”: Ibid.

Dug his hand into the flower pot: “Layne’s Arrest Spurs DA’s Search for Second ‘Money Man’ Behind Fix,” New York Post, February 28, 1951.

He counted out: “C.C.N.Y. Co-captain Arrested, College Cancels Garden Games,” New York Herald Tribune, February 28, 1951.

“He’s a good boy”: Layne interview, February 17, 2015.

Chapter 29

“I share the resentments”: Murphy appeared on The Robert Montgomery Show on radio station WJZ. New York Herald Tribune, February 23, 1951.

“Detailed evidence”: “Police Knew of Fix 1 Yr. Ago, Did Nothing; Highup’ Had Wire-taps Suppressed,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, February 22, 1951.

“To my knowledge”: Robert Barke and Philip Santora, “O’Brien Denies Charge of Hoop Fix Gag,” New York Daily Mirror, February 23, 1951.

Launching an internal search: “Murphy Orders Probe of ’49 Fix Plot ‘Suppression,’” New York Journal-American, February 23, 1951.

Failed to locate: “St. John’s Star Reveals Sollazzo Gift Offer,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, March 9, 1951.

Flath would submit: “Cops Start Cracking Down,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, October 20, 1951; “Tenacity Is Mark of New Inspector,” New York Times, October 20, 1951.

Two hundred dollars: Harold Phelan and Ken Johnston, “Gross Adds Whalen, Flath to Graft List,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, May 8, 1952.

“A university thus far not mentioned”: “Indict Sollazzo As Tax Dodger,” New York World-Telegram and Sun, March 1, 1951.

“Guests of honor”: “Fix Tip-off Man Arrives Here with Vow to Bare ‘Big Names,’” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, March 6, 1951.

Meyer Alexander: See “Missing Cage Fixer Found by Eagle,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, March 4, 1951; “Go-Between to Detail Fixes,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, March 5, 1951; “Fix Tip-off Man Arrives Here with Vow to Bare ‘Big Names,’” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, March 6, 1951; “’Mr. X’ Nabbed on Fix Counts,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, March 7, 1951.

“’Fixer’ Throws Party for the Boys”: Brooklyn Daily Eagle, March 9, 1951.

“We questioned Zawoluk”: “St. John’s Star Reveals Sollazzo Gift Offer,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, March 9, 1951.

Interview Zawoluk: For Bob Zawoluk’s account to the reporters of his dealings with Gard and Sollazzo, see “St. John’s Star Reveals Sollazzo Gift Offer,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, March 9, 1951; “St. John’s Star Bares Sollazzo Offer of ‘Gift,’ New York World-Telegram and Sun, March 9, 1951; “St. John’s Star Accuses Sollazzo,” New York Journal-American, March 9, 1951.

“Good evening, Mr. Logan”: Kanfer, 213.

“Both Mr. and Mrs. Sollazzo”: “Julia Davis,” Outline of Proof as to Various Counts of the Indictment, District Attorney’s Office of the County of New York, 1951.

“On several occasions”: Milton Gross, “Zawoluk Wasn’t for Sale,” Sport, March 1952.

“Mrs. Sollazzo took him”: Izenberg interview.

Had been to Sollazzo’s apartment: “James Brasco,” Outline of Proof as to Various Counts of the Indictment, District Attorney’s Office of the County of New York, 1951.

A woman who worked briefly: “Mary Davis,” Outline of Proof as to Various Counts of the Indictment, District Attorney’s Office of the County of New York, 1951.

“He looked awful”: Glickman, 85.

“The contact was very important”: Mulzoff interview.

“Eddie said he knew”: Richard Roman interview.

“We knew about St. John’s”: Sand interview.

“The two biggest gonifs”: Herb Cohen interview.

“Beneath his soft demeanor”: Cooney, xv.

“As far as I was concerned”: Ibid., 106.

“Cooperation between law enforcement”: Cooney, 147.

“A player with a very fine character”: “St. John’s Star Reveals Sollazzo Gift Offer,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, March 9, 1951.

His name often mentioned: See, for example: Al Sostchen, “O’Dwyer Coup Makes Flynn Party’s Boss in City, State,” New York Post, August 1950.

1950 New York gubernatorial race: Robert G. Spivack, “Feuds Peril Democrats Here in ’50,” New York Post, January 24, 1950.

“The story I got”: Izenberg interview.

“Spellman … sent a Catholic detective”: Charley Rosen, conversation with author.

Three-year St. John’s record: O’Connell, 55. His point total was surpassed in 1984 by the future NBA great Chris Mullin, who did it in four seasons. Richard Goldstein, “Bob Zawoluk, 76, a Star for St. John’s Basketball, Is Dead,” New York Times, January 18, 2007.

Chapter 30

Half an hour after: Floyd Layne was met by detectives when his class ended at 3:00 pm; the statement was issued at 3:30.

“In view of the more recent”: Alexander Feinberg, “City College Bans Games as 4th Star Confesses 3 ‘Fixes,’” New York Times, February 28, 1951.

“The roof has caved in”: “The Roof Fell In,” Observation Post, Friday March 2, 1951.

“It’s a tragedy”: Sid Friedlander, “’I Just Can’t Believe It’: Holman,” New York Post, February 28, 1951.

“What the hell”: David Eisenberg, “New Holman Woe – Wife Ill,” New York Journal-American, February 28, 1951.

