The CCNY point-shaving scandal of 1951 was a

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

point-shaving gambling scandal which revealed widespread bribery and match fixing involving major colleges and universities both in and around New York City, particularly at the

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as the Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...

. While the public scandal officially involved at least seven American colleges and universities (with one university having a player retroactively participating in the event during this time after initially being missed during the original investigation period),Goldstein, Joe
"Explosion: 1951 scandals threaten college hoops"
-

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

- November 19, 2003 the scandal has been most closely associated with the 1949–50 CCNY Beavers, which won both the

1950 NCAA basketball tournament The 1950 NCAA basketball tournament involved 8 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA college basketball. It began on March 23, 1950, and ended with the championship game on March 28 in New ...

and 1950 National Invitation Tournament and had a number of players implicated in point shaving and match fixing.Goldstein, Joe
"Explosion II: The Molinas period"
-

- November 19, 2003 The initial scandal centered on New York City area colleges and universities: CCNY,

Manhattan College Manhattan University (previously Manhattan College) is a private, Catholic university in New York City. Originally established in 1853 by the De La Salle Christian Brothers (Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools) as an academy fo ...

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

and

Long Island University Long Island University (LIU) is a private university in Brooklyn and Brookville, New York, United States. The university enrolls over 16,000 students and offers over 500 academic programs at its main campuses, LIU Brooklyn and LIU Post on Long I ...

, before spreading farther out west to the

University of Toledo The University of Toledo (UToledo or UT) is a Public university, public research university in Toledo, Ohio, United States. It is the northernmost campus of the University System of Ohio. The university also operates a Health Science campus, ...

, Bradley University, and 1951 NCAA champion

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical ...

. Players in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

(specifically in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

and

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

, Georgetown, and the

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference of eight Private university, private Research university, research universities in the Northeastern United States. It participates in the National Collegia ...

were also to have met up with gamblers as well, though only one player from those areas would ultimately accept any of their offers. CCNY was eventually banned from playing at the

, although both head coach

Nat Holman Nat Holman (born Nathan Helmanowich; October 19, 1896 – February 12, 1995) was an American professional basketball player and college coach. He is a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and is the only coach to lead his team ...

and assistant coach Bobby Sand were cleared of any wrongdoing themselves.''Nat Holman: The Man, His Legacy and CCNY''
"The 1951 Basketball Scandal"
- The City College Library -

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a Public university, public research university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York ...

Manhattan District Attorney The New York County District Attorney, also known as the Manhattan District Attorney, is the elected district attorney for New York County, New York. The office is responsible for the prosecution of violations of New York state laws (federal la ...

Frank Hogan led the prosecution of dozens of gamblers and players for attempted bribery and match fixing, including thirty-five players (some of whom had played professionally, including at the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

), a disgraced NBA referee, and multiple members of

organized crime Organized crime is a category of transnational organized crime, transnational, national, or local group of centralized enterprises run to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally thought of as a f ...

. Previous investigations related to the scandal also revealed widespread bribery of police and corruption within the New York City Police Department, which led to the resignations of mayor William O'Dwyer and police commissioner William O'Brien alongside multiple other police officers that accepted bribes. The scandal itself threatened the integrity of college basketball and threatened its very existence at the time.

Background

Early match fixing attempts

The earliest reported attempt at fixing a college basketball match occurred on January 21, 1927, when

Wabash College Wabash College is a private liberal arts men's college located in Crawfordsville, Indiana. Founded in 1832, by a group of Dartmouth College graduates and Midwestern leaders, the institution was originally named "The Wabash Teachers Seminary an ...

athletic director Harry Scholler reported that a professional gambler attempted to bribe their star player, Benjamin "Benny" Devol, before their game against Franklin College of Indianapolis. However, Devol rejected the offer and finished the game with more points than the entire Franklin College team in Wabash College's 47–32 win. Another early attempt occurred in early March 1931, when the ''

Brooklyn Eagle The ''Brooklyn Eagle'' (originally joint name ''The Brooklyn Eagle'' and ''Kings County Democrat'', later ''The Brooklyn Daily Eagle'' before shortening title further to ''Brooklyn Eagle'') was an afternoon daily newspaper published in the city ...

