The Secret Game: A Wartime Story of Courage, Change, and Basketball's Lost Triumph

by Scott Ellsworth

The true story of the game that never should have happened.

Something was happening to basketball.

In the wartime fall of 1943, at the little-known North Carolina College for Negroes, Coach John McLendon was on the verge of changing the game forever. Within six months, his Eagles would become the highest scoring college basketball team in America, a fast-breaking, hard-pressing juggernaut that would shatter its opponents by as many as sixty points per game. The last student of James Naismith, basketball's inventor, McLendon had opened the door to its future.

Across town, at Duke University, the best basketball squad on campus wasn't the Blue Devils, but was an all-white military team from the Duke medical school. Comprised of former college stars from across the country, they dismantled every team they faced, including the Duke varsity. They were prepared to play anyone-that is, until an audacious invitation arrived, one that was years ahead of anything the South had ever seen before.

Based on years of research, The Secret Game is a story of courage and determination, and of an incredible, long-buried moment in the nation's sporting past. The riveting true account of a remarkable season, it is the story of how handful of forgotten college basketball players not only changed the game forever, but also helped to usher in a new America.

Genres: Sports, Nonfiction, History, Basketball, Book Club, Biography, Historical

400 pages, Hardcover

First published March 10, 2015

About the author

Scott Ellsworth is the bestselling author of several books, including The Secret Game, which was the winner of the 2016 PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing. He has written about American history for the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times. Formerly a historian at the Smithsonian Institution, he is the author of Death in a Promised Land, his groundbreaking account of the 1921 Tulsa race riot. He teaches at the University of Michigan.

(source: Amazon)

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the wartime fall of 1943, at the little-known North Carolina College for Negroes, The Eagles were the highest scoring basketball team. Across town at Duke University the Blue Devils were the best basketball team and they were prepared to accept any challengers. So for the first time in history this secret game was set up way before it's time to see who was the best of the best.


I loved this story and hearing about the history of the times and how basketball started. I am not a basketball fan but that did not take away from this story.

[Ross Mckinney · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm giving this a slightly higher rating than it's earned because I think everyone should read it, and probably only basketball fans will. The Secret Game was a basketball game played in 1944 between an all-white Duke Medical Student team and the team from North Carolina College for Negros, now NCCU. The game is one chapter of the book - that's really not what the book is about. But it's a shaggy dog story that takes themes that tie together in the game - people's lives, Jim Crow laws, the amazingly bad way that African Americans were treated and the sub-culture that resulted. This book is a slap in the face, a sharp reminder of how badly Americans treated Americans only decades ago. And for that reminder, the book is brilliant and needs to be read. It's well written - one of those pieces of history (and this is a history book) that's a page turner while it's building its themes. It's also a vital reminder of how closely below the veneer of everyday life hate lies in human cultures. It's not a heavy book, not preachy, just good. And definitely worth reading. Very highly recommended, even to non-basketball fans.

[Terrence · Rating 5 out of 5]

Scott Ellsworth has written a story that is fascinating on so many different levels. As an African-American alumnus of Duke University who grew up in North Carolina I was already aware of the events of "The Secret Game" before reading the book. Yet, Ellsworth provides a page-turning story describing the backgrounds of the participants of the game and how they ended up participating in the game. His background of life in the South during the 1940s makes it crystal clear why the game was such a triumph in an era where black and white Southerners lived in 2 different worlds and rarely mixed on any type of equal footing. As an added bonus despite being an avid student of the game of basketball and its history, I also learned new details about how basketball became the popular college sport that it is today. It is very evident from the beginning that this is a well-researched book and Ellsworth takes the "facts" and transforms them into an engaging story of courage, societal and personal change, and the role a basketball game played in it all.

Every American should read this book. My grandmother hammered home the fact that "If you don't know your history, then you are doomed to repeat it." Even though we live in a time that is fifty years after the Civil Rights Movement many people do not understand the history of race relations in this country on a psychological level and thus are surprised at racial events that happen with alarming regularity in our country today. Scott Ellsworth provides insight into this history and perhaps sends each of us the message that we all must make courageous choices and not accept the status quo if we are to ever achieve racial harmony and a true "color-blind" society.