“Master coach”: “Man of the Year in Sport,” Sport, February 1951, 16.

“That God-bless-America feeling”: Nat Holman interview, September 30, 1978, 115. American Jewish Committee Oral History Collection, Box 10, Nat Holman Papers, Cohen Archives, Morris Raphael Cohen Library, City College of New York.

Could not discern motivation: See, for example: Nat Holman testimony, In the Matter of Charges Preferred Against Nat Holman and Harry Robert Sand, 2952-2953.

Had always warned the players: Ibid., 2961.

“Schools of crime”: Kanfer, 219.

“Coaches have favored”: Ben Gould, “Stars Kiss Autos Goodbye,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, February 21, 1951.

City College should withdraw: “City College Bans Resort Basketball,” New York Times, April 5, 1951.

“I wouldn’t leave”: Ibid.

Voted to reject: “Bradley Cagers Vote Not to Play in Garden,” Associated Press wire story, February 20, 1951.

“There’s the Midwestern school”: Stan Isaacs, “And When Will They Start Investigating College Officials?” Daily Compass, February 28, 1951.

“Would you be surprised”: Ben Gould, “Cage Coach Protects Three Stars,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, March 2, 1951.

His name was Jacob Grumet: See “Grumet Takes on Defense of 3 CCNY Aces,” New York World-Telegram and Sun, February 22, 1951; Erwin Laibman, “Ex-DA Grumet to Defend Dumping Basketball Three,” Observation Post, Friday March 2, 1951; Paul Crowell, “Grumet New City Fire Head; Long Aide of Dewey, Hogan,” New York Times, July 19, 1951.

Address him as “Judge”: Rosen, Scandals, 139; Norm Mager undated interview with Charley Rosen, provided to the author.

“A particularly heartbreaking experience”: Erwin Laibman, “Ex-DA Grumet to Defend Dumping Basketball Three,” Observation Post, Friday March 2, 1951.

“Tell the authorities everything”: Rosen, Scandals, 139.

“Trust me, young man”: Jerry Izenberg and the CCNY 1950 Grand Slam TEAM Partnership, When Foul Was Fair: The Real Story Behind the 1949-51 CCNY Basketball Scandal, undated book proposal.

Sixty-eight detectives: Cohen, 117.

“I’ve been a sucker”: Harold Weissman, “Whiz Kids to Biz Kids: Players’ Story,” New York Daily Mirror, February 20, 1951; “Al Roth’s Own Story!” New York Journal-American, February 19, 1951.

“Very much troubled”: For an account of the conversation see Sam Winograd’s testimony, In the Matter of Charges Preferred Against Nat Holman and Harry Robert Sand, 1336-1337.

Paid the hotel’s college players: See, for instance, Howard Levinson testimony, In the Matter of Charges Preferred Against Nat Holman and Harry Robert Sand, 404. Under NCAA guidelines, college players were not permitted to be paid for playing basketball; however, Winograd would later state that he believed participating in these pools “met the requirements and did not constitute pay for play.” Sam Winograd testimony, Ibid., 1301.

Took money to play semi-pro ball: Sam Winograd himself acknowledged having done this, stating that it was a “very common practice” at the time. Winograd testimony, Ibid., 1602.

“Possible irregularities”: William Michelfelder, “Probe CCNY On Purchase of Sports Goods,” New York World-Telegram and Sun, March 10, 1954. See also William Michelfelder, “CCNY Rebukes Sand, Takes Him Off Coaching,” New York World-Telegram and Sun, March 12, 1954; “Sand Reassigned to Records Post,” New York Times, March 13, 1954. Winograd himself denied that his resignation had anything to do with the purchasing scandal; the college said that the resignation had been submitted “on the advice of his doctor.” “Winograd Quits College,” New York Times, May 14, 1954.

“Routine, normal life”: Paul V. Beckley, “Why the Boys Took the Bribes: Roth Wanted to Go in Business,” New York Herald Tribune, February 20, 1951.

Sand had gotten Floyd a job: Floyd Layne testimony, In the Matter of Charges Preferred Against Nat Holman and Harry Robert Sand, 3397; Layne interview, June 9, 2014.

“A friend has stabbed them”: New York Post letters section, February 20, 2015.

“The tall children of basketball”: “Jimmy Cannon Says,” New York Post, February 19, 1951.

“Bargain basement prices”: Ted O. Thackrey, “All College Stars Are Paid; Why Not Make It Official?” Daily Compass, February 21, 1951. See also “Compassion for Youngsters! Jail for the Tin-Horn Fixers! Reform for the Rotten Fixers!” Daily Compass, February 22, 1951; “’A Stench in the Nostrils,’” Daily Compass, February 23, 1951.

“Mr. Ambassador”: Mockridge and Prall, 268.

“Able and intrinsically honest”: Fulton Oursler, “The Remarkable Story of William O’Dwyer,” Reader’s Digest, May 1952, 1.

“The corruption in this case”: Max Lerner, “CCNY Tragedy,” New York Post, February 19, 1951.

“Honesty must be restored”: The Sporting News, “Special Editorial,” March 7, 1951.

“For some time”: Rosen, Scandals, 126.

