1949-50

The NIT-NCAA double that Kentucky coach Adolph Rupp had envisioned for his team in 1949 became a reality a year later, but for a very unlikely squad from City College of New York.

CCNY, made up of mostly sophomores and coached by Original Celtic Nat Holman, posted a 17–5 record during the regular season, but failed to attract any support in the final AP Top 20. The Beavers didn't land a single player on anybody's All-America team, either.

Yet, once the tournaments got underway, CCNY—led by Irwin Dambrot and Ed Warner—went on a 7–0 tear and beat all comers: defending NIT champion San Francisco (by 19 points), defending NCAA champ Kentucky (by 39, the worst defeat ever for a Rupp-coached team), No.6 Duquesne (by 10), No.5 North Carolina State (by 5), No.2 Ohio State (by 1), and top-ranked Bradley twice (by 8 and by 3).

Kentucky, the SEC champ for the seventh year in a row, lost to CCNY in the NIT. The Wildcats were also denied a shot at defending their NCAA title when N.C. State was awarded the district berth.

Meanwhile, CCNY's two wins over Bradley came in the two championship games—69–61 in the NIT and 71–68 in the NCAA. Both titles were won in the friendly confines of Madison Square Garden, but the “Allagaroo-garoo-gara” cheers that saluted the hometown team's unique double were short-lived. There were dark clouds on the horizon.  

Rules change

The 1-and-1 free throw rule is adopted.

Final AP Top 20 (Writers' poll taken before major tournaments).

Note: Unranked CCNY (17–5, Nat Holman, 24–5) won both the NCAAs and NIT. Bradley was runner-up in both finals.

Consensus All-America (In alphabetical order)

  First Team

·         Paul Arizin, Villanova

·         Bob Cousy, Holy Cross

·         Dick Schnittker, Ohio St.

·         Bill Sharman, Southern Cal

·         Paul Unruh, Bradley

  Second Team

·         Chuck Cooper, Duquesne

·         Don Lofgran, San Francisco

·         Kevin O'Shea, Notre Dame

·         Don Rehfeldt, Wisconsin

·         Sherman White, LIU

AP POLL

1. Bradley
2. Ohio State
3. Kentucky
4. Holy Cross
5. N.C. State
6. Duquesne
7. UCLA
8. W. Kentucky
9. St. John's
10. LaSalle
19. Kansas

NCAA Results

First Round: City College of New York 56, Ohio State 55; North Carolina State 87, Holy Cross 74; Baylor 56, Brigham Young 55; Bradley 73, UCLA 59
Regional Third Place:
 Eastern: Ohio State 72, Holy Cross 52
 Western: Brigham Young 83, UCLA 62
Regional Finals:
 Eastern: CCNY 78, N.C. State 73
 Western: Bradley 68, Baylor 66
National Third Place: North Carolina State 53, Baylor 41
Championship Game: City College of New York 71, Bradley 68

CCNY Leaders: Ed Roman, Ed Warner, Irwin Dambrot, Floyd Lane, Al Roth.

NCAA Tournament MVP

  Top 10

  All-America Team

It was a sound unlike any other that resounded in Madison Square Garden during the post-World War II era, the battle cry of a school and a team destined for one triumphant year on the national stage. The students at City College of New York called it the "allagaroo" cheer.

According to school legend, an allagaroo either was a cross between an alligator and a kangaroo or a corruption of the French phrase "allez guerre" (on to the war). In either case, it was a unique chant for a team intent on completing a unique double, winning the National Invitation Tournament and the NCAA Tournament in the same season.

The Beavers were only one of many college squads that used the Garden as a home base, but as the representatives of a renowned public-education system offering free tuition to motivated students, they were special favorites.

They were to New York, guard Floyd Layne said, what the Dodgers were to Brooklyn. And their cheer ("allagaroo-garoo-garah, allagaroo-garoo-garah; ee-yah, ee-yah; sis-boom-bah") captivated New York in the early months of 1950.

City College's coach, Nat Holman, was a New York native who had been a star and an innovator with the Original Celtics, the first great barnstorming team. He lectured and wrote books on the sport and was a member of the CCNY faculty.

An imperious presence and a fastidious dresser, Holman was known as nothing less than "Mr. Basketball."

Holman had enjoyed a remarkable stewardship at City, beginning with the 1920 season. Although he continued to play professionally during his first 14 years of coaching and despite the fact the school rarely attracted top athletes, Holman began the 1950 season with a 359-127 record. This team, he predicted, would be his best ever.

Only one senior, 6-foot-4 Irwin Dambrot, was in the starting lineup, but it was a sterling sophomore class that inspired the coach's optimism. Layne, Ed Warner, Al "Fats" Roth and 6-6 Ed Roman constituted a group of exceptionally talented and versatile players. They could play the slick City game the way Holman envisioned it.

Despite their youth, their performance was impressive in the early stage of the season, when the Beavers were ranked as high as seventh in The Associated Press poll.

But a second-half slump, during which the Beavers lost to Canisius, Niagara and Syracuse, damaged their reputation and almost cost them a postseason tournament berth.

Only by sweeping the so-called "subway series" among metropolitan New York schools did they earn one of the last invitations to the NIT. CCNY was 17-5 and, in the opinion of many observers, headed for an early exit.

The first in a memorable series of upsets occurred against San Francisco, the defending NIT champion. The Beavers' 65-46 victory raised a few eyebrows, but the reaction was nothing like that which greeted an 89-50 rout of Kentucky in the quarterfinals. Kentucky had been ranked third nationally, had won 25 of 29 games and had claimed the NCAA championship the previous two years. Never before had a team coached by Adolph Rupp been so thoroughly embarrassed.