Scott Ellsworth has written a riveting tale about basketball and how a game played in the wartime South helped to break down racial barriers and signaled the coming of a new era for both the sport and the country in general.

[Tim Baumgartner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really hope this book becomes a movie! I saw it through the words of the author though! However, it made me SO mad at times when I read it, thinking of how STUPID and IGNORANT some of the white people of the southern United States were back in the 1930-1940's. And these white people were supposed to be Christians!?!?!? Give me a break!

Historian Scott Ellsworth brings out the needle in a haystack on this VERY well-written, image-conjuring, fact-checked, completely courageous, intentional preview of what life is supposed to be like when we view one another as equals and not less than one another. He sets up characters in the story very well, it’s easy to remember how people connect throughout, and the book just makes one want to see how it all plays out in the end. Ellsworth really creates suspense and anticipation for the reader to appreciate the climax. It brought me to tears and I wept several times thinking of how the events that took place were so awesome and remarkable! Why were others SO afraid to confront the status quo???

This being said, when I was going to church in California, at PazNaz (Pasadena First Church of the Nazarene), I was really challenged by pastor and scholar, T. Scott Daniels, to avoid a ‘holier than thou’ view towards those in the past, as if those of us in this day and age, are not blinded by certain sins. It’s time to dig up some of those notes I took back then…

This book deals with racial tensions as northerners and southerners crossed paths by playing a game I grew and continue to love—basketball. Growing up, I wanted to die on the basketball court one day, as an act of devotion. Thankfully, God has allowed me to mature since then, but what an honor it was for those involved to risk it all for what was so incredibly right! For those who coach, play, and watch the game of basketball—it includes SUCH a great secret that has been hidden for decades. I hope this book encourages and challenges you to not only understand the game’s history, but be one who is willing to be an agent of change regardless of the cost!

[Elizabeth Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

FANtastic read, all puns included. I could not put Scott Ellsworth's The Secret Game aside long enough to get more than a few hours' sleep. It is one of the few books I have read, deliciously, in a 24 hour period.

In all fairness, it appealed to me on any number of levels, including learning the history of Durham, NC, home to such basketball giants like UNC and Duke, Dean Smith and Coach K. But, this is basketball in Durham (and across the US -- Kansas, Michigan, VA, to name a few)during the 1920s and through WWII and the 1940s. Most interesting. I reside in Durham, and like any place I have ever lived, albeit not many, I research where my feet have landed, and was aware of some of the rich history of the area: the tobacco farmers and the cigarette industries, the Duke Family and others like the Camerons, Mangums, and so on, Black 'Wall Street' and NC Mutual Insurance, Jim Crow and segregation, the start of NC Central and even Duke University, itself. Ellsworth brought it all to life, and I understood, finally, much of what had hadn't come across in 'history' books.

The Secret Game is just that. I hesitate to spoil the story line, so let it suffice that the 'secret game' is a Sunday morning competition between the NC College for the Colored's Eagles versus the Duke University's Medical Military ball team (not the Blue Devils, for clarification). Each, a team of proven national champions, each hesitant to confront one another on the court at NCCC, each part of a miraculous moment in the history of the sport, in race relations, human relations, love of the game. This, set against a backdrop of a piece of the South, often most unflattering, at the time. Toss in brief history asides of James Naismith and the invention of the game,the YMCA, the ball, itself, early uniforms and shoes (including the Converse high tops), and what the early coaches (Naismith, to some extent, John McLendon, Phog Allen, and even Dean Smith, to name a few) mastered, the beginnings of leagues and tournaments and star players, and you have . . . Scott Ellsworth's The Secret Game.

[Jay Townsend · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slow read but very informative and interesting. Any sports fan or individual with a love for history will be intrigued.

[matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book in the weeks leading up to the 2021 NCAA tournament. I have loved basketball fervently my whole life (though I never could play very well).

