1949-1950 CCNY - BL team sheet
This is for the Basketball Legends board game

Record: 24-5

OPPG: 68.7

DPPG: 52.2

Coached by Nat Holman, the 1949-1950 CCNY Beavers achieved a remarkable feat by winning both the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) and the NCAA Tournament in the same season, becoming the first and only team to accomplish this double championship in the history of college basketball. The team was composed of kids from the inner city of New York and managed to knock off powerhouses #3 Kentucky and #1 Bradley en route to the historic season.

Long before college sports were integrated in the South, CCNY (with three Jews and two Blacks) made a firm statement against Adolph Rupp’s Kentucky Wildcats and Rupp’s racially exclusionary roster (no Black players). The win was personal.

The following season, three of the starters were convicted of shaving points in three games. In all, 32 players from seven colleges admitted to taking bribes between 1947 and 1950 to fix 86 games in 17 states. (Including Kentucky who cancelled one season of play.)

The long-term affect of the scandal on CCNY basketball was immediate and harsh. Following the discovery, CCNY deemphasized its athletic program and dropped down to what is now Division III.

The story of the 1949-1950 team and accompanying scandal is chronicled in the HBO Sports documentary, City Dump