Attorney named Sidney Brodson: Harold B. Hinton, “Gambler Testifies to Long Suspicion of Garden Games,” New York Times, March 25, 1951; Frank B. Allen, “Long ‘Sensed’ Hoop Fixes,” New York Journal-American, March 25, 1951.

Would continue to play: David Eisenberg, “Trio Plan ’52 Games,” New York Journal-American, March 27, 1951.

Interrogated … twelve hours: Alfred E. Clark, “3 More Athletes from City College Seized in ‘Fixes,’” New York Times, March 28, 1951.

Entire starting five: The starting five comprised Eddie Roman, Ed Warner, Irwin Dambrot, Al Roth, and Floyd Layne. The top reserves were Norm Mager and Herb Cohen.

Chapter 31

Ordered twenty-one police officers: Mockridge and Prall, 253.

Demoted every one: Alexander Feinberg, “Plainclothes Unit ‘Broken’ by Murphy to Stop Graft,” New York Times, September 30, 1950; “’Policy’ Detectives Face Murphy’s Record Shakeup,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, September 30, 1950.

“Once he opened up”: Robert D. McFadden, “The Lonely Death of a Man Who Made a Scandal,” New York Times, April 5, 1986.

“It’ll be the last chance”: Mockridge and Prall, 285. The story of Harry Gross’s escape and capture is told in great detail in their book The Big Fix, pages 284-305, and much of the material in this chapter is drawn from that section.

Two-story house: Kalman Seigel, “Gross’ Family Lives ‘Very Simply,’ Ex-Bookie’s Wife Says in Interview,” New York Times, September 15, 1951.

A block from the boardwalk: The house was at 19 Putnam Boulevard in Atlantic Beach. Arm, 69.

“Where’s Gross?”: Mockridge and Prall, 286.

“Miles, this is Julie”: The conversation was presented in Ibid.

His mind racing: See the discussion in Ibid., 287-288.

Only two mattered: The story of the meeting with Lansky and Moretti is recounted in Mockridge and Prall, 290-292. The authors state that the story was obtained “from underworld sources” and that it “jibes in most details with those facts that have been definitely established by investigative authorities and the authors have no reason to doubt their informants.”

Appointed his brother-in-law: William Henderson and Philip Santora, “O’Dwyer Admits He Gave City Jobs to Pals of Costello and Other Mobsters,” New York Daily Mirror, March 21, 1951.

Pay him $120,000: This was the number given by Mockridge and Prall. Miles McDonald later suggested that the number was $75,000, but he did not provide evidence for the assertion. “A Big Laugh on the Law,” Life, October 1, 1951, 21.

Chalfonte-Haddon Hall hotel: Mockridge and Prall, 292.

Rousted bookie joints: Ibid., 294.

Put on a gray suit: The story of Gross’s capture is in Ibid., 295-297.

Hundred-dollar window: Robert D. McFadden, “The Lonely Death of a Man Who Made a Scandal,” New York Times, April 5, 1986.

“A conspiracy without equal”: Mockridge and Prall, 297.

Questions … wondered about: Ed Reid and I. Kaufman, “Gross Takes the Stand,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, September 18, 1951.

A navy suit: Ibid.

Dark cheeks powdered: Ira Henry Freeman, “Harry Gross’ Story: Bets, Cops and Corruption,” New York Times, September 23, 1951.

“Whenever the umpire”: Mockridge and Prall, 300.

“Mr. Helfand, I refuse”: For Gross’s refusal to testify, see Ibid., 300-305.

“Just give me the chair”: Ibid.; Mockridge and Prall, 304.

The worst day of his life: Mockridge and Prall, 305.

“Without Gross’s testimony”: Ibid.

Chapter 32

Harry Spielberg: Layne interview, February 17, 2015.

Never do another dishonest thing: Rosen, Scandals, 137.

The longest walk: Ibid., 132.

“Bunty … did you do it?”: Jerry Izenberg and the CCNY 1950 Grand Slam TEAM Partnership, When Foul Was Fair: The Real Story Behind the 1949-51 CCNY Basketball Scandal, undated book proposal.

Two or three weeks: Sid Friedlander, “Working Press,” New York Post, January 14, 1957.

Tournament at the Immaculate Conception: Layne, 53.

YMCA tournament in New Jersey: Rosen, Scandals, 136; “Accused Men Barred,” New York Times, March 28, 1951.

Seemed the loudest: Rosen, Scandals, 136.

“It’s all over, Floyd”: Layne, 82.

“We do not believe”: “14 Players Admit Basketball Fix Plot,” New York Times, July 6, 1951.

A church representative: “Catholic Schools Here Asked by Spellman to Admit Cadets,” New York Times, August 14, 1951.

“To err is human”: “Ousted Army Cadets Offered Haven by Cardinal Spellman,” Los Angeles Times, August 14, 1951.

Filed official requests: Ellin Rader, “Suspended Ballplayers Seek Re-Admission to College,” The Campus, September 17, 1951.

Assistant group leader: Ellin Rader, “Suspended Ballplayers Seek Re-Admission to College,” The Campus, September 17, 1951.

“As far as I’m concerned”: “Forest House Boys and Director Defend Layne in Game ‘Fix,’” New York Post, March 1, 1951.

George Gregory: Chalk, 104-106; “Bronx Community Center’s Director Was a Columbia Major Sports Figure,” New York Age, February 8, 1947; Constance Curtis, “Know Your 5 Boroughs,” New York Amsterdam News, February 26, 1949.

