Irwin Dambrot (May 24, 1928 – January 21, 2010) was an American

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player, best known for his college career at the

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a Public university, public research university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York ...

Early life

Dambrot was born in the Bronx and attended William Howard Taft High School in the South Bronx.

Basketball career

Dambrot was a first-round draft pick of the

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the Na ...

and the Most Outstanding Player of the

1950 NCAA basketball tournament The 1950 NCAA basketball tournament involved 8 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA college basketball. It began on March 23, 1950, and ended with the championship game on March 28 in New ...

. A 6-foot–4, 175–pound forward, He played for coach

Nat Holman Nat Holman (born Nathan Helmanowich; October 19, 1896 – February 12, 1995) 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 ...

at the

(CCNY), where he was a senior captain in 1950 and led the Beavers to a 24–5 record and the NCAA basketball championship, earning

MVP MVP most commonly refers to: * Most valuable player, an award, typically for the best performing player in a sport or competition * Minimum viable product, a concept for feature estimating used in business and engineering MVP may also refer to: ...

honors in the tournament. After the season, Dambrot was named to the

Helms Athletic Foundation The Helms Athletic Foundation, founded in 1936, was a Los Angeles-based organization dedicated to the promotion of athletics and sportsmanship. Paul H. Helms was the organization's founder and benefactor, funding the foundation via his owner ...

Basketball All-America team. Dambrot's CCNY team also won the 1950

National Invitation Tournament The National Invitation Tournament (NIT) is an annual men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Since 2023, all rounds of the tournament are played at various sites across the country whi ...

(NIT), the only time that one school has won both the NCAA and NIT tournaments in the same season. Dambrot was the only senior starter on the CCNY roster that season. A January 19, 2003, article in the

New York Daily News The ''Daily News'' is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, New Jersey. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson in New York City as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in Tabloid (newspaper format ...

described Dambrot as "a sharp-shooting forward known for his relentless enthusiasm." Dambrot was selected in the first round (seventh overall) by the

in the

1950 NBA draft The 1950 NBA draft was the first draft following the 1949 merger of the Basketball Association of America and the National Basketball League that created the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on April 25, 1950, before the ...

, though he chose a career in dentistry after graduating from CCNY to go to the

Columbia University College of Dental Medicine The Columbia University College of Dental Medicine, often abbreviated CDM, is one of the 21 graduate and professional schools of Columbia University. It is located at 630 West 168th Street in Manhattan, New York City. According to American Den ...

soon afterward. On March 26, 1951, Dambrot and his CCNY teammates Ed Roman,

Ed Warner Edward Emory Warner (June 20, 1889 – February 5, 1954) was a Major League Baseball pitcher who played in with the Pittsburgh Pirates. He batted right-handed and threw left-handed. He was born in Fitchburg, Massachusetts and died in New York ...

Norm Mager Norman Clifford Mager (March 23, 1926 – March 17, 2005) was an American professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association for the Baltimore Bullets during the 1950–51 NBA season. Mager is also notable as a key ...

, Al "Fats" Roth, Herb Cohen, and

Floyd Layne Floyd Layne (January 1, 1929 – July 29, 2024) was an American Hall of Fame basketball player and coach. He was part of the historic 1949–50 City College of New York Beavers men's basketball team – the only team to ever win both the NIT and ...

were arrested on charges of shaving points in three games during the 1949–50 season. They pleaded guilty to

misdemeanor A misdemeanor (American English, spelled misdemeanour elsewhere) is any "lesser" criminal act in some common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished less severely than more serious felonies, but theoretically more so than admi ...

charges of

point shaving In organized sports, point shaving is a type of match fixing where the perpetrators try to change the final score of a game without the intention of changing who wins. This is typically done by players colluding with gamblers to prevent a team fr ...

. All received suspended sentences, except for Warner, who received a six-month prison sentence because he had a prior run-in with the law. According to a March 20, 1996, article in the

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

Ira Berkow Ira Berkow (born January 7, 1940) is an American sports reporter, columnist, and writer. He shared the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting, which was awarded to the staff of ''The New York Times'' for their serie''How Race Is Lived in Ame ...

, "the CCNY players who were convicted had accepted bribes from gamblers not to throw games, but to keep them under the point spreads. The players received just a few thousand dollars for their efforts, which took place during the season, but not during tournament games." Dambrot's nephew,

Keith Dambrot Keith Brett Dambrot (born October 26, 1958) is an American former college basketball coach who was most recently the men's basketball head coach of Duquesne University. In his final year, he led them to their first tournament appearance since 197 ...

, coached

LeBron James LeBron Raymone James Sr. ( ; born December 30, 1984) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "King James", he is the NBA's all-time leading scorer and ...

when the future NBA star was at St. Vincent–St. Mary High School, and was a head basketball coach for both the

University of Akron The University of Akron is a public university, public research university in Akron, Ohio, United States. It is part of the University System of Ohio. As a STEM fields, STEM-focused institution, it focuses on industries such as polymers, advance ...

and

Duquesne University Duquesne University of the Holy Spirit ( ; also known as Duquesne University or Duquesne) is a Private university, private Catholic higher education, Catholic research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded by members of ...

Later life and death

Irwin Dambrot lived his final years in Mendham, New Jersey. He died at age 81 at a hospital in Summit, New Jersey, after having suffered from

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a neurodegenerative disease primarily of the central nervous system, affecting both motor system, motor and non-motor systems. Symptoms typically develop gradually and non-motor issues become ...

for some time. He is interred at Locust Hill Cemetery in Dover, New Jersey.

References

External links

Daily News Tribute to Irwin Dambrot
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dambrot, Irwin 1928 births 2010 deaths American men's basketball players Banned NBA players CCNY Beavers men's basketball players Forwards (basketball) New York Knicks draft picks Basketball players from the Bronx 20th-century American sportsmen

Early life

Basketball career

Later life and death

See also

References

External links