Charley Rosen was an American basketball player, coach, novelist, and nonfiction writer. Born in the Bronx in 1941, he played at Hunter College and later coached in college basketball and the Continental Basketball Association. His long association with Phil Jackson produced two collaborative books. Rosen also wrote histories, biographies, and novels that examined the pressures surrounding competitive sports, including gambling, racism, ambition, and the conflict between sporting ideals and business.
His bibliography ranges from the 1975 collaboration Maverick: More Than a Game to the posthumous 2026 boxing history The Fight Game in Black and White, written with Ray Scott. Basketball remained his principal subject, although he also wrote about baseball and published fiction outside sports. Rosen died in Kingston, New York, on September 13, 2025, at eighty-four. His books reflect experiences as a participant as well as a reporter.
Charley Rosen Books
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Basketball Books
Maverick: More Than a Game: Phil Jackson recounts his experiences as a New York Knicks player in this early collaboration with Rosen. The memoir examines professional basketball on and off the court, connecting Jackson’s upbringing and intellectual interests with his life among professional athletes. His reflections consider personal identity and the culture of the game during the playing career that preceded his later success as a coach. Published in 1975.
Barney Polan’s Game: This novel reconstructs the world surrounding the college basketball point-shaving scandals of 1950 and 1951. Sportswriter Barney Polan moves among players, coaches, investigators, and gamblers as payments and manipulated results threaten careers. Drawing heavily on historical circumstances, Rosen examines differences in power and responsibility while following the loss of trust and the uneven consequences experienced by those involved. Published in 1997.
The Cockroach Basketball League: Coach Bob Lassner struggles to keep the Savannah Stars competitive in a fictional minor basketball league. Difficult players, drug use, gambling allegations, racial tensions, and an interfering owner complicate his work. Rosen uses the team’s uncertain prospects to explore the lives of players and coaches who remain committed to basketball while their chances of reaching the NBA steadily diminish. This edition appeared in 1998.
The Scandals of ’51: Rosen investigates the college basketball gambling scandals exposed in 1951. The account follows players, coaches, organized-crime figures, political interests, and others connected with fixing games or protecting those responsible. By examining the network surrounding the payments, it considers how power and money compromised competition and how the resulting scandal affected the sport’s credibility. This edition appeared in 1999.
More Than a Game: Jackson and Rosen alternate accounts of their backgrounds, friendship, and careers before following Jackson’s first championship season with the Los Angeles Lakers. The collaboration examines leadership and the triangle offense, including efforts to teach its principles in different settings. Teamwork and the willingness to subordinate individual status become central questions in explaining how a talented roster develops a collective approach. First published in 2001.
The Wizard of Odds: How Jack Molinas Almost Destroyed the Game of Basketball: Rosen traces Jack Molinas’s movement from talented basketball player into gambling, organized crime, and other criminal enterprises. Journals, trial records, and interviews provide evidence of how Molinas exploited weaknesses in basketball’s institutions and persuaded himself that consequences could be avoided. The biography connects personal choices with the wider systems that allowed corruption to spread through the game. Published in 2001.
Chocolate Thunder: The Uncensored Life and Times of the NBA's Original Showman: Darryl Dawkins recounts his NBA career and the league culture of the 1970s and 1980s in collaboration with Rosen. The memoir considers the public personality behind his Chocolate Thunder nickname alongside experiences with teammates and life away from games. Candid discussions of racism, drugs, and sexual relationships accompany the story of a player known for his power and showmanship. Published in 2003.
No Blood, No Foul: Jason Lewis returns from World War II without two fingers on his shooting hand and can no longer continue his basketball career as before. Becoming a referee offers another place in the sport, but requires him to confront his changed circumstances. Set in postwar New York during professional basketball’s formative years, the novel follows his search for purpose and acceptance. Published in 2008.
The First Tip-Off: The Incredible Story of the Birth of the NBA: Rosen follows the first season of the Basketball Association of America, the league that helped form the NBA. Archival photographs and interviews reconstruct the teams, personalities, and practical difficulties involved in establishing professional basketball. Figures including Joe Fulks and Chuck Connors appear in an account of a sport developing its institutions before its later commercial prominence. Published in 2008.
Crazy Basketball: A Life in and Out of Bounds: Rosen recounts his own basketball life from Hunter College through playing, coaching, and writing. Experiences ranging from a pickup game involving Wilt Chamberlain to work in the minor leagues illustrate an unconventional route through the sport. The memoir follows relationships, setbacks, and changing roles, explaining how years on and around the court shaped his understanding of professional basketball. Published in 2011.
The House of Moses All-Stars: During the Depression, Aaron Steiner joins a Jewish professional basketball team traveling from New York toward California. The players, each carrying personal problems, cross the country in a converted hearse. Their games and encounters reveal prejudice, economic hardship, political differences, and the experience of outsiders trying to make a living through basketball while searching for a place to belong. This edition appeared in 2012.