“Standing up straight”: Layne interview, February 17, 2015.

Twelve to twenty-one: Rosen, Scandals, 205.

“I’m with those kids”: Layne, 82.

Court of General Sessions: See the description in Keating, 1.

History provided no instances: Cohen, 197.

Judge Saul S. Streit: Tim Moriarty, “People Must Carry the Ball Now, Judge Saul Streit Believes,” United Press wire article, November 29, 1951; “Saul S. Streit Is Dead at 86; Ex-Judge and Assemblyman,” New York Times, September 5, 1983.

“Any possible hysterical outburst”: The New York Times suggested that the request had come before Streit entered the courtroom, and did not attribute the source of the quote. Alfred E. Clark, “Sollazzo Is Jailed with Five Players in Basketball Fix,” New York Times, November 20, 1951. However, the New York World-Telegram and Sun indicated that the order came from the judge himself. “Cage Fixer Sollazzo Draws 8 to 16 Years,” New York World-Telegram and Sun, November 19, 1951.

A trim black dress: See the photograph captioned “Law Takes Mate” in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, November 20, 1951. See also the front-page photograph in the New York Daily Mirror, November 20, 1951.

“I just want to be left alone”: “Cage Fixer Sollazzo Draws 8 to 16 Years,” New York World-Telegram and Sun, November 19, 1951.

“The Cardinal said”: Milton Lewis, “5 Basketball Stars Sentenced, Fixer Sollazzo Gets 8-16 Years,” New York Herald Tribune, November 20, 1951.

“Couldn’t have been prosecuted”: Stan Isaacs, “Mercy for the Corrupters – But Jail for the Corrupted,” Daily Compass, November 21, 1951.

Not tried a case in eight years: Paul Hoffman, “Is It Time for Hogan to Step Down?” New York, December 6, 1971, 65.

Spent months studying: Milton Lewis, “5 Basketball Stars Sentenced, Fixer Sollazzo Gets 8-16 Years,” New York Herald Tribune, November 20, 1951.

Forty-one pages long: Ibid.

Streit charged: For excerpts from Streit’s decision, see Miller, 69-73; “Sollazzo, 5 Stars Get Prison Terms,” New York Journal-American, November 19, 1951. The quotes from Streit that follow are taken from these sources, as well as Cohen, 200-208.

“To put it plainly”: Milton Lewis, “5 Basketball Stars Sentenced, Fixer Sollazzo Gets 8-16 Years,” New York Herald Tribune, November 20, 1951.

Ashen-faced and trembling: “Sollazzo, 5 Stars Get Prison Terms,” New York Journal-American, November 19, 1951.

“Americanism” award: Cohen, 204.

His sentence too was suspended: Another defendant from LIU, Louis Lipman, was ill in a Florida hospital and his sentencing was delayed; eventually he would also receive a suspended sentence.

First to have gotten involved: Cohen, 204.

Best college player: In the issue that came out just before the arrests, The Sporting News had named White “Player of the Year”; Eddie Roman and Ed Warner were given honorable mentions. It proved to be an embarrassment for the magazine, and in the next issue the editors “nullified” the awards, explaining that they “regret the turn of events that makes it necessary to withdraw these awards for which the qualifications of sportsmanship and integrity, as well as ability, are essential factors.” “The Sporting News Award to Sherman White Nullified,” The Sporting News, February 28, 1951.

Knicks planned to select him: Dave Anderson, “When Sherman White Threw It All Away,” New York Times, March 22, 1998.

Schaff fainted dead away: Jean Adams, “Sollazzo Gets 8 Yrs., Jail for 5 Stars,” New York Daily Mirror, November 20, 1951; Milton Lewis, “5 Basketball Stars Sentenced, Fixer Sollazzo Gets 8-16 Years,” New York Herald Tribune, November 20, 1951.

“He dropped his half-raised arm”: “Sollazzo, 5 Stars Get Prison Terms,” New York Journal-American, November 19, 1951.

“It was not an unreasonable set”: See Cohen, 200-208. Much of this passage has been informed by that analysis of the verdict.

Deal would be arranged: “Sentence Is Suspended,” New York Times, July 30, 1952.

Detention pen: “Sollazzo, 5 Stars Get Prison Terms,” New York Journal-American, November 19, 1951.

Full-page photograph: “They Got a Break in Court,” New York Daily Mirror, November 20, 1951.

“The shock might kill her”: Ellin Rader, “’We All Expected Suspended Sentences, Not Jail’ – Layne,” The Campus, November 21, 1951.

Spoke briefly with Sam Winograd: Ibid.

“Is that justice?”: Ibid.

“Professor”: Milton Gross, “Speaking Out,” New York Post, November 20, 1951.

Received a phone call: Ellin Rader, “’We All Expected Suspended Sentences, Not Jail’ – Layne,” The Campus, November 21, 1951.

The next morning: Ibid.

Chapter 33

Dr. Buell G. Gallagher: “The Freshman President, Buell Gordon Gallagher,” Observation Post, September 22, 1952.

Shakeup of the Hygiene department: Joe Marcus, “Purcell Heads Hygiene Department As Result of Big Athletic Shakeup,” Observation Post, September 22, 1952.

“Big-time basketball”: Sheinman interview.

