The City Game

Triumph, Scandal, and a Legendary Basketball Team

By: Matthew Goodman

Narrated by: Joe Ochman

The powerful story of a college basketball team who carried an era’s brightest hopes—racial harmony, social mobility, and the triumph of the underdog—but whose success was soon followed by a shocking downfall

“A masterpiece of American storytelling.”—Gilbert King, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Devil in the Grove

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

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

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

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

Tautly paced and rich with period detail, The City Game tells a story both dramatic and poignant: of political corruption, duplicity in big-time college sports, and the deeper meaning of athletic success.

Great Read

Very well written account of a turning point in College sports. I highly recommend this book.

A Must Read

A book for anybody interested in college basketball and also for anybody wanting to know the back story of the biggest scandal and the best team in the history of the game. Well researched, well written and well read.

NYC History Told Masterfully

This title is not a sports book. It is not about corruption in New York City. It is not about a criminal underground. It is not a partial history of one of the city's greatest education institutions. This title is all those things, beautifully told and well researched.

The author does an amazing job coloring the environment that wraps around the story. I am not sure why Spike Lee hasn't made a big screen adaptation yet.

A must read for the college basketball fan

I’ve been a college basketball season ticket holder for 50 years. As all fans know - there are ups and downs over the years. But it’s hard to imagine what the fans of City College of New York endured just a year after their team won both the National Invitational Tournament and the NCAA Tournament in the same year - the only time a team won both tourneys in the same year. Just a year later, it was revealed that several members of that team had received money to shave points from games played. To that time, this was the largest scandal to hit intercollegiate sports.

Amazing Listen!

The author Matthew Goodman obviously did his research and made me feel as if I was in smoke filled MSG cheering the Beavers on during their “double” season. I couldn’t stop listening from those games to the scandals to the Catskills and the aftermath. A must listen for any college basketball fan.