Scout's Honor: A Novel: NBA scout Rob Lassner tries to reconcile his love of basketball with the business that employs him. Evaluating high-school and college prospects brings him into conflict with an owner whose priorities and understanding of the sport differ sharply from his own. The novel follows his struggle to preserve professional judgment and personal ideals amid the compromises attached to earning a living. Published in 2013.
Perfectly Awful: The Philadelphia 76ers' Horrendous and Hilarious 1972-1973 Season: Rosen revisits the Philadelphia 76ers’ nine-win season of 1972–73 through accounts from players, observers, and other participants. The loss of important personnel, coaching changes, and a succession of defeats form the sporting narrative. Individual recollections also reveal the working culture and personalities of an NBA team whose failures became part of basketball history. First published in 2014.
Sammy Wong, All-American: Sammy Wong’s basketball talent repeatedly encounters limited expectations and restricted opportunities as he progresses through high school, college, and professional teams. When given a chance, he can transform a struggling side, but success remains dependent on circumstances beyond skill and effort. Rosen uses the fictional player’s career to examine Asian American identity, opportunity, and innocence within American sports. Published in 2014.
The Chosen Game: A Jewish Basketball History: Rosen traces Jewish participation in basketball, examining the players, coaches, and wider communities connected with the game. The history follows changes in opportunity and influence as basketball develops from local competition into a major professional sport. Cultural identity, discrimination, and achievement form part of an account concerned with contributions beyond the most familiar individual stars. First published in 2017.
Sugar: Micheal Ray Richardson, Eighties Excess, and the NBA: This biography follows Micheal Ray Richardson’s rise as an NBA All-Star, his exclusion from the league after repeated drug violations, and his later playing and coaching career. Rosen places the story within the excesses and changes associated with 1980s professional basketball. The account considers substance use, racism, controversy, and attempts to rebuild a life and career. Published in 2018.
Trouthe, Lies, and Basketball: Elliot Hersch earns permission to play basketball by promising his father academic success. As his ability carries him from New York high-school competition toward college and the NBA, another paternal rule becomes harder to follow: always tell the truth. Rosen’s novel tests that principle against corruption and compromise in institutions that appear more honorable from the outside. Published in 2019.
Coaching the Basketball Bitches: Brian Reisman coaches a small-town college women’s basketball team through a difficult season while facing professional ambitions and personal conflict. Corrupt officials, betrayals, and pressure from others test his values as he seeks another chance in life. Rosen draws on the setting of lower-division women’s basketball to examine the treatment of committed players and the compromises surrounding their coach. Published in 2024.
Dribbling a Basketball on the Road to Damascus: A Novel: Chazz Klein develops from a college power forward into an NBA player, passing through the Detroit Pistons and New York Knicks. Rosen’s novel follows that basketball journey alongside the personal experiences shaping its narrator. The story draws extensively on the author’s own world while giving its fictional player a professional career through which to explore identity, growth, and the game’s contradictions. Published in 2025.
The NBA in Black and White: The Memoir of a Trailblazing NBA Player and Coach: Ray Scott recounts his experiences as a player and coach during the NBA’s changing racial landscape, working with Rosen to connect a personal career with the league’s development. The memoir follows his arrival in Detroit, later playing years, and transition into coaching. His achievement as the first Black NBA Coach of the Year accompanies accounts of discrimination and professional opportunity. Published in 2022.
Baseball Books
Bullpen Diaries: Mariano Rivera, Bronx Dreams, Pinstripe Legends, and the Future of the New York Yankees: Rosen follows the New York Yankees’ bullpen through the 2010 season, focusing on Mariano Rivera and the other pitchers used in relief. Game accounts sit alongside interviews, explanations of scouting and pitching mechanics, and recollections of growing up a Yankees fan. The book connects daily personnel decisions and individual performances with questions about the team’s future. Published in 2011.
The .300 Hitter: A Novel: Jordan Carson tries to sustain a .300 batting average for the 1908 New York Highlanders while memories of earlier experiences threaten his carefully maintained identity. His past includes childhood bullying in the Bronx and military service in the Philippines, where his closest friend died. The novel connects the demands of professional baseball with trauma, concealment, and the possibility of discovery. Published in 2022.
Boxing Books
The Fight Game in Black and White: A History of Black Boxing: Ray Scott and Rosen trace Black boxing history through fighters who confronted racial barriers as well as opponents in the ring. The account ranges from Peter Jackson through Joe Louis and later champions including Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard. Individual careers illuminate changing opportunities, public expectations, and the struggle for recognition within a sport shaped by racial inequality. Published in 2026.
Other Books
Red, White, and Red: Solomon Glaser, a longtime Communist Party courier, travels by train from Los Angeles to Washington in 1950 after being summoned before the House Un-American Activities Committee. As he crosses the country, he reviews his political commitments and the course of his life. The novel follows his uncertainty about what to reveal and whether returning home will remain possible. Published in 2016.