The first tip-off

Description

The only book to tell the unbelievable true story of the NBA's tumultuous first seasonIn The First Tip-Off, veteran basketball writer Charley Rosen brings readers back to the NBA's humble beginnings, when a colorful cast of characters laid the foundation for the empire that is today's NBA. Basketball pioneers, like Red Auerbach, Chuck Connors, Ed Sadowski, Joe Fulks, and Peter "Press" Maravich - father of "Pistol Pete" - all play a role in a league of hard fouls, shady refs, meager facilities, and old school basketball. Featuring a Foreword by Los Angeles Lakers head coach Phil Jackson and exclusive interviews with the surviving players of that first season, Rosen weaves a fascinating and poignant portrait of a league struggling to gain a foothold in the American consciousness.

Description

Foreword / by Phil Jackson -- Preface -- 1. The first basket and the first basketeer -- 2. The first game -- 3. Genesis -- 4. The penguin, the mogul and the constitution -- 5. The Boston Celtics and the clown-prince of the BAA -- 6. The Providence Steamrollers hit a road block -- 7. Paul Birch fires up the Pittsburgh Ironmen -- 8. Of money, time, and justice -- 9. There's no "D" in Chicago Stags -- 10. Big Ed drives the Toronto Huskies to ruin -- 11. The evolution and extinction of the Cleveland Rebels -- 12. The professor and the St. Louis Bombers -- 13. The short flight of the Detroit Falcons -- 14. The ethnic Knicks -- 15. Gotty, Jumping Joe, and the Philadelphia Warriors -- 16. The Washington Capitols and the apprenticeship of Red Auerbach -- 17. The playoffs -- 18. The first champions -- 19. Barely alive -- Sources -- Index.

Subjects

Other Editions

• The First Tip-OffElectronic resourceMcGraw-Hill2008-01-01
• The first tip-offMcGraw-Hill2009