Trubowitz, Sid

Sidney Trubowitz

A member of the CCNY (City College of New York) Athletic Hall of Fame, Trubowitz played basketball at City College and was the New York Metropolitan area's leading scorer in 1943-44. Three years later, he led the Beavers to their first-ever NCAA tournament appearance. Trubowitz later became a doctor.

Birth and Death Dates:
unknown

Career Highlights:
A graduate of Franklin K. Lane High School in New York City, Trubowitz played for the legendary Nat Holman at CCNY in the 1940s. He began his collegiate career in 1942-43, starting at guard for the Beavers. That year, many college basketball programs suffered from a lack of manpower due to World War II, and City College was no exception. Despite some strong play from Trubowitz, the Beavers finished the season with a record of 7-10, the poorest season under Holman (who began coaching in 1920).

The following season, Trubowitz was joined on the City varsity squad by Paul Schmones and Hal Korovin as City struggled to a 6-11 record. Trubowitz, however, proved to be one of the best players in New York City as he led the Metropolitan area in scoring with 240 points, despite missing one week due to illness toward the end of the season.

Trubowitz missed the next two seasons, but returned to the court in a City College uniform in 1946-47. That year, he co-captained the CCNY team with Paul Schmones as the Beavers had a very strong squad, which included junior Lionel Malamed and freshman Irwin Dambrot. They won their first eight games of the season, but then lost four of their next five. After two key victories over New York rivals Brooklyn College and Manhattan, CCNY played an important game against Fordham that set the tone for the remainder of the season.

With an 11-4 record, City College was shooting for a post-season berth, but had little leeway for error. Against Fordham, Trubowitz came up huge with a game-high 16 points as he, "easily stole the show away from the rest of the performers. He set up plays and proved to be exceedingly accurate in the point-making department..." City defeated Fordham 86-57 and then beat Lafayette (42-40) and their arch-rivals NYU (New York University) by a score of 91-60.

Trubowitz was named second team All-Metropolitan, and his City teammates finished the regular season with a 15-4 record after putting together winning streaks of eight to open the season and five to close it. They were invited to a playoff game against Syracuse, with the winner to receive an invitiation to the NCAA tournament.

There was some speculation that CCNY would refuse any bid from the NCAA because of the University of Wyoming's inclusion in the tournament. During a Wyoming-CCNY game earlier in the season, the Cowboys' head coach Everett Shelton had made some anti-Semitic remarks regarding City's Jewish players, and City coach Nat Holman had to be restrained from attacking Shelton. Following the game, CCNY resolved to never schedule a game against a team coached by Shelton, but as Trubowitz said, "We've been wanting to make the tournament since the first game this season." CCNY ultimately agreed to participate in the tournament because they could only play Wyoming in either the championship or consolation game.

In a closely-contested game, City College defeated the Orangemen of Syracuse to earn the school's first trip to the NCAA tournament (they had previously played in the NIT in 1941 and 1942). In the first round, CCNY played the University of Wisconsin, the Big Ten champions (it was Wisconsin's last outright conference title before 2003). In a classic match-up of regional styles that pitted East (precision sets) against West (free-style playmaking), the Beavers found themselves down 36-20 in the first half, but came back with a furious rally to win, 70-56.

Their win over Wisconsin put City College into the East Regional Final, where they played Holy Cross, led by the great Bob Cousy. Trubowitz scored four points in City's 60-45 loss (Holy Cross won the title that year). In the National consolation game, Sid was held scoreless as CCNY fell to Texas 54-50.

Origin:
unknown

Career Dates:
Trubowitz played forward at CCNY, 1944-45, 1947.

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