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You Tube Gold: A Forgotten Championship Team

Basketball Players and Trophy
CCNY in the glory days

In 1950, CCNY - the City College of New York - did something no one had ever done and we don’t think anyone ever did again: they won both the NIT and the NCAA titles.

At this point, the NIT was more prestigious and eventually the NCAA told teams they had to choose one or the other. But in 1950, CCNY could play in both.

Not long after the point scandal broke. City ball was devastated and CCNY was at the heart of it. After the scandal broke, and some other things as well, the university de-emphasised basketball, downgrading it to D-III.

This video is from the CCNY-Bradley NCAA matchup - they met in the finals of the NIT too - and the film is in amazingly good shape. The camera is right under the basket and the film is very sharp. You can see why New York took to this sport. In one scene, two players collide directly in front of the camera and collapse to the floor. A lot of it looks surprisingly modern.