Neither of my parents were big basketball fans, so I didn’t know much history of the sport or its Mt. Rushmore of programs when I fell in love with University of Kentucky basketball in the late 1980s. I knew “Rupp” only as an arena and “Naismith” only as a trivia answer. I definitely didn’t know John McLendon or the history of the CIAA.

Maturity and time have broadened my understandings of the inextricable link between race and every part of American society. My relationship with basketball fandom, especially NCAA basketball, has become more complicated as a result.

I’ve lived in Durham for almost 20 years now, and hadn’t heard of this game or this book until last year. It has been an education—on basketball, history, basketball history, NC efforts in WW2, and probably most importantly, a lesson on Coach John McLendon and the men and women he mentored throughout his life.

This book isn’t perfect (I’ll spare you minor style complaints), but it tells its story fully and finishes with a note that reminds us that while sports might be a crucial element of who we are, they are not a balm that can heal us (no matter how many movies promise otherwise). This book has made me meditate on bravery, justice, and hope, while challenging me to consider what I can do to advance the causes of each. I can’t ask much more of a book than that.

[Molly · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's a lot I didn't like about this book. But, the capstone was that a book about race, written by an old white man, ends with visiting the grave of the white guy who killed a black soldier and reminding the reader of this guy's name. The author asks us to question whether this murderer who was found not guilty was also a victim of Jim Crow and whether or not we should find forgiving love in our hearts.

Basketball folks seem to really like this book, especially KU folks who love Phogg (who I thought seemed liked a bully, even through the writer's hero worship lenses). But, I think there are so many better books on the buried histories of black Americans. I would put this one far lower on your list.

[Cc April · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not a book I normally would have picked up to read on the shelves of the bookstore. At first glance it looks like a book about the game of basketball. But reading it you realize it is about so much more. It is a moment in time, of history in the making. It is something that few knew had happened but luckily for the reader, the author, Scott Ellsworth, has taken the time to research and bring it to the forefront. In the 1940's, coach John McLendon was changing the way basketball was played. His team from the North Carolina College for Negros was fast becoming the highest scoring team in the U.S. Another team, from Duke University, an all white military team, thought they had beaten all worthy opponents. This is the story of how these two teams put aside everything else to come together and just play some basketball.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ellsworth does a great job weaving together the early days of basketball with the pre-Civil Rights movement. Two of my favorite subjects converged, so this was a wonderful read that brought hidden stories to life. Highly recommended.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a fascinating story! A history of basketball in North Carolina, and so much more! History of segregation in Durham, and how students at Duke and what is now North Carolina Central came together to make a change. Great read!

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.

After a friend who is a huge basketball fan recommended this book to me, I put off vreading it for a while, thinking, “I'm not really into basketball...” Well, I'm here to tell you this is much more than a book about basketball. Oh, it certainly is a book about basketball, but you don't have to be “into” basketball to enjoy it and get a lot out of it.

Like some RPGs where the first part of the game consists of building your party, the bulk of the book is dedicated to introducing the players and coaches, with emphasis on the black players from the North Carolina College for Negroes (known today as North Carolina Central University or NCCU), giving an extended backstory on Aubrey “Stinky” Stanley, Henry “Big Dog” Thomas, team manager Edward “Pee Wee” Boyd, and coach John McLendon, who was a student of Dr. James Naismith himself. There is a much briefer introduction to the all-white Duke medical school team.

Along the way, you'll learn a bit about race relations in North Carolina in the early 20th century; the creation and early history of North Carolina College for Negroes; the invention of basketball in 1892 and how the new game took the nation and the world by storm; how Indiana became an early and lasting hotbed of basketball enthusiasm; how the Great Depression affected the meteoric rise of basketball as a spectator sport; and how World War II intervened in the lives of all the players. It's a story filled with a cast of larger-than-life characters who are each lovingly fleshed out. The setup for the eponymous game itself doesn't begin until quite late in the book, but you won't mind the wait if you're enjoying the ride. The main problem with this structure is that by the time we bring this cast of characters together late in the book, you might have forgotten details of exactly who was who from the early part of the book.

