The Basketball Fix

Last updated

The Basketball Fix
The Basketball Fix FilmPoster.jpeg
Directed by Felix E. Feist
Screenplay byPeter R. Brooke
Charles K. Peck Jr.
Story byCharles K. Peck Jr.
Produced byEdward Leven (producer)
Henry Spitz (associate producer)
Starring John Ireland
Marshall Thompson
Vanessa Brown
William Bishop
Hazel Brooks
Johnny Sands
Cinematography Stanley Cortez
Edited by Francis D. Lyon
Music by Raoul Kraushaar
Production
company
Distributed by Realart Pictures
Release date
  • September 13, 1951 (1951-09-13)(New York City)
Running time
65 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The Basketball Fix is a 1951 noir sports drama film directed by Felix E. Feist and starring John Ireland, Marshall Thompson and Vanessa Brown. The film is also known by the alternative title The Big Decision in the United Kingdom. [1] It is based on the CCNY point shaving scandal.

Contents

Plot

Sports journalist Peter Ferredey tries to prevent promising college basketball player Johnny Long from becoming involved with a betting ring, but is unable to stop him from shaving points during games for gambler Mike Taft.

Production

Basketball betting had existed for many years but grew during the 1940s. [2] Since the start of college doubleheaders (two games in a row) at Madison Square Garden in 1934 [3] and the invention of spread betting by Charles K. McNeil circa 1940, [4] gamblers "embraced the excitement of college basketball and the financial possibilities of betting the spread". [2] [5] Still, the general public considered amateur college basketball "pure", and it was not until 1951, after multiple trials resulting from the CCNY point shaving scandal, when awareness of college basketball gambling centered in New York became widespread. [2] [6] [7] Based on this scandal, Realart Pictures released The Basketball Fix in 1951. Edward Leven produced it; Peter R. Brooke and Charles Peck Jr. wrote the screenplay. [8] The book Basketball in America states, "This movie exploited the fascination people had with the daily media reports of the actual investigation and the subsequent trials." The film had to do with both "society and basketball". [2]

Release

The film was shown nationwide beginning in 1951, including at the Palace Theatre in New York City, the Majestic Theatre in Shamokin, Pennsylvania, and the Roxy Theatre in Decatur, Alabama. [8] [9] [10] Alpha Video, Digiview Entertainment, and St. Clair Entertainment Group released it on DVD. [11]

Reception

A review in The New York Times said, "While The Basketball Fix is on the timid side, it is worth the effort put into it, and points the way to better and more constructive social comments." [8] The Decatur Daily wrote, "When Hollywood unlimbers its big cameras and turns the heat of a spotlight on a dramatic situation like The Basketball Fix...you can generally count on plenty of fireworks – and you won't be disappointed this time." [10] A TV Guide review said, "Surprisingly, the scandal in The Basketball Fix was small potatoes compared to the one that rocked the real basketball world in 1951." [12]

See also

Related Research Articles

In organized sports, point shaving is a type of match fixing where the perpetrators try to change the final score of a game without changing who wins. This is typically done by players colluding with gamblers to prevent a team from covering a published point spread, where gamblers bet on the margin of victory. The practice of shaving points is illegal in some countries, and stiff penalties are imposed for those caught and convicted, including jail time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sports betting</span> Form of gambling

Sports betting is the activity of predicting sports results and placing a wager on the outcome.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nat Holman</span> American professional basketball player and coach

Nat Holman was an American professional basketball player and college coach. He is a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and is the only coach to lead his team to NCAA and National Invitation Tournament (NIT) championships in the same season.

Floyd Layne is an American former basketball player and coach. He played college basketball for the City College of New York (CCNY) and was implicated in the point shaving scandal in 1951. Layne was instrumental in the team that won the NIT and NCAA championship in 1950 for CCNY.

Eugene "Squeaky" Melchiorre was an American basketball player. A point guard, he was drafted by the Baltimore Bullets and was the first overall pick in the 1951 NBA draft. Melchiorre never played an NBA game due to his lifetime ban from the league for point shaving when he was a college player.

The 1978–79 Boston College basketball point-shaving scandal involved a scheme in which members of the American Mafia recruited and bribed several Boston College Eagles men's basketball players to ensure the team would not win by the required margin or win by the required margin, allowing gamblers in the know to place wagers against that team and win.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tim Donaghy</span> American basketball referee

Timothy Francis Donaghy is a former professional basketball referee who worked in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 13 seasons from 1994 to 2007 until he was caught in a gambling scandal. During his career in the NBA, Donaghy officiated in 772 regular season games and 26 playoff games.

The CCNY point-shaving scandal of 1950–51 was a college basketball point-shaving gambling scandal that involved seven American schools in all, with four in the New York metropolitan area, two in the Midwest, and one in the South. However, most of the key players in the scandal were players of the 1949–50 CCNY Beavers men's basketball team.

Irwin Dambrot was an American basketball player, best known for his college career at the City College of New York.

