The Secret Game

A Wartime Story of Courage, Change, and Basketball's Lost Triumph

By: Scott Ellsworth

Narrated by: Scott Ellsworth

Winner of the 2016 PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing: The true story of the game that never should have happened -- and of a nation on the brink of monumental change.

In the fall of 1943, at the little-known North Carolina College for Negroes, Coach John McLendon was on the verge of changing basketball forever. A protégé of James Naismith, the game's inventor, McLendon taught his team to play the full-court press and run a fast break that no one could catch. His Eagles would become the highest-scoring college team in America -- a basketball juggernaut that shattered its opponents by as many as sixty points per game.

Yet his players faced danger whenever they traveled backcountry roads. Across town, at Duke University, the best basketball squad on campus wasn't the Blue Devils, but an all-white military team from the Duke medical school. Composed of former college stars from across the country, the team dismantled everyone they faced, including the Duke varsity. They were prepared to take on anyone -- until an audacious invitation arrived, one that was years ahead of anything the South had ever seen before. What happened next wasn't on anyone's schedule.

Based on years of research, The Secret Game is a story of courage and determination, and of an incredible, long-buried moment in the nation's sporting past. The riveting, true account of a remarkable season, it is the story of how a group of forgotten college basketball players, aided by a pair of refugees from Nazi Germany and a group of daring student activists, not only blazed a trail for a new kind of America, but helped create one of the most meaningful moments in basketball history.

Critic reviews

"As a member of the Duke community, I have long been aware and proud of the secret game. Now Scott Ellsworth has brought it to light. The true story behind this extraordinary, long-buried game goes beyond any one school or any one state. The Secret Game is a triumphant look at how basketball has broken down barriers, and helped create a new kind of America. Every citizen needs to know this story--and to know it now."—Mike Krzyzewski, head coach of Duke Men's Basketball

"There is a basketball on the cover, but this is much more than a story about basketball. Yes, there was a ground-breaking basketball game played in Durham, N.C., seven decades ago, and it is recounted in great detail by Scott Ellsworth. But what we really have here is indispensable social history. White people need to read this book. People of color need to read this book. Whoever you are, you need to read this book."—Bob Ryan, Boston Globe, ESPN, author of Scribe: My Life in Sports

"A powerful book that is a page-turner from start to finish.... Ellsworth has written an important book that should appeal to people of all colors."—Bob D'Angelo, Tampa Tribune

"A fascinating new work of cultural and sports history.... Through a mixture of oral history and archival research, Ellsworth captures the rich human details of a whole generation of largely forgotten basketball players."—Nick Romeo, Boston Globe

"It would be difficult, if not impossible, for me to overstate my admiration for Scott Ellsworth's magnificent The Secret Game. It's a book about race, a book about the South, a book about America, a book about the '40s, a book about change as well as how things remain the same. This is one of the smartest and most eloquent books I've come across in a long time. A masterpiece."—Steve Yarbrough, author of The Realm of Last Chances

"A historian with the soul of a poet, Ellsworth offers a remarkably nuanced, vibrant, and eloquent account of life in the South during WWII, and his portraits of the principal players in this secret drama are multitextured and complex."—Wes Lukowsky, Booklist (starred review)

"Ellsworth has unearthed a brave moment in basketball, forgotten to history, which resonates far beyond the court."—Billy Heller, New York Post

"Scott Ellsworth has unearthed the facts of this little-known but hugely important moment. His research is as overwhelming as his story-telling style is accessible and engaging. If you love basketball, truly love the game and all that it means in terms of this country and its civil rights history, you'll want to read and reread The Secret Game."—Roland Lazenby, author of Michael Jordan: The Life

Great book!

Loved learning more about the history of basketball, race relations in our country at that time and the secret game. Highly recommend this book.

Scattered and trying too hard

I very much enjoyed the history relayed in this book, but it tries too hard to explain too much. At the end, the discussion of the murder seemed completely out of context with the rest of the story. While I understood the point of the murder intertwined with the book's focus on Jim Crow, it simply didn't fit the focus of those issues as they pertained to NCCU and Duke. Additionally, the chapters on Phog Allen and even to a certain extent, Naismith, just seemed to draw attention away from the importance of the "Secret game." Again, it just seemed to being trying too hard to incorporate too much.

My hometown

A story I never heard or knew. Now I know where the magic of college basketball began.

Could Have Been Great

The breathe of the story in this book was surprising and remarkable. Unfortunately, the narrator could have been much better.

Enjoyed--very good story built on one college basketball game

A step back in history to when blacks and whites in the south were not permitted to be seen working together let alone equals. One chapter, the game, appeared to help take one small step forward in ending segregation.