The game itself took place in a locked gymnasium, early on a Sunday morning on the NCCU campus. Word quickly spread across campus that something big was going on inside the locked gym, and by halftime, dozens of NCCU students had climbed up on the window ledges to peer in at the forbidden game. How did it go? Well, after a rocky first half, primarily because so many of the black players were anxious about being caught and afraid to touch the white players, the NCCU team caught fire and trounced the Duke team by 44 points. But the even more amazing thing was what happened next: after a friendly post-game shootaround among players of both teams, they agreed to play a second “shirts & skins” game with the players mixed – two interracial teams facing off just for fun and pure love of the game.

There is a sort of coda at the end covering where the various characters ended up, and the direction of youth and college basketball in the post-war era.

I was telling a friend about the book, and he commented that he could visualize it as a movie, opening with the beginning of the game itself, with the stories of each major player and the coaches done as flashback sequences, intercut with pivotal moments of the game. In fact, it was made into a television movie in 2008, but it doesn't seem to be currently available anywhere that I can find, so perhaps we'll never know how it was actually done.

Audio Notes: It's narrated by the author Scott Ellsworth, and while it would be “just okay” if this were a professional narrator, as a non-professional reading his own work, Ellsworth rates a “pretty good, actually.”

[Scott Irwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Watching March Madness the last week, it is hard to imagine there was a time when it was illegal for black and white basketball players to play one another in much of the South. Not just frowned upon, but illegal. And this was not two centuries ago either, but as recently as the 1940s and 1950s. Set in this fraught racial era, Scott Ellsworth tells the remarkable story of a secret basketball game in 1944 between the all black varsity basketball team from North Carolina College for Negroes and an all white team of medical students from nearby Duke University.

The book “Secret Game” is not just about this legendary basketball game, but also about the evolution of the sport as black athletes were allowed greater and greater participation. With a few exceptions, black basketball players were limited to the historically black colleges, such as North Carolina College, through the first half of the 20th century. The segregation was not limited to the South either, as the Big 10 did not allow black players until after World War II. Not only were there great athletes in the black colleges during this era, but there were also some great basketball coaches who literally changed the game. One of the most remarkable is John McLendon, the coach of North Carolina College at the time of the secret game in 1944.

The story of John McLendon is truly astonishing. He went to the University of Kansas where he was mentored by James Naismith himself. Yes, the James Naismith that invented the game of basketball. After graduate study at the University of Iowa, at the ripe old age of 22, he landed the head coaching job at North Carolina College. He proceeded to build a dynasty in just a few short years. But this was not enough for John, as he puzzled over the best way to take advantage of the inherent athletic skills of his black basketball players. In the early 1940s it dawned on him that speed was his basketball weapon. So he invented the fast break and a basketball revolution commenced. He also invented the four corners spread offense.

The book is exceptionally well written and the story flows seamlessly through the cast of characters, culminating in the secret game of 1944. After reading this terrific book, I don’t think it is an overstatement to say that the modern game of basketball was born on that spring Sunday morning in 1944 in a locked gym with only the players and few other people in attendance. The game remained a secret for at least a generation.

One of the things that I most appreciated about the book was that the author was unsparing in his description of the danger blacks (and some whites) faced in the Jim Crow South, but at the same time he did not paint white Southerners as simple, evil cardboard cutouts, as is the tendency for many today when writing about that time in history. One thing I know for sure after reading this terrific book is that John McClendon is one of my new basketball heroes. “The Secret Game” is one of the best sports books I have ever had the pleasure of reading. I give it five stars out of five.