'' reported St. John's University star Max Posnack was offered $3,000 (equivalent to $ in and more than twice the average annual income for a U.S. worker at the time) to rig a game against

. No further match fixing attempts were reported in college basketball until the 1940s, partially because any players seeking to fix games would rarely memorialize their gambling activities and partially because illegal activity was intentionally ignored in hopes that the sport's gambling problem would disappear on its own accord. By 1944, illegal

bookmakers A bookmaker, bookie, or turf accountant is an organization or a person that accepts and pays out gambling, bets on sporting and other events at agreed-upon odds. History The first bookmaker, Harry Ogden, stood at Newmarket Racecourse, Newmark ...

were common in the United States. Many started out as bootleggers and expanded into gambling and prostitution rings following the end of

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...

and the start of the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

. Bookmakers often cooperated with law enforcement to report attempted bribery in order to develop a reputation for honesty dealing with bettors, seek political protection, and avoid losing a rigged bet. Despite these efforts, gambling and match fixing became more widespread and serious within college basketball. In January 1945,

Arthur Daley ''Minder'' is a British comedy-drama series about the London criminal underworld. Initially produced by Verity Lambert, it was made by Euston Films, a subsidiary of Thames Television, and shown on ITV for ten series between 29 October 1979 a ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' heard rumors of college basketball games being thrown for around 15 years, with him even recalling certain games that had the final results being questioned at the time. On the day before the 1944 NCAA championship, a gambler reportedly approached

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

head coach Vadal Peterson and asked how much would it take for Utah to lose to

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...

. Peterson responded with a quick right punch to the guy in question. Utah would later win the championship game in overtime that year. In October 1944,

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...

coach

Phog Allen Forrest Clare "Phog" Allen (November 18, 1885 – September 16, 1974) was an American basketball coach and physician. Known as the "Father of Basketball Coaching,"Philadelphia Textile Institute players agreed to rig a game for $1,000 (equivalent to $ in ), though they ultimately did not follow through with the event. Following the conclusion of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, football became the biggest sport for colleges and universities, but basketball became a popular alternative revenue stream, particularly for schools, given its more modest operating costs and potentially greater return on expenses, especially considering the potential for one great recruit to carry his team to success and celebrity status. Newspapers and magazines began covering the sport in syndicated columns, with writers depending on coaches and athletic administrations to provide stories. This media environment rarely led to stories being critical of college programs, including moments that felt like fixing was going on within the games at hand, with the rare stories in question that were critical noting a select few teams like the Long Island Blackbirds that felt like they were routinely working with gamblers or that they had betting suspended on them due to "unusual money" coming in too often on the Long Island team in particular. Regardless, following the 1945

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn in New York City, United States. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls nearly 14,000 students on a campus in the Midwood and Flatbush sections of Brooklyn as of fall ...

scandal, things with college basketball and gambling were considered relatively calm up until 1948.

1945 Brooklyn College scandal and Wilson-Moritt Act

Prior to the CCNY scandal, the most infamous case of match fixing in college basketball occurred on January 29, 1945, when five

players (Bernard Barnett, Jerome Green, Robert Leder, Larry Pearlstein, and Stanley Simon) were arrested and confessed to accepting $1,000 each from multiple gamblers with promises of an extra $2,000 (equivalent to over $34,900 in 2024) included to throw their scheduled game against the Municipal University of Akron at the

Boston Garden The Boston Garden was an arena in Boston, Massachusetts. Designed by boxing promoter Tex Rickard, who also built the third iteration of New York's Madison Square Garden, it opened on November 17, 1928, as "Boston Madison Square Garden" (later ...