“Inconsistencies, contradictions, and lies”: Rayner Pike and Linda Valentine, “Sand to Challenge Ouster; Labels Himself ‘Scapegoat,” The Campus, November 21, 1952.

“Bobby Sand did nothing”: Herman J. Cohen, “Bobby Sand,” Observation Post, September 25, 1952.

“Our Committee is convinced”: Report of the Committee on Intercollegiate Basketball, Board of Higher Education, November 17, 1952, 11. Basketball Folder II, 1941-52 Records, Harry N. Wright archive, Morris Raphael Cohen Library, City College of New York.

In place of Nat Holman: Holman would be occupied with the summer camp he ran with his brother, Camp Scatico.

Four members of the starting lineup: In determining the starting five Holman excused senior Irwin Dambrot, who was about to enter dental school, and replaced him with sophomore Herb Cohen.

Wrote a letter: The pen with which Bobby Sand wrote the letter to Ed Warner was an especially beautiful one, with a brown-and-green tortoise-shell barrel and a gold nib. Later on, Sand stopped using that pen and tossed it in the back of a desk drawer. “It became verboten,” recalls his daughter Wendie. “We kept it in the drawer like it was some sort of juju charm doing terrible things to us.” Wendie Sand interview.

“With the ‘kicks’”: Bobby Sand letter to Ed Warner, June 21, 1950. “Exhibit C,” Basketball Folder II, Records 1941-1952, Harry N. Wright Papers, Cohen Archives, Morris Raphael Cohen Library, City College of New York.

“I want to hold onto it”: Porter Chandler statement, In the Matter of Charges Preferred Against Nat Holman and Harry Robert Sand, 13.

“If I have to go”: Rosen, Scandals, 211.

“Scapegoat”: Rayner Pike and Linda Valentine, “Sand to Challenge Ouster; Labels Himself ‘Scapegoat,” The Campus, November 21, 1952.

Several college coaching offers: Sand interview; Wendie Sand interview.

Gotten Ed Warner a summer job: The summer before the double championships, Warner had tried fruitlessly to find a hotel job in the Catskills. “He had wanted to work in the mountains,” Sand would note, “and apparently he ran into the color barrier.” Bobby Sand testimony, In the Matter of Charges Preferred Against Nat Holman and Harry Robert Sand, 364.

Earning $50 a week: Wendie Sand interview.

A courtroom on the sixth floor: Cyril Koch, “Courtroom,” The Campus, May 28, 1953.

Over the years the courtroom has variously been known as the Trial Room and the Trail Room. In 1933, when it was still called the Byrne Room, it was the site of the famous obscenity trial regarding James Joyce’s novel Ulysses. Record of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, October 1985, 535.

“No concern of mine”: Nat Holman testimony, In the Matter of Charges Preferred Against Nat Holman and Harry Robert Sand, 673.

“I have reviewed”: Ibid., 2984.

“The only blemish”: “Harry R. ‘Bobby’ Sand: 4 Years on the Sidelines,” The Campus, December 4, 1958.

The committee voted 2-1: “Report and Recommendations,” Board of Higher Education of the City of New York, In the Matter of Charges Preferred Against Nat Holman and Harry Robert Sand, Cohen Archives, City College of New York, 25.

BHE reversed the decision: Selwyn Raab and Ray Hamilton, “BHE Finds Nat Holman Guilty!” Observation Post, March 4, 1954.

“Outrage and injustice”: Jack Billig, “In the Anteroom,” The Campus, March 5, 1954.

“Cooperation … repentance”: Rosen, Scandals, 224.

“Thank God”: “Holman Is Reinstated to City College Staff,” New York Times, August 28, 1954.

“We at City College”: Ibid.

“To sift through”: “Lack of PhD Deprives Sand of Eco Department Position,” The Campus, March 19, 1954.

Division of Planning and Design: Bob Mayer, “Bobby Sand Asks for Reassignment to Teaching Post,” The Campus, December 4, 1958.

Campaign to save paper: Sand interview.

“The Forgotten Man”: See for instance “The Forgotten Man,” The Campus, December 4, 1958.

“A broken man”: Sheldon Podolsky, “Thirty,” The Campus, May 8, 1956.

“Bobby worked”: Rosen, Scandals, 225.

Thirty-three players: Ibid., 215.

“Gentlemen, I’ll guarantee”: Gould, 189.

“Watch your step”: Milton Gross, “Speaking Out,” New York Post, September 4, 1952.

Drafted: Layne interview, June 9, 2014; “Floyd Layne Playing Basketball for Army,” Philadelphia Tribune, February 7, 1953; “The Basketball Fixers – Three Years After,” Sport, February 1954.

Returned to the Bronx: Immediately upon his discharge from the Army Floyd played with the Harlem Globetrotters, the tryout having been arranged for him by Bobby Sand, who was a friend of Globetrotters owner Abe Saperstein. Though the Globetrotters were a supremely talented squad Floyd didn’t take to the clowning aspect of the performance and after a few months he returned to the Bronx. Layne interview, June 9, 2014; Layne, 82.

“We consider that”: “Two Stars of ’51 Team Return; Others May Follow,” The Campus, September 16, 1954.

Men’s haberdashery: Ellin Rader, “Suspended Ballplayers Seek Re-Admission to College,” The Campus, September 17, 1951.