[Safa Kabiri · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Secret Game is an amazing book full of adventure and history about basketball, and not a single moment in the book is dull. This book was published on march 10, 2015 by Scott Ellsworth, he was originally an actor for movies but he decided to take a break from that and write this fantastic book because he was motivated by this story and him being born and raised in North Carolina, people still talk about this famous basketball game that happened there. He was so inspired by this story he decided to write a book about it and he choose the secret game as the title for the book because not a lot of people remember or heard of this basketball game that changed the way basketball is played today. In this non fiction book there is a small college and their basketball team were all negros. Their coach John Mclendon saw a lot of talent and skill with his players and he decided to open up a future for these boys. They played every game like it was their last and in months they were the one of the best teams but one team was still number one on the charts, the all white duke basketball team. This team couldn't be stopped and seemed like they never could be but that didn't stop the small basketball team from challenging them to a game of basketball.With the non stop adventure and drama, this book will get you hooked. The secret game tells a story of courage and determination of an all black basketball team, and how a small college team with big dreams changed the world of basketball forever. I would recommend this book for any age group but you do have to be interested in sports(basketball specifically) and the history of african americans and segregation.

[Garry Bell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an engaging story of basketball history and its impact during the first half or so of the 20th cdentury leading up to WWII. On the sports history side it is very engaging to look at the development and growth of the sport from Naismith's intro through 19444 or so.
Very detailed in the growth and spread across the country and its impact on both white and black lives. Obviously with this part of our history, segregation and racism is tantamount to the way in which basketball would develop across the racial lines. I throughly enjoyed the background stories on the individuals, black and white, that entered this work.
Sad to be reminded that while this country has made great progress since then and in my lifetime, there is still much that needs to be achieved. And with the current societal and political discord in this country it seems we are looking back to those bygone days. Sadly, as a white man, with bigotry, hatred, and racism on the part of many of my white counterparts. I thought that we were moving forward, but, the last decade has reopened the bitterness of the past.
It was refreshing to see how the "secret game" in 1944 between the all white Duke "medical team" and the black players of the NC College of Negroes could happen. I was especially grateful to see the backfill on the individuals involved.
This is a story that should be taught in schools. But, in these times, that would be to blankety-blank "woke" for some.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scott Ellsworth has told a really compelling story about the world surrounding an illicit basketball game between North Carolina College and the Duke University Medical School teams in 1944. The story is told narratively, tracing the lives of players and coaches (even Dr. James Naismith) and the larger world of Jim Crow, World War II and the development of basketball more generally.

The structure of the book and Ellsworth's storytelling are the real strengths here. I'd highly recommend it for any basketball fan, or anyone who wants to understand America in the 1940s. The one downside of the book was its coverage of the game itself. While I understand why it was necessary, due to a lack of sources, the secret game itself is buried deep into the book, and is covered less than some of the other games. It felt a bit anticlimactic, but otherwise this is an excellent book.

[Victoria Whited · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't even like basketball and I still thoroughly enjoyed this book. As a historian, I am personally annoyed by the lack of footnotes/endnotes. I understand the author was probably trying to write a popular history but it's still possible to do that and include footnotes/endnotes. At the end of the book, there are basically mini-essays documenting what materials were used but figuring out where this material is within the corresponding chapter is a page-turning affair of back-and-forth. The lack of proper citations is the reason why I did not give this book five stars. Ellsworth's writing-style is lyrical and the plot is movie-worthy. In fact, I'm surprised this is not a movie already.

[Ph. D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Race is American's original sin. Basketball is America's game. The secret 1944 contest between the North Carolina College for Negroes and Duke Medical School basketball teams needs to be remembered and celebrated. The game had to be secret because the NCCN coach would have lost his job if word had gotten out. Thank you, Scott Ellsworth, for telling the story.

Next on my reading list is the story of a similar game, played 22 years later: Glory Road, by Don Haskins. The difference is that every basketball fans knows about all-Black Texas Western taking down all-white Kentucky to win the NCAA championship. It's a shame that those kids from NCCN didn't have the same opportunity.

So yes, we have made progress. There is still work to be done.

[Dennis Winge · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Secret Game written by Scott Ellsworth is a very impressive page turner about a historical footnote, but in setting up the first interracial basketball game, Scott delves into the history of the racial divide in basketball during the 1940s and the racial makeup of the country at this time. The focus of the story is on Durham North Carolina and the divide between the elite white-only Duke University and North Carolina College for Blacks. Ellsworth’s in-depth research on the players and the coaches unfolds into an amazing story that was never publicized during that era. This is an amazing story that is compelling and well-crafted. I highly endorse this book.