There was nothing at the outset of the game to indicate such a development. Roman, trying to work inside on 7-foot sophomore Bill Spivey, had his first few shots slammed into the nearby seats.

So Holman mapped a strategy that sent Roman away from the basket, where his one-hand push shot was on target. Warner, about three inches shorter than Roman but an exceptional pivot player with a vast array of feints, moved into the post. City pushed its fast break into high gear and, with Warner wheeling through the lane for 26 points, roared to an improbable triumph.

A 62-52 victory over a Duquesne team that featured Chuck Cooper not only lifted the Beavers into the NIT final but earned them a spot in the upcoming NCAA Tournament. Unable to choose among CCNY, Duquesne and St. John's, the NCAA district selection committee pledged to invite whichever of the three advanced furthest in the NIT. When St. John's bowed to Bradley in the other semifinal, City earned the nomination.

First, however, there was the matter of the NIT championship game, pitting an unranked local team against the top-ranked team in the nation. Bradley was a solid favorite on the basis of its 29-3 record and the presence of All-America forward Paul Unruh.

The Braves opened a 29-18 lead, which City narrowed to 30-27 at intermission. The Beavers, with Holman battling a high temperature but on hand for the action, assumed control in the second half and prevailed by the comfortable margin of 69-61 as Dambrot, the captain, scored 23 points. While his players celebrated and students swarmed into the Times Square area, Holman took his 103-degree fever to bed.

He still was ailing when CCNY was honored at a City Hall reception two days later. Mayor William O'Dwyer shook hands with each member of the team, assistant coach Bobby Sand and athletic director Sam Winograd and then said, "I congratulate you for making the city of New York so proud."

While the Beavers practiced for their opening game in the NCAA Eastern playoffs, conveniently scheduled for the Garden, Bradley defeated Kansas in a playoff for the District 5 spot in the Western playoffs at Kansas City.

As they had done during the NIT, City players continued to attend classes on the upper Manhattan campus once the NCAA Tournament got underway. Layne recalled a class in bacteriology in which a professor awakened him from reverie with a terse observation: "Mr. Layne, the game was played last night. Now look at the slide and tell me what you see."

By then, of course, the Beavers were the toasts of the town and the pride of their coach.

"The team just seemed to arrive in the Kentucky game," said a recuperated Holman as CCNY neared its second major tournament appearance in a week. "I don't think they have been lucky and I don't think they've just been hot.

"They simply found themselves. And if they stay hale and hearty, I think we can beat anybody and that includes Bradley again."

CCNY and Bradley were the fifth and sixth teams to compete in the NCAA meet and the NIT in the same year. Three teams -- most recently Kentucky in 1949 -- had won the championship of one tournament but been eliminated in the other. City's bid for an unprecedented sweep began against Ohio State, ranked second in the country.

The Buckeyes, led by 6-5 consensus All-American Dick Schnittker, started fast and scored repeatedly inside. Utilizing a tight zone defense to clog the middle, Ohio State forced CCNY to rely upon outside shooting in the first half. Fortunately for the Beavers, Layne and senior reserve Norman Mager were able to hit their set shots and the half ended in a 40-40 tie.

After the Beavers went ahead, 43-40, on Warner's three-point play, Holman ordered his players to hold the ball in an attempt to draw Ohio State out of its zone. The Buckeyes didn't budge, and CCNY made no move to score for more than 4 1/2 minutes.

Later, though, the Schnittker-led Buckeyes pulled into a 52-49 lead, but set shots by Mager and Layne regained the advantage for CCNY. When Ohio State's Jim Remington missed a shot in the final seconds, City escaped with a 56-55 victory.

Two nights later, the Beavers clinched a spot in the NCAA championship game by turning away fifth-ranked North Carolina State despite a notable performance by Sam Ranzino. The Wolfpack junior scored 16 of his 24 points in the first 10 minutes of the second half and kept his team in contention before fouling out with 3:30 remaining.

N.C. State continued to hang close, but two free throws by Layne and two layups by Warner in the final 1:35 sealed a 78-73 victory.

Meanwhile, Bradley overcame UCLA, 73-59, and struggled past underrated Baylor, 68-66, to win the Western playoffs. The Braves left the following day for New York for another shot at the team that denied them the NIT title.

It was a remarkable turn of events.

City was prepared for the rematch. Operating efficiently against Bradley's zone defense, the Beavers assumed a 39-32 halftime lead and increased the margin to 58-47 midway through the second half. The Braves then switched to a pressing man-to-man defense, a strategy that placed each of the Bradley starters in foul trouble but succeeded in rattling CCNY.

Having whittled the deficit to 69-63 in the final minute of play, Bradley got a free throw from Joe Stowell and two quick steals and layups from Gene Melchiorre and, suddenly, the championship was in doubt.

Once again, CCNY lost the ball and Melchiorre drove for the go-ahead basket. But Dambrot picked the ball off his hands as he attempted a shot -- Bradley claimed a foul on the play -- and looped a long pass downcourt for Mager.

The 6-5 Mager had been involved in a nasty collision with the Braves' Aaron Preece near the end of the first half and suffered a five-stitch cut in his forehead. Now, wearing a large bandage, Mager took the pass and scored the final basket in CCNY's thrilling and monumental 71-68 triumph.

Standing on the court moments afterward, coach Clair Bee of Long Island University noted: "No college team will ever duplicate this fabulous achievement."

It was at once the first and last great shining moment for CCNY basketball. Four prominent City players were indicted in a point-shaving scandal that rocked the sport the following year, the team was ordered to move its games from the Garden to the campus and the level of competition was lowered.

What remained was the memory of seven superb NIT/NCAA Tournament games in 2 1/2 weeks and the cry of "allagaroo!"