TV distributing house: “’Great to be Back’ – Roman,” The Campus, September 22, 1954.

“A tremendous depression”: Ed Roman undated interview with Charley Rosen, provided to the author.

One time he was playing: This scene is described in Cohen, 3-9, and was confirmed in a private conversation with the author.

Assigned to a tank unit: “The Basketball Fixers – Three Years After,” Sport, February 1954.

USO dance: Cantatore interview.

Telephone switchboard operator: Richard Roman e-mail to the author, April 22, 2018.

“Shy and depressed”: Mark Roman e-mail to the author, May 18, 2018.

Remain out of the public eye: “The Basketball Fixers – Three Years After,” Sport, February 1954.

University of Seattle: Rosen, Scandals, 228; “’Great to be Back’ – Roman,” The Campus, September 22, 1954.

“Very happy to be back”: “’Great to be Back’ – Roman,” The Campus, September 22, 1954.

“I’ll never stop praying”: “The Basketball Fixers – Three Years After,” Sport, February 1954.

Convince one of the teams: Sid Friedlander, “Working Press,” New York Post, January 14, 1957; Floyd Layne undated interview with Charley Rosen, provided to the author.

“Mr. Podoloff told me”: Sid Friedlander, “Working Press,” New York Post, January 14, 1957.

Hazleton Hawks: In the 1955-56 season the Hawks “featured the first all-black starting team in professional basketball,” including Floyd Layne and Sherman White. The coach was Bobby Sand. Rosen, Scandals, 230.

Eastern League: For more on the Eastern League (originally called the Eastern Professional Basketball League), see Rosen, Wizard, 147-150; Rosen, Crazy, 27-28.

Youth House for Boys: Richard Roman interview; Mark Roman, e-mail to the author, November 25, 2014.

Woodstock Community Center: George Barner, “The Hurtin’ Knicks Could Use These 2,” New York Amsterdam News, March 8, 1958.

“Superior record”: Sid Friedlander, “Working Press,” New York Post, January 14, 1957.

“One thing that keeps”: Ibid.

“With a question”: Ibid.

“The league is just beginning”: Ibid.

“Has fit in well”: Phil Sarno, “Sideline Chatter,” The Plain Speaker (Hazleton, Pennsylvania), February 5, 1957.

“I don’t think”: George Barner, “The Hurtin’ Knicks Could Use These 2,” New York Amsterdam News, March 8, 1958.

Chapter 34

Driving back to New York: Carl Green interview, New York City, August 4, 2014; Wendie Sand interview; “Easton and Baltimore Contenders,” Pittston Gazette, February 18, 1960; Williamsport Sun-Gazette, February 18, 1960.

A recent snowfall: A storm the night before had dropped ten inches of snow. “Snow Removal,” Williamsport Sun-Gazette, February 15, 1960.

Gnaden Huetten Memorial: Williamsport Sun-Gazette, February 16, 1960.

Both eyes blackened: Wendie Sand interview.

Taken by Eddie Roman: “Three New Coaches In Pro Cage League,” The Evening Sun (Hanover, Pennsylvania), October 7, 1960.

Ruptured blood vessel: “Eastern League is Optimistic Due to Opening Attendance,” Pittston (Pennsylvania) Gazette, December 6, 1957.

Bronx Youth House: Richard Roman interview; Howard Stein interview. For more on the Bronx Youth House, see Larry Cole, “New York: Youth House Is Not a Home,” in In Prison: Writings and Poems about the Prison Experience, edited by James E. Trupin (New York: New American Library, 1975), 94-107.

“The American people”: Ed Roman undated interview with Charley Rosen, provided to the author.

Form of agoraphobia: Izenberg interview; Mager interview.

Denied his identity: Gloria Roth interview, New York City, May 7, 2015; Cary Roth interview, New York City, May 7, 2015.

Referred to it as a shande: Dambrot interview.

Four months and four days: “Ed Warner, Out of Jail, To Play Sunday at Lenox,” undated clipping, “Renaissance Basketball Team – News Clippings” folder, John “Snookie” Walker archive, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library.

Boston Celtics: Mallozzi, 15.

“A fighting chance”: Roger O’Gara, “Ed Warner Leads Renaissance to 77-68 Win Over Merchants,” Berkshire Evening Eagle, March 31, 1952.

Chevrolet plant in Tarrytown: Green interview; Rosen, Scandals, 229.

Candy store on 142nd Street: Green interview.

Long flip blade: Ed Warner Jr. interview, New York City, September 9, 2014.

Hop out and dance: Moorehead interview.

“He was the prince”: Sonny Hill phone interview, November 15, 2014.

“Ed Warner Big Five”: For a description of the game, see Mallozzi, 21-26.

“Rucker sold out”: Green interview.

Tied a bandana: Mallozzi, 21; Ernesto Morris interview, New York City, September 9, 2014.

“We won the game”: Mallozzi, 26.

“Kings and queens”: Green interview.

A Harlem bar called Dot’s: Eva Hall phone interview, September 9, 2014.

Charged with selling: “Ex-CCNY Cage Ace Ed Warner Nabbed on Dope Rap,” Jet, March 28, 1963; “Ed Warner Re-Arrested on Queens Dope Rap,” New York Amsterdam News, April 6, 1963; “Warner Admits Selling Heroin,” New York Times, May 28, 1963; “Warner, Ex-Basketball Star, Gets Narcotics Sentence,” New York Times, October 19, 1963.