<i>City Dump: The Story of the 1951 CCNY Basketball Scandal</i> 1998 American film

City Dump: The Story of the 1951 CCNY Basketball Scandal is a 1998 American documentary film about the City College of New York basketball point-shaving scandal. It was produced by George Roy and Steven Hilliard Stern. It was made for HBO.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Spivey</span> American basketball player (1929–1995)

William Edwin Spivey was an American basketball player. A 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) center, he played college basketball for the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Kentucky Wildcats from 1949 to 1951. After his high school career, Spivey was recruited by the University of Kentucky. During his time with the Wildcats, he led the team to the 1951 NCAA tournament championship, and was voted Most Outstanding Player of the event. When a point shaving scandal was revealed that year, Spivey was accused of being involved, which he denied. He left the Wildcats in December 1951, and the university banned him from the squad in March 1952.

The 1949–50 CCNY Beavers men's basketball team represented the City College of New York. The head coach was Nat Holman, who was one of the game's greatest innovators and playmakers. Unlike today, when colleges recruit players from all over the country, the 1949–50 CCNY team was composed of "kids from the sidewalks of New York City," who had been recruited by Holman's assistant coach Harold "Bobby" Sand from Public Schools Athletic League (PSAL) schools such as Taft, Clinton, Boys, Erasmus, and Franklin High Schools.

Sherman White was an American basketball player at Long Island University (LIU) who is best remembered for being indicted in a point shaving scandal that resulted in him being stripped of numerous honors and awards, having to serve an 8-month jail sentence, and being prohibited from ever playing in the National Basketball Association (NBA). As a college senior in 1950–51, White was the nation's leading scorer at 27.7 points per game and was only 77 total points shy of becoming the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) all-time single season leading scorer when he was caught, thus forcing him to prematurely quit and never getting to finish his college basketball career.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Walker (Toledo basketball)</span> American basketball player

William J. Walker Jr. was an American basketball player. He was a native of Queens, New York and played the guard position. Walker played collegiately for the Toledo Rockets from 1948 to 1951. He was known as an excellent dribbler and passer, and was the first officially recorded national season assists leader with his 7.24 per game average during the 1950–51 NCAA men's basketball season. However, Walker's collegiate accomplishments were overshadowed by his involvement in a point shaving scandal during his senior year.

Edward L. Warner was an American college basketball player. He was one of the stars of the 1949–50 CCNY Beavers men's basketball team, the only team to win both the NCAA tournament and the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) in the same year. He was also a central figure in the point shaving scandal that came to light in the aftermath of that season.

Edward Roman was an American college basketball player. He was the leading scorer of the 1949–50 CCNY Beavers men's basketball team, the only team to win both the NCAA tournament and the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) in the same year. He was also a central figure in the point shaving scandal that came to light in the aftermath of that season.

Alvin "Fats" Roth was an American professional basketball player known for his playing days at the City College of New York (CCNY) between 1949–50 and 1950–51. Roth was a contributing member of the only basketball team in NCAA history to win both the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) and NCAA Tournament in the same season. Roth was one of four sophomore starters on the CCNY squad that defeated Bradley in both championship games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ken Norton (basketball)</span>

Kenneth A. Norton was an American college basketball coach. He was the head coach of the Manhattan Jaspers from 1946 to 1968.

The 1950–51 NCAA men's basketball season began in December 1950, progressed through the regular season and conference tournaments, and concluded with the 1951 NCAA basketball tournament championship game on March 27, 1951, at Williams Arena in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Kentucky Wildcats won their third NCAA national championship with a 68–58 victory over the Kansas State Wildcats.

References

  1. ↑ "The Basketball Fix (1951)". BFI. Archived from the original on March 11, 2016. Retrieved January 9, 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Frank Hoffmann; Robert P Batchelor; Martin J Manning (May 23, 2016). Basketball in America: From the Playgrounds to Jordan's Game and Beyond. Routledge. pp. 67–68. ISBN   978-1-135-41986-8.
  3. ↑ Andrei S. Markovits; Steven L. Hellerman (April 22, 2001). Offside: Soccer and American Exceptionalism. Princeton University Press. pp. 89–. ISBN   0-691-07447-X.
  4. ↑ Arne K. Lang (July 14, 2016). Sports Betting and Bookmaking: An American History. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. pp. 162–. ISBN   978-1-4422-6554-7.
  5. ↑ David George Surdam (October 30, 2012). The Rise of the National Basketball Association. University of Illinois Press. p. 96. ISBN   978-0-252-09424-8.
  6. ↑ Murray Sperber (July 29, 2014). Onward to Victory: The Creation of Modern College Sports. Henry Holt and Company. p. 601. ISBN   978-1-4668-7645-3.
  7. ↑ Ezra Mendelsohn (March 31, 2009). Jews and the Sporting Life: Studies in Contemporary Jewry XXIII. Oxford University Press. p. 62. ISBN   978-0-19-972479-6.
  8. 1 2 3 "Behind College Basketball Scenes". The New York Times . September 14, 1951. Retrieved January 9, 2021.
  9. ↑ "Majestic". Shamokin News-Dispatch. Shamokin, Pennsylvania. March 6, 1952. Retrieved January 9, 2021– via Newspapers.com.
  10. 1 2 "The Basketball Fix Scores High As A Dramatic Expose". The Decatur Daily . Decatur, Alabama. May 11, 1952. Retrieved January 9, 2021– via Newspapers.com.
  11. ↑ "The Basketball Fix (1951)". AllMovie . Retrieved January 9, 2021.
  12. ↑ "The Basketball Fix". TV Guide . Retrieved January 9, 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.