The Wizard of Odds: How Jack Molinas Almost Destroyed the Game of Basketball [Paperback]

Charley Rosen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 3, 2002

In The Wizard of Odds, renowned and best-selling basketball writer Charley Rosen brings us for the first time the full life story of Jack Molinas, one of the greatest basketball players of his era, a man whose gambling addiction and hubris caused his ultimate demise. Drawing on numerous, previously unavailable first-person accounts, including Jack Molinas’s own journal and trial transcripts, Rosen presents the true saga of a man who perhaps better than anyone around him understood the weaknesses of the system in which he lived—so much so that he convinced himself that he could manipulate that system to his advantage with total impunity, in a life’s journey that took him from NBA play to the Mafia and the pornographic film industry, and to an ultimate tragic destiny.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Jack Molinas was a star college and professional basketball player in the 1950s who was expelled from the National Basketball Association in his rookie year for betting on games. He had been manipulating point spreads since his college days at Columbia, and after his expulsion from the NBA he attained his law degree and became a major wheel in the mob-influenced college basketball point fixing scandals of 1961. Eventually sentenced to 15 years in prison for his role as a fixer, he served five before being paroled, forging a new career in pornography, and finally being gunned down under mysterious circumstances. Prolific basketball writer Rosen quotes extensively from lengthy interviews Milton Gross conducted with Molinas in the 1960s for a never-published biography. Because of Molinas's duplicitous, self-serving nature, the reader is never sure how true certain allegations are. A fascinating view of the seamy side of sports gambling, this will be of particular interest to college sports and basketball historians. Recommended for all libraries. John Maxymuk, Rutgers Univ. Lib., Camden, NJ

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Basketball player, coach, and critically acclaimed novelist CHARLEY ROSEN played for Hunter College from 1959–62, where he set school records for scoring and rebounding, and was voted team MVP all three years. He went on to play for the US Maccabiah team in 1961, for Camden and Scranton in the Eastern League (a forerunner of the Continental Basketball Association) in 1962, and was a member of the bronze-medal-winning team in the World Senior Games in 1994. Rosen coached in the minor-league Continental Basketball Association for nine years and was the head coach of the women's team at the State University of New York at New Paltz. He lives in Woodstock, NY.

Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Seven Stories Press (December 3, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1583225625
• ISBN-13: 978-1583225622
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.2 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #463,496 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

70 of 75 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Factually Inaccurate, March 6, 2002

By 

Michael Gross "MGross" (New York City) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Wizard of Odds: How Jack Molinas Almost Destroyed the Game of Basketball (Hardcover)

Caveat Emptor: This book is based in large part on interviews conducted by the late New York Post sports columnist Milton Gross, my father. They were used without the permission of his heirs, and were never checked against the audiotapes on which they were based which are in my possession and have been for almost thirty years. But what's worse is that the book is factually innacurate and the author did not even attempt to confirm what he printed. Instead of thanking the person whose work he based his book on, Rosen prints untruths about him. One example: on the last page of the book, Rosen has Milton Gross skipping Molinas' funeral and instead, attempting to cash in on his death. Milton Gross had been dead for over two years when Molinas died. He would have had to make that call from his grave.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Book Review, January 27, 2010

By 

New Hampshire Bob "New Hampshire listener" (Keene, NH, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Wizard of Odds: How Jack Molinas Almost Destroyed the Game of Basketball (Paperback)

The book goes into great detail regarding the life
and times of Jack Molinas and his effect on the world
of Basketball in the early fifties. I was a High School
Classmate of Mr. Molinas so the book was of great interest
to me. He was an exceptional player and met a tragic end
most likely due to his earlier gambling connections.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Fact or fiction?, February 24, 2008

By 

Jerry Marcus (Arizona USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Wizard of Odds: How Jack Molinas Almost Destroyed the Game of Basketball (Paperback)

Charley Rosen provides readers with an entertaining book about one of basketball's most talented players, Jack Molinas. Unfortunately, it seems that some of Rosen's information might not be accurate - especially the statements about one of Jack's long-time friends, Shirley Marcus, which are based on innuendoes; and some of Rosen's statements about one of the greatest sportswriters of all times, Milton Gross.

What is particularly disappointing about this otherwise interesting book is how Rosen protects the basketball establishment by putting all the blame on Jack Molinas. The fact is, a real exploration of gambling in sports could lead to a public outcry - followed by reduced advertiser support and cancelled television contracts.

Molinas was no angel, to be sure - and Rosen does a pretty good job of characterizing this complex and talented athlete. But as the title of the book implies, it is the betting odds - the point spreads that appear in most major newspapers - that is more key to the problem than the actions of a single "Wizard" like Jack Molinas, or a lone referee (as David Stern would like us to believe).

Sadly, the current Commissioner, team owners, as well as sportswriters and commentators, would rather sidestep the problem posed by gambling than risk the millions of dollars that are at stake from advertising, television contracts, and sports fans. (Jerry Marcus is the author of the just-published novel, Broken Trust - The Murder Of Basketball Star Jack Molinas)