[Abhi Patel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Living in Durham for 39 years, this book talks about the NCCU. The NCCU is the Duke architecture, Duke Medicine, basketball, life under Jim Crow, Duke during WWII, and the early stirrings of civil rights.

I liked this book because it talked a lot about basketball, and I am a big sports fan. I liked when they talked about basketball because that is what I was expecting the author to talk about throughout the whole book, but he talked about many other things and that is what I disliked about the book. I would recommend this book to people who are interested in world issues.

[Derren Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this for class, very interesting! This book does a fairly good job of reading like a novel since all of the characters all connect in a lot of unexpected ways--sometimes the connections feel tenuous, hard to follow, but that feels necessary when these are real people moving through the real world. I think this story was really worth telling and it was done well--the ending is poignant and thought-provoking. The afterword has this certain humility in the way it doesn't try to answer its own question which I appreciated.

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having lived in Durham for the past 39 years, this was an interesting and fun read. Within its 312 pages, you receive a history of NCCU, Duke architecture, Duke Medicine, basketball (locally and in general), life under Jim Crow, Duke U during WWII, and the early stirrings of civil rights. One can't but help to embrace basketball in this part of the world, but the book is about much more than the game.

[Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

For those interested in the civil rights journey or the invention/evolution of basketball, this book combines the two to make a very interesting read. The story bounces back and forth around the country, giving you a peek into how the game came to be and how the world operated when it was created. The culmination is supposedly the secret game, but the real story is found in the details and people surrounding it. Definitely worth the time--a celebration of courage and character.

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrific read! An engaging story of basketball, from its invention up to 1944. Also a history of the Historically Black College, NC Central, and its white neighbor in Durham, Duke University.

This background leads to a gripping description of a matchup between the NCCU Eagles and a Duke Medical School team that had outplayed even the Duke undergrad varsity team - a secret game, because it broke American Jim Crow laws and customs 10 years before Brown v. Topeka.

[Tymikia Glenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book nearly brought me to tears on more than a few occasions.

It’s a true story about a game between North Carolina College for Negros (now known as North Carolina Central University) and Duke University Medical School that would be the first interracial college basketball game in the 40’s during the Jim Crow times, but it had to be kept a secret.

If you love sports and basketball in particular you will really enjoy this book. So much rich history in this book about important change agents I had never heard of. Now, I will never forget them. I currently work for the YMCA and I throughly enjoyed the reading how The Y also played a pivotal role in this era as well.

[Sheri S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned all about the history of basketball while also reading about a secret game that took place before racial desegregation. The origins of basketball are described as well as the evolution of the game. Ellsworth alternates between some of this history while also giving accounts of two basketball teams, one out of Duke Medical School and the other from North Carolina College. Overall, I thought this was a very enjoyable book.

[Ken Rogerson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully researched and written book about my hometown, Durham, North Carolina. Race relations have never been an easy thing to navigate here and, while there is still a lot of progress to be made, it was deeply satisfying to read a story about people who worked on it in a time when doing so could result in awful consequences for them. I learned and felt a lot.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great book. As much as I know about basketball, this was a brand new story for me. The author really does a good job of not sugar coating the racism of basketball and society in general during the book setting. My only criticism was the book and characters were a bit hard to follow the way the story was written. That is my reasoning behind 4 stars vs 5.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

...just a remarkable story!!

While it takes a little time to get to the actual story itself, Mr. Ellsworth spins a fine yarn. Rarely do you come in contact with the page-turner feeling when reading journalistic stories but Mr. Wllsworth succeeds brilliantly...

Of course, because the story is about sports (namely basketball!!), I was an easy sell..

[Faith Herndon · Rating 2 out of 5]

An interesting story that I would've enjoyed more if I were a rabid basketball fan. It's meant to be a story of how basketball fit into the civil rights movement but there's much more basketball than there is civil rights. Nonetheless, the sections pertinent to my interest, especially stories about the two universities, were very interesting.