alongside a later game against St. Francis College at

. The revelation of the scandal would lead to Akron and Brooklyn cancelling their planned match altogether. The "Brooklyn Five" scandal came to light when two detectives noticed Barnett and Pearlstein entering the home of Henry Rosen, a suspected

fence A fence is a structure that encloses an area, typically outdoors, and is usually constructed from posts that are connected by boards, wire, rails or net (textile), netting. A fence differs from a wall in not having a solid foundation along its ...

for teenage garment thieves. On following the two players, the detectives saw them enter to gambler Harvey Stemmer's house, leading to the players' arrest and expulsion from the college. One of the five players involved questioned why the Brooklyn players were expelled, especially since he claimed that every college in the city was fixing games. Both Rosen and Stemmer would later be indicted for their involvement alongside a third individual referred to only as "Danny"; while in prison, Stemmer was found to be involved in bribing two

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

players (

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

Frank Filchock and

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

Merle Hapes) ahead of the 1946 NFL Championship Game. The two Giants players in question would later be given lifetime bans from the NFL following that event, though their lifetime bans would later be repealed in the early 1950s. During the scandal, mayor

Fiorello La Guardia Fiorello Henry La Guardia (born Fiorello Raffaele Enrico La Guardia; December 11, 1882September 20, 1947) was an American attorney and politician who represented New York in the U.S. House of Representatives and served as the 99th mayor of New Yo ...

revealed that Pearlstein had not attended Brooklyn College directly while he was playing for the team. In response, Manhattan assemblyman William J. A. Glancy raised the possibility that "dummy students", who joined teams despite not meeting admission and scholastic requirements, could be planted by gamblers. Jack Laub of CCNY was raised as one of those students in question. The Brooklyn Five scandal led the

New York State Legislature The New York State Legislature consists of the Bicameralism, two houses that act as the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York: the New York State Senate and the New York State Assem ...

to pass the 1945 Wilson-Moritt Bill on April 9, which made it a felony to extend or accept a bribe to throw a game in a wide number of amateur sports, including basketball. The NCAA addressed concerns following the 1945 scandal by creating the Principles for the Conduct of Intercollegiate Athletics, known colloquially as the " Sanity Code". The "Sanity Code" was made in an early attempt to help get rid of any early point-shaving or other gambling-related problems with the NCAA, especially in the college basketball scene, but it would ultimately prove to be a failure in the end. By the end of the 1940s, according to author Stanley Cohen, even children and casual spectators began to suspect corruption was rampant in college basketball.

Origins

During the 1944–45 season,

player Lenny Hassman, who was reported to be a " dumper", attempted to bribe star player Paul Schmones, but Schmones reported the offer to head coach

, who immediately removed Hassman from the team and reported the attempt to Frank S. Lloyd, the university's hygiene chairman. However, neither Holman nor Lloyd took further action on this situation or made the incident public following Hassman's removal from the team. During the same season, CCNY player William Levine was approached by gamblers before a game against the University of Syracuse, but Levine declined their offers to rig games. On January 14, 1948, Leonard Cohen of the ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates three online sites: NYPost. ...

'' reported another attempt to fix a game between CCNY and the University of Syracuse at the Madison Square Garden, but the bettors favoring Syracuse lost $50,000 (equivalent to $651,815 in 2024) that night. CCNY athletic director Sam Winograd admitted that he had received a telegram warning him of the fix, but had not commented to the press on it. At a sportswriters' meeting in 1948, Holman claimed another scandal similar to the Brooklyn Five would break out during the season. Holman's claim was suggested to have occurred before the January 14, 1948 game against Syracuse took place. Later in the year, Maude Stewart, the director of information services for the New York Board of Education, wrote to CCNY president Harry N. Wright regarding gambling influences at Madison Square Garden. Wright considered Stewart's suggestions unacceptable, given the results of the 1945 Brooklyn College scandal. The apex of the cheating occurred on a double-header night at the Madison Square Garden on December 28, 1950. Salvatore T. Sollazzo, a jeweler-turned-gambler, attempted to fix games by both CCNY and Long Island against the underdogs at the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...

and

Western Kentucky University Western Kentucky University (WKU) is a public university in Bowling Green, Kentucky, United States. It was founded by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1906, though its roots reach back a few decades earlier. It operates regional campuses in Glas ...

