Floyd Layne, 95, Basketball Star Ruined By Gambling Scandal Dies

Floyd Layne, who helped City College win both the NCAA and NIT basketball championships in March 1950 but ruined his career in a point-shaving scandal, died at age 95 on Friday.

Floyd Layne was arrested in 1951 after being accused of taking bribes from gamblers to lose games

According to Richard Goldstein of The New York Times, Layne’s death was confirmed by Karina Jorge, an assistant director of athletics at City College, who did not say where he passed away.

The 6-foot-3 Layne was born on Jan. 1, 1929, in Brooklyn and moved to the Bronx with his mother when he was eight, after his father left home. As a guard, he played at DeWitt Clinton High School before transferring to Benjamin Franklin High School in Manhattan.

At City College, he was part of the historic 1949-50 Beavers team, the only team to ever win both the NIT and NCAA in the same season. He was also a left-handed pitcher on the baseball team.

In 1951, Layne was among the dozens of players from City College, Long Island University, Bradley University, and the University of Kentucky who were arrested after being accused of taking bribes from gamblers to lose games or keep margins of victory within the established point spread.

According to Goldstein, Layne was accused of agreeing to help keep City College from exceeding victory margins set by gamblers in their point spreads for games with Missouri, Arizona, and Boston College during the 1950-51 season.

Layne used a portion of the bribe money to buy his mother a new refrigerator

Floyd Layne led detectives to the bedroom of his Bronx home, where he had hidden $2,890 — all but $110 of the bribe money — in a rolled-up handkerchief embedded in the dirt of a flower pot. He used a portion of the money to buy his mother a new refrigerator.

In November 1951, Layne and his teammates Ed Roman, Ed Warner, Irwin Dambrot, Al Roth, Norm Mager and Herb Cohen each pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor conspiracy charge.

All players received suspended sentences except for Warner, who received a six-month jail term. However, none were accused of fixing games in the 1950 national tournaments.

“Because of the scandals, nobody ever talks about how good a basketball team we were,” Roth said before he died in 2003. “And let me tell you something, son: We were as good a basketball team as anyone has ever seen.

“People who saw us knew. [Players] who played us knew. People talk about us; they talk about the fixers. OK, that’s fair. But, damn, we could play.”

Furthermore, the scandal wrecked Layne’s hopes for a career in the NBA or Major League Baseball. He was expelled from City College and went on to serve in the Army. Layne then played for the Harlem Globetrotters and the semipro Eastern League.

Though, he was allowed to re-enter City, where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in 1957. He went on to receive a master’s degree in recreation and education from Teachers College, Columbia University.

Layne mentored Nate “Tiny” Archibald, coached the Queensborough Community College and City College teams

More importantly, Layne’s redemption arc helped change the court of public opinion for the New York native. He mentored Nate “Tiny” Archibald, who went on to have a Hall of Fame career in the NBA. Plus, Layne coached the Queensborough Community College team.

“Floyd was a tremendous influence on my life,” Archibald said a few years ago. “He was responsible for keeping me off the streets. He ran a great basketball program and encouraged me to succeed in high school and go on to college.”

Additionally, Layne was named City College’s basketball coach in 1974. His teams won the City University of New York Conference tournament championship in four of his first six seasons.

He coached the Beavers for 14 seasons before resigning to teach physical education at City College full time. He later coached the women’s basketball team at the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan.

Layne also coached the boys’ teams at Prospect Heights High School in Brooklyn and George Washington High School in Manhattan. He was inducted into the NYC Basketball Hall of Fame in 2003.