European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 7, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Wednesday March 7,1990 the stars and stripes a a a Page 23commentarycharges awaken basketball Nightmare it is the most dreaded word in College basketball a Point shaving. There was a time 40 years ago when the game was King routinely Selling out doubleheaders in new Yorkus Madison Square Garden and packing Campus Arenas. Then the Wise Guys got to some kids fixed a score Here and there and sent the sport reeling. It took years for College basketball to recover. Now the game is Riding High again with record crowds and fabulous television contracts. But it is like a fragile House of cards teetering on that one dreaded word. Point shaving. They Are kicking that word around again this time at North Carolina state sending a shudder through the sport As it Heads into the most exciting time of the season the Mcaa and nit tournaments. Each year at his first practice coach Lou Carne Secca gathers his St. Johns University team and before he diagrams the first play he Breaks out the scandal scrapbooks passed Down from the administration of Joe Lapchick. They Are a history lesson for kids who never heard about this dark Side of the game. The pages Are worn now yellowed by the years but the message is still fresh. There Are the faces of College kids Frozen in fear the headlines screaming of scandals of investigations and indictments by the District attorney All of it the fallout of shaving a few Points. There had been rumours for some time that funny business was going on in College basketball but the first tangible evidence came in january 1951, when Junius Kellogg of Manhattan College reported a $1,000 bribe offer. Two of his teammates and three gamblers were arrested. A month later the City College of new York team was travelling Home by train from a game against Temple. This was a marvellously talented team a team that one year earlier became the Only one in history to sweep both the Mcaa and nit tournaments. On the train an investigator from the Manhattan District attorneys office approached coach Nat Holman to Tell him he had orders to pick up some players for questioning. College basketball was about to take the witness stand and the testimony would be tawdry. In Lexington ky., coach Adolph Rupp Haru phed at the investigation calling the gamblers a big City problem. A they touch my boys with a 10-foot pole a he proclaimed. It turned out though that the bettors were much closer than that to rupps boys. After winning the Mcaa tournament in 1951 and being ranked no. 1 in 1952, Kentucky a program was shut Down stained by the betting revelations that had become a National scandal. It was the death penalty imposed 35 years before the Mcaa invented the punishment. The investigation revealed that Between 1947 and Hal Bock 1950, 86 games had been fixed. Seven schools a Cony Long Island University new York University Manhattan Kentucky Bradley and Toledo a were involved and 32 players were implicated. The worst part was nobody believed that the probe got to the Bottom of the scandal. College basketball made a slow recovery and by 1961, the embarrassment of 10 years earlier had been All but forgotten. And then it happened again. This time the Man in the Middle of the mess was Jack Molinas who was a player at Columbia University when the 1951 scandals broke. Molinas was Good enough to play in the Aba and spent 29 games with the fort Wayne pistons in 1953-54 before being suspended for gambling on games. He was never convicted of the charge but he would never play in the Aba again. Molinas however was not finished with basketball. On May 17, 1962, he was arrested on charges he headed a ring that fixed College games. Players from Utah Bowling Green Alabama and College of the Pacific were among those who testified against Molinas and on Jan. 8, 1963, he was convicted on five charges growing out of the latest scandal and sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison. The 1961 scandal touched 37 players from 22 schools. One of those caught in the fallout was a talented teen Ager from Brooklyn n.y., who had been recruited to play at Iowa. Connie Hawkins was supposed to have introduced a Gambler to a fellow player. He was tossed out of school and barred from playing in the Aba despite the fact that he had never been charged with fixing a game. It took a bidding War with a new league a $6 million lawsuit and seven years to get the Aba to change its mind about him. After two scandals in 10 years College basketball was reeling and its recovery took some time. Whenever a result seemed strange when a team favored by 10 Points won by two people would nod their Heads As if they knew something was going on. That a because Point shaving is like a Skeleton in the sports closet hidden from View but always there always waiting for a new generation of players who might be persuaded into cutting some Corners for a Price. That Price often is higher than they anticipated though. Call it disgrace. Ask Rick Kuhn a former Boston College player sentenced to 10 years in Federal prison in 1982 after being found guilty of conspiring to shave Points and fix six games in 1978-79. The gamblers paid $2,500 per game. Ten years for $ 15,000. . District judge Henry Bramwell imposed the sentence on Kuhn after dismissing pleas for leniency. A a Strong argument can be offered that a