, respectively. CCNY, who were favored by six points, attempted to win by less than that, but ultimately lost to Arizona by a meager 41–38 final. Meanwhile, Long Island actually double-crossed Sollazzo by winning their match over Western Kentucky by only 7 points, with Western Kentucky scoring 13 unanswered points in the final two minutes of the game. Spectators left both games furious, with some of them claiming the games felt like "slot machines on wheels".

Investigations and arrests

Although match fixing was not limited to New York City, the 1951 scandal primarily surrounded the activities of several New York City colleges and universities. Arrests and indictments made by

Frank Hogan primarily focused on New York City before implicating players from other schools who had fixed games in New York City.

Manhattan District Attorney

On January 4, 1949,

Frank Hogan arrested four men (Joseph Aronowitz, Phillip Klein, Jack Levy, and William Rivlin) for attempting to bribe David Shapiro, co-captain for

George Washington University The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally-chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Originally named Columbian College, it was chartered in 1821 by ...

, to fix a game against

at the Madison Square Garden. One of the four men approached Shapiro the previous summer, but Shapiro insisted on an advance payment if he wanted to go through with the bribe, which led to the conspirators trying to bribe his uncle on game night. Max Rumack, a member of Hogan's staff, posed as the uncle for that event. What figured to be an isolated incident at the time would later be seen as a precursor of what was to come in 1951.

New York American-Journal

The first newspaper to seriously investigate the scandal was the ''

New York Journal-American :''Includes coverage of New York Journal-American and its predecessors New York Journal, The Journal, New York American and New York Evening Journal'' The ''New York Journal-American'' was a daily newspaper published in New York City from 1937 ...

'', led by sports editor

Max Kase Max Kase (July 21, 1897 – March 20, 1974) was an American newspaper writer and editor. He worked for the Hearst newspapers from 1917 to 1966 and was the sports editor of the '' New York Journal-American'' from 1938 to 1966. In 1946, he was one ...

. After hearing rumors of widespread corruption in the late 1940s, Kase assigned a crime reporter to obtain evidence of match fixing during the 1948–49 season. Kase later presented the Journal-American's evidence to Frank Hogan on January 10, 1951. Hogan asked Kase to delay the story, in order to wiretap and surveil individuals related to the case. Kase's own story eventually being released would help shed light on not just the scandal coming to light, but also on having other college players report on gamblers trying to bribe them in games played, such as with

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

player Ken Flower reporting to head coach Forrest Twogood that a gambler offered him $1,500 (equivalent to $18,125 in 2024) to throw a game against

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

; former

University of San Francisco The University of San Francisco (USF) is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit university in San Francisco, California, United States. Founded in 1855, it has nearly 9,000 students pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees ...

All-American

Don Lofgran Donald James Lofgran (November 18, 1928 – June 17, 1976) was an American basketball player who was a consensus All-American in 1950 while at the University of San Francisco. He also played professionally in the National Basketball Associat ...

revealing he had multiple calls from

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

inquiring if he and his teammate Frank Kuzara were interested in "doing business" with them and that threats of violence could have happened to them if they reported the calls to head coach Pete Newell;

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a Public university, public research university in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1876, the university is organized into nine colleges and schools and offers 420 undergraduate and gra ...

head coach John A. Warren revealing a gambler came into his team's dressing room in

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...

during the

1945 NCAA basketball tournament The 1945 NCAA basketball tournament was an eight-team single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of men's National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) college basketball. It began on March 22, