 Dambrot,c. 1950 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1928-05-24)May 24, 1928 Bronx, New York, U.S. |
| Died | January 21, 2010(2010-01-21) (aged 81) Summit, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Listed height | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) |
| Listed weight | 175 lb (79 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school | William Howard Taft (Bronx, New York) |
| College | CCNY (1946–1950) |
| NBA draft | 1950: 1st round, 7th overall pick |
| Selected by theNew York Knicks | |
| Position | Forward |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
Stats atBasketball Reference  | |
Irwin Dambrot (May 24, 1928 – January 21, 2010) was an Americanbasketball player, best known for his college career at theCity College of New York.
Dambrot was born in the Bronx and attendedWilliam Howard Taft High School in the South Bronx.
Dambrot was a first-round draft pick of theNew York Knicks and the Most Outstanding Player of the1950 NCAA basketball tournament.[1]
A 6-foot–4, 175–pound forward, He played for coachNat Holman at theCity College of New York (CCNY), where he was a senior captain in 1950 and led the Beavers to a 24–5 record and the NCAA basketball championship, earningMVP honors in the tournament. After the season, Dambrot was named to theHelms Athletic Foundation Basketball All-America team.
Dambrot's CCNY team also won the 1950National Invitation Tournament (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 theNew York Daily News described Dambrot as "a sharp-shooting forward known for his relentless enthusiasm."
Dambrot was selected in the first round (seventh overall) by theNew York Knicks in the1950 NBA draft, though he chose a career in dentistry after graduating from CCNY to go to theColumbia University College of Dental Medicine soon afterward.
On March 26, 1951, Dambrot and his CCNY teammatesEd Roman,Ed Warner,Norm Mager,Al "Fats" Roth, Herb Cohen, andFloyd Layne were arrested on charges ofshaving points in three games during the 1949–50 season. They pleaded guilty tomisdemeanor charges ofpoint shaving. 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 theNew York Times byIra Berkow, "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, coachedLeBron James when the future NBA star was atSt. Vincent–St. Mary High School, and was a head basketball coach for both theUniversity of Akron andDuquesne University.
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 fromParkinson's disease for some time. He is interred at Locust Hill Cemetery in Dover, New Jersey.