I’m really glad I chose this as my Book Club reading assignment! Reading about the conference I’ve followed almost all my life, and about how local colleges have dominated intercollegiate basketball for as long as they have. It discusses the problems colleges faced in their decisions to balance academics and athletics, and the importance of ensuring each admitted athlete is done so without interference.
The Introduction follows the games of University of Maryland and University of South Carolina and their rivalry that spanned 17 years, when they were both a part of the Southern Conference. Their matchup in December 1953 was important for two main reasons, it was the first official game of ACC member teams, and in a game earlier in the season a brawl broke out. The feelings were so heated that “beefier” students of Maryland acted as sort of guards to prevent anything from going to far. By the time halftime started, Maryland had the lead 4-3, and they scored back to back baskets with a home court game winner at 2 seconds. Original ACC members were schools in North and South Carolina, the University of Virginia being a last second addition before the conferences official start.
The chapters dragged along at some points, and instead of focusing on the ACC and its creation, Walker talks about the teams and schools that faced certain problems with academic integrity and the obstacles formed in their path to winning. Chapter one discussed the ever expanding problem of schools altering transcripts to allow better players into the schools, and how the attitude towards the importance of intercollegiate sports ranges from University President to President. It then went on into the history of basketball and where the focus on the sport was, and how winning and amassing championships became everything to coaches and athletic directors across the country. The “point-shaving” incident in New York universities was the last topic talked about in this chapter, and the effect that gambling had on influencing players to throw a game for bookies. Overall Chapter One was a struggle to read, mainly because they were about schools not associated with the Southern Conference or the ACC, although the incidents did play a major role in the feelings of athletic divisions towards integrity in the program and their athletes.
Chapter two went into a simple history of the original ACC member schools, and gave us the low down on how the school came to be and their connections to each other. The fear of the incidents in Chapter One occurring in the Southern Conference sparked the school Presidents to ban members from playing in bowl games, since they didn’t have any interests in the educational aspect of the teams playing. Presidents of the schools finally convened on May 7, 1953 to officially leave the Southern Conference, and the two opposing sides originally were coincidentally aligned in interests with the idea of this new conference. The forming of the ACC called for a commissioner, and it came with much more discretion and individual power to decide matters. One huge change was allowing schools to individually choose their bowl appearances, and stricter rules regarding subsidization and the programs themselves.
I am excited to see where this book goes with the ACC and its beginning history, and how all of this information can be used to further understand college basketball as a whole. I can’t wait to talk about our findings with the rest of the group members and to see what each of us picked out as important.