Often drive up to visit Ed: Izenberg interview; Kay, 181.

Like a cathedral: Sheehan, 23.

Like the “Big House”: “Town of Beekman: Green Haven Prison,” www.beekmanhistory.com/id57.html.

“You’ve got to move more!”: Dave Anderson, “3 ‘Blessed’ by Their Adversity,” New York Times, March 6, 1988.

Hoop he had installed: Mark Roman interview.

A kind of life-saving operation: Gifford, 98.

Wore the gold championship ring: Leonard Shecter, “10 Years Later: Floyd Layne Works with Kids,” New York Post, January 18, 1960.

“You know what’s out there”: Devaney, 23.

Helped four hundred kids: Gifford, 99.

“Floyd has salvaged”: Ibid., 105; Michael Katz, “Another Cinderella Story Unfolds Amid Coach’s C.C.N.Y. Debut,” New York Times, December 1, 1974.

Would not allow him: Leonard Shecter, “10 Years Later: Floyd Layne Works with Kids,” New York Post, January 18, 1960.

“I would be unreachable”: Layne interview, February 17, 2015.

Dozens of future NBA players: Rosen, Scandals, 252. Floyd Layne himself once put together a list of professional basketball players that he had “coached or counselled.” It contained sixty names.

Satch Sanders: Sanders went on to become a Hall of Fame player with the Boston Celtics. As a younger man, he had played with Floyd Layne around New York. “Floyd was certainly capable of playing in the NBA,” he says. “He would not have had a problem at all.” Satch Sanders phone interview, April 30, 2015.

Inquired at his alma mater: Howie Evans, “Can CCNY Forgive?” New York Amsterdam News, June 13, 1970.

“I know about his background”: Howie Evans, “Floyd Layne to Coach Queensboro Quintet,” New York Amsterdam News, July 18, 1970.

Previous basketball coach returned: Rosen, Scandals, 254.

Applied for assistant coaching positions: Norb Ecksl, “His Dream to Coach Here Comes True for Layne,” The Campus, September 13, 1974; Gerald Eskenazi, “Layne Glad for His Call ‘Back Home,’” New York Times, September 6, 1974.

Sitting at his breakfast table: Layne interview, February 17, 2015.

“Teacher Openings”: News of the Week in Review, New York Times, August 18, 1974.

Eddie Roman and Irwin Dambrot: Rosen, Scandals, 253.

Seventy-five applications: Myron Rushetzky, “Layne Is Back as Basketball Coach,” The Campus, September 13, 1974.

Haber was still hawking: Anthony Durniak, “Raymond and His Pragels Return,” The Campus, September 13, 1974.

“Layne will be a good coach”: Ibid.

“Scene of many a victory”: Mike Zimet, “’A Homecoming for Floyd,’” The Campus, September 13, 1974.

Seventh varsity basketball coach: Ibid.; Gerald Eskenazi, “Layne Glad for His Call ‘Back Home,’” New York Times, September 6, 1974.

Less aggressive with his players: Layne interview, February 17, 2015.

“Will you do me a favor?”: Leonard Lewin, “Floyd Layne Has a Reunion,” New York Post, September 5, 1974.

“Always accepted criticism”: Norb Ecksl, “His Dream to Coach Here Comes True for Layne,” The Campus, September 13, 1974.

Give 100 percent: “Layne Back at CCNY: Scandal Just a Memory,” Associated Press wire story, September 6, 1974.

“It certainly is a pleasure”: A portion of the press conference was shown in the syndicated TV series Comeback, in an episode about Floyd Layne.

Plenty of teamwork: “Layne Back at CCNY: Scandal Just a Memory,” Associated Press wire story, September 6, 1974.

In 1953 … not both: Hiner, 5-6.

“I’m never going to rest”: Layne, 53.

“We were kids”: “Layne Back at CCNY: Scandal Just a Memory,” Associated Press wire story, September 6, 1974; also Sam Goldaper, “Layne, Figure in Scandal, to Coach C.C.N.Y.’s Five,” New York Times, September 5, 1974.

“Words cannot describe”: Myron Rushetzky, “Layne Is Back as Basketball Coach,” The Campus, September 13, 1974.

Epilogue

Moved to California: Robert D. McFadden, “The Lonely Death of a Man Who Made a Scandal,” New York Times, April 5, 1986.

“He was a smooth”: Robert D. McFadden, “The Lonely Death of a Man Who Made a Scandal,” New York Times, April 5, 1986.

State Supreme Court Justice: Ibid.; Mockridge and Prall, 336.

Personally given bribes: Figone, 23.

“Maybe some money”: Ibid.

Clearview Gardens: Wendie Sand interview; Bobby Sand testimony, In the Matter of Charges Preferred Against Nat Holman and Harry Robert Sand, 211.

“I cried my heart out”: Robert Lipsyte, “At City College, Time Is Healing an Old Wound,” New York Times, May 20, 1994.

Written several articles: “New Coach,” The Ticker, December 7, 1971; Rosen, Scandals, 57.

Rochester Royals: “Sand, Ex-Holman Aide, Still a Records Officer; Wants to Teach Again,” The Ticker, September 27, 1954.

