num_pages: 288
description: Charley Rosen has undertaken the challenge of documenting the latest and greatest history of the game professionally--and has done so to great success. . . . . When I finished the book it seemed as if I had gone through another season injuries and all. . . . Rosen skillfully leads readers through the NBA's first steps along its journey toward what it has become today.-- Phil Jackson from the Foreword Rosen a wonderful sportswriter . . . had forgotten more basketball history than the best fans will ever know.Booklist  on No Blood No Foul Go back to a time when basketball players wore knee pads and itchy cotton jerseys. When even the team's leaders were grateful for dry towels hot showers and $60 paychecks. When winning was all that mattered. In this vividly rendered and meticulously researched book endorsed with a Foreword by Los Angeles Lakers head coach Phil Jackson sportswriter Charley Rosen takes you on a rollicking tour of the NBA's first season. Filled with rare archival photographs and exclusive interviews The First Tip-Off brings to life a cast of unforgettable characters--including Chuck Connors clown prince of the BAA and Jumping Joe Fulks ex-Marine turned basketball's first superstar--as Rosen deftly unfolds the dramatic events of that formative season. It's enough to make you believe once again in the spirit of the sport.
language: English
title: The First Tip-Off: The Incredible Story of the Birth of the NBA
publisher: McGraw Hill