The 1 and solely … Coach to steer a New York Metropolis workforce to an NCAA males’s basketball title: Nat Holman
The Time: March 28, 1950
The Background: Again then, the NCAA Match included solely eight groups and an East and a West area. CCNY, a workforce made up solely of New Yorkers, wasn’t included within the common season’s last AP top-20 rating and was the final workforce invited into the NIT. After profitable the NIT, CCNY was invited to the NCAA Match.
The Skinny: CCNY nipped Ohio State by some extent within the first spherical, outlasted N.C. State within the semifinals and acquired by Bradley, 71-68, for the title, turning into the one and solely faculty to ever win the NIT and NCAA Match in the identical season. Irwin Dambrot was named the match’s Most Excellent Participant, and Nat Holman appeared on “The Ed Sullivan Present.” It might be the ultimate time the Remaining 4 was performed at Madison Sq. Backyard.
The Others Who Got here Closest: Two different coaches have led their groups to the NCAA Match title recreation, Frank McGuire and St. John’s in 1952, shedding to Kansas, and Howard Cann and NYU in 1945, falling to Oklahoma State. The final metropolis workforce to succeed in the Remaining 4 was St. John’s and Lou Carnesecca in 1985. They have been crushed by Georgetown, 77-59, within the semifinals. (Word: Janice Quinn coached NYU to the ladies’s Division III nationwide title in 1996-97).
The Quote: “Extra in style than the Yankees and the Dodgers mixed proper now,” The Put up’s Jimmy Cannon wrote about CCNY on the time.
The Aftermath: A nationwide point-shaving scandal was revealed that implicated a number of CCNY gamers, ruining their NBA hopes and resulting in the workforce’s suspension in February of the next 12 months. This system went from Division I to D-III and by no means was the identical once more.
The Legacy: Holman was by no means instantly linked to the scandal, however it nonetheless partially tarnished his legacy. A member of the Naismith Basketball Corridor of Fame and New York Basketball Corridor of Fame, he coached CCNY from 1919-52 and had two different brief stints from 1954-56 and 1958-59. He compiled an total document of 405-150 per Sports activities-Reference. Holman was a star participant for NYU who performed professionally for the unique Celtics (no relation to the Boston Celtics) whereas starting his teaching tenure at CCNY.