Professor Mike McCann Teams Up on Featured Rolling Stone Story

Professor Mike McCann teamed up with reporter Luke Cyphers for a feature article in the most recent issue of Rolling Stone. Professor McCann had worked on this for more than a year—Luke worked on this story for more than 30 years—and it involves a difficult subject matter: how New York’s famed Riverside Church Hawks shaped modern elite youth basketball while decades of alleged abuse by the program’s founder-coach Ernest Lorch, who was a prominent corporate attorney in New York City, went unchecked. 

Mike sat down for a fascinating Q&A detailing how he got involved in this story, how his legal background was an essential component in writing about criminal law matters, and might we see this story on the Big Screen?
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Question: How did you get involved in writing about the Riverside Church scandal?

Over a year ago, journalist Luke Cyphers reached out to me to see if I could help analyze the legal aspects of lawsuits brought by

 former Riverside Hawks players against Riverside Church. These lawsuits concerned sexual abuse inflicted by the team’s coach, Ernie Lorch, decades ago. Luke explained that he had been investigating this scandal for years and had gotten to know many of the former players and their attorneys. He hoped I could provide legal commentary for a long-form, investigative article.

Luke and I both write for Sportico, which is owned and published by Penske Media Company, the owner and publisher of Rolling Stone, Variety, Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter and other major media brands. Luke has been a journalist for decades, including major roles at ESPN The Magazine and the New York Daily News.

Did you know about this scandal?

I had heard of the Riverside Hawks because it's a program that produced more than 60 NBA players. It was one of the leading programs for youth basketball, so as a basketball fan, I knew about the team.

But I was not aware of the controversy involving Lorch and those who appear to have enabled him to inflict horrible crimes on boys. The more I learned, the more shocking and insidious it became. I also became convinced that this topic is a good fit for a publication like Rolling Stone, and I encouraged Luke to pitch it to them, which he did—and they said yes.

(below: members of the 1986 Hawks team)

What is your writing process for a topic like this?
My main goal was to provide useful information and commentary for Luke. He has spent countless hours over more than three decades investigating this scandal and meeting with those involved. I can’t stress enough how much the Rolling Stone article is a culmination of Luke’s extraordinary efforts in bringing this scandal to light. It is rewarding to see those efforts pay off, and it’s an honor to help Luke get across the finish line.
More importantly, we need to bring this scandal to light. The survivors, and the families of those survivors, deserve to have their stories told.

Will there be other articles and other media on the scandal?

Yes. Luke and I will continue to write about the litigation for Sportico. I also hope that filmmakers see our reporting and consider potential film projects.

You have written about other scandals involving crimes, how is this one similar and different?

That’s right. I wrote about the murder trial of former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez and went to the Fall River, Mass., courtroom where the trial was held—I even took a UNH Franklin Pierce law student, research assistant Gregory Marangos, with me. I wrote many articles for Sports Illustrated on Hernandez and served as an expert in CNN’s documentary, Downward Spiral: Inside the Case Against Aaron Hernandez. I also wrote about the scandal involving Jerry Sandusky and Penn State, appeared as an expert on Katie Couric’s ABC show to discuss it, and covered the prosecution of Michael Vick for dogfighting. These are some of the most significant criminal matters I’ve written about in sports.

The Riverside Hawks scandal shares similarities with the Sandusky scandal, as both involved a powerful figure in sports inflicting sexual abuse on young people. One difference is that the Riverside Hawks scandal has not, until now, attracted much media attention. I think that will change.

Your expertise as an attorney is in business and commercial law, particularly labor, employment, antitrust and IP—is it difficult to write about criminal law matters?

Before law school, I worked for Tom Reilly when he was the Middlesex County District Attorney and later Massachusetts Attorney General, so I have some background in criminal law. But one of the great benefits of being a law professor is that I can turn to my colleagues and benefit from their subject matter expertise. Over the years, I’ve turned to Buzz Scherr, Behzad Mirhashem, and other UNH Franklin Pierce law professors with criminal law questions.

Did you ever think that you would write for a famous publication like Rolling Stone or be a legal commentator in journalism?

Honestly, no. I never took a journalism course and didn’t write for my college newspaper. When I was in college, I assumed I would either go to law school or work in business. Journalism wasn’t on my mind. I ended up going to law school and became an attorney in Boston. I later became a law professor. This was the mid- to late 2000s, when blogs became a big deal. A buddy of mine from Harvard Law School, Greg Skidmore, had started “Sports Law Blog” and asked me to contribute. I agreed, and it was a lot of fun. Because we had that blog, and it was read by mainstream media, I started to get interview requests to provide legal commentary.

In 2007, Sports Illustrated reporter Nina Mandell interviewed me about whether radio host Don Imus had defamed members of the Rutgers women’s basketball team. SI’s editor, B.J. Schecter, then asked me if I would be interested in writing for Sports Illustratedas a legal columnist. I, of course, said yes.

Fast forward 18 years. Between Sports Illustrated, Sportico, and other mainstream publications, I’ve authored nearly 3,000 articles that have been read by general audiences. It’s pretty cool, and it has provided incredible materials for teaching as well.