substantial term of incarceration imposed on this defendant will be recalled in the future by another College athlete who May be tempted to Compromise his performance a he said. Sadly that turned out to be Wishful thinking. Three years after Kuhn went to jail and a year before lie was granted an Early release by judge Bramwell the basketball program at Tulane came apart under the Burden of another fixing scandal. This one was tinged by the plague of a new generation a drugs. The trouble at Tulane began when starters Jon Johnson and Clyde Eads told authorities they got involved in a Point shaving plot after purchasing cocaine from another student. Two other players David Dominique and Bobby Thompson were implicated As was the Star of the team Center John a hot Rod Williams who was brought into the plot the others said because it could not work without him. Williams was the Connie Hawkins of his Day. He was portrayed by his defense attorney As a victim of circumstances a youngster from a deprived environment. Woefully unprepared for College hidden out in cinch courses to protect his eligibility. After two trials a the first one was ruled a mistrial because the judge ruled evidence was withheld that would have helped in his defense a Williams was found innocent of any part in the scandal. But his professional career was delayed a year by the proceedings and the testimony at his trial was As damaging to Tulane As the allegations. University president Eamon Kelly solved the problem by simply shutting Down the school s program and the gym at Tulane remained dark until this season when the sport was restored. Jack Hartman former coach at Kansas state and former president of the National association of basketball coaches once recalled his own experience with the temptations College players face. He was in new York in 1944 As a member of Oklahoma a amp mrs nit team and after beating Canisius 43-29 in the first round of the tournament at Madison Square Garden the squads Reward was a Broadway movie. A we were walking Down the Street with an assistant coach when this Guy rushed up to Hartman said. A the had five $100 Bills one stuck Between each Finger and he held up his hand. He said to us. A see what i won on you Guys last night a a the coach shooed the team away from the visitor but the episode left an impression on Hartman. A i was a country kid a he said. A i wanted to see those $ 100 Bills a Little As Long As kids do the Wise Guys will be around looking to conduct a Little bit of business. The associated pres Valvano from Page 21 school stands by its commitment. A i have said from the begin plus that i want to coach basketball at North Carolina a Iel Valvano said. A a in be also said that i wanted to do in a sense what was in the Best interest of the University and me. A so i really Felt it was incumbent upon the University to make decisions regarding How they feel about Jim Valvano because i said that this is what id he to Valvano has been under fire in cd Jast week when Abc reported allegations of Point Havig at the school. The Only Cay a. Named in the report was to Ord who now plays for the a bad a new Jersey nets. On monday however Morris county n.j., prosecutor Lee s. Trumbull said there was insufficient evidence to warrant criminal charges in new Jersey in connection with the alleged Point shaving scheme. The University issued a statement on monday a was a result of or. Valvano and his agents overtures the University has been listening to their proposal concerning or. Valvanos resignation. The University realizes the tremendous stress that or. Valvano and his family and program have suffered and both parties agree that it is of Mutual interest to reach a Resolution As soon As possible. A the University is willing for him to resign and the University would waive any contractual requirements for him to reimburse the University upon his Kaminsky however challenged the school a to let us know what College coaching jobs or Aba coaching jobs or. Valvano is considering taking. We certainly done to know of any. Newspapers in Italy have been reporting that several teams there arc interested in hiring him. A a More accurate Reading on the situation would once again reduce everything to a Choice that the University must make either to retain or. Valvano or to dismiss a if the University dismisses him it must fulfil the terms of his contract and pay him the salary for the remaining five years two italian sports dailies reported tuesday that three teams Are seeking to hire Valvano. Gazzetta Dello sport of Milan Italy a largest sports daily said the clubs seeking Valvanos services were Arimo Bologna Philips Milan and Fantoni Udine. All three clubs denied the report but Gazzetta wrote that a Valvano is packing on his Way to Wolf pack s Jim Valvano. Packing for Italy gathers from Page 21 ers a was taking his and or. Mason Weiss the attending cardiologist at Daniel Freeman Marina Hospital where gathers died said a was far As 1 know everything was done to make sure that it was Safe for him to play. He was still taking his medication. He took it sunday teammate Jeff Fryer said gathers one of the nations top scorers was so excited about playing sunday that he did something out of Cha Rater a he took a run around the track at Loyola. A we thought he was crazy a Fryer said of the 6-foot-7. 210-Pound gathers. Quot that was Hank. He had never done that before. He was just pumped for the