Overseas: In 1970 Bobby Sand would receive the Gold Medal of the Swedish Basketball Federation for “services to the Swedish basketball program” – the first time a non-Swede had ever been so honored. City College Press Release, Office of Public Relations, October 4, 1971; “New Coach,” The Ticker, December 7, 1971; Wendie Sand interview.

“How much longer”: “The Forgotten Man,” The Campus, December 4, 1958.

“Even a felon”: Justice Russell G. Hunt, Memorandum Decision, In the Matter of the Application of Harry R. Sand, Supreme Court of the State of New York, March 30, 1961.

Bracing his hand: Wendie Sand interview.

“Tired of fighting”: Ken Koppel, “10 Years in Limbo,” The Campus, Tuesday, April 17, 1962.

“In a spirit”: Ibid.

“I feel wonderful”: Ken Koppel, “BHE Relents on Sand,” The Campus, Tuesday, April 17, 1962.

Assigned to teach three courses: Barry Riff, “Sand Resumes Post as Gym Instructor,” The Campus, September 20, 1962.

Served as an advisor: Biographical information on Sand is from Sand interview; Wendie Sand interview; City College Press Release, Office of Public Relations, October 4, 1971.

Announced the appointment: “New Coach,” The Ticker, December 7, 1971.

“Combat pay”: This and other information about Roman’s time in the 600 schools is from Marty Groveman phone interview, May 22, 2018.

Go to a school wood shop: Mark Roman interview.

Convince her to move: Richard Roman interview.

Plastic bowls: Cantatore interview.

“Up to two o’clock”: Ibid.

270 pounds … phlebitis: Rosen, Scandals, 243.

Only metaphorically: “He had gained some weight and had the fat man jump shot. He didn’t get off the ground too much, but he still had a good shot.” Mark Roman e-mail to the author, November 24, 2014.

“Validation of Floyd’s life”: Michael Katz, “Another Cinderella Story Unfolds Amid Coach’s C.C.N.Y. Debut,” New York Times, December 1, 1974.

Rarely mentioned the scandal: Mark Roman interview; Cantatore interview.

“He was supportive”: Cantatore interview.

When his children: Information about their childhood is from Mark Roman interview; Cantatore interview.

“He was warm”: Dave Anderson, “3 ‘Blessed’ by Their Adversity,” New York Times, March 6, 1988.

“He still lives”: Dana Warner interview.

On his way home: Information about Ed Warner’s accident and recuperation is from Dana Warner interview; Ed Warner Jr. interview, New York City, September 9, 2014; Green interview; Hall interview; Bob McCullough interview, New York City, August 14, 2014; Howie Evans, “Former CCNY Hoop Star in Car Mishap,” New York Amsterdam News, May 5, 1984.

Racial Differences and Attributions: Edward Roman, Racial Differences and Attributions: Black and White Male Students’ Judgments of Causation, Future Success, and Affect for the Success and Failure of Black and White Peers on Stereotype-Linked Tasks, School of Education, Health, Nursing, and Arts Professions, New York University, 1985.

“I might get my PhD”: Letter to Richard Roman, April 1, 1967, provided to the author.

Move to the Catskills: Cantatore interview.

CCNY Athletic Hall of Fame: The ceremony was held on May 9, 1986, at the catering hall Leonard’s of Great Neck.

“You had the feeling”: Richard Roman interview.

She was shocked to see: Cantatore interview.

Thirty percent chance: Jerry Izenberg, “Roman Exits a Winner,” Newark Star-Ledger, March 3, 1988.

A hospital on Long Island: It was North Shore University Hospital. Cantatore interview; Mark Roman interview.

“I went to see him”: Cantatore interview.

“I’m not taking any more”: Izenberg interview.

“You fucking listen”: Ibid; also Jerry Izenberg, “Roman Exits a Winner,” Newark Star-Ledger, March 3, 1988.

His grandson’s large hands: Cantatore interview; Maury Allen, “CCNY’s Ed Roman Dies of Leukemia,” New York Post, March 3, 1988.

Transferred to a hospital: Thomas Rogers, “Ed Roman, 57, Basketball Player in City College’s Two-Title Season,” New York Times, March 3, 1988.

Last Chance Ward: Cantatore interview.

The memorial service: The information in this section has been drawn from a number of sources, including: Michael Resnick phone interview, May 25, 2018; Layne interview, June 9, 2014; Cantatore interview; Howard Stein interview; Bernie Cohen interview; Chenetz interview; Stacey Arceneaux phone interview, January 13, 2015; Hal Lear phone interview, November 6, 2014; Dave Anderson, “3 ‘Blessed’ by Their Adversity,” New York Times, March 6, 1988.

“I’m getting us all together”: Maury Allen, “CCNY’s Ed Roman Dies of Leukemia,” New York Post, March 3, 1988.

“Basketball is a microcosm”: William C. Rhoden, “Top Garden Moment? Sixty Years Ago, and Now,” New York Times, December 9, 2009.

Team as a whole: Robert McG. Thomas Jr., “Disgraced City College Stars Of ‘50 Are Honored in ‘94,” New York Times, September 29, 1994.

Greatest college basketball moment: William C. Rhoden, “Top Garden Moment? Sixty Years Ago, and Now,” New York Times, December 9, 2009.

“If Eddie Roman was your pal”: Layne interview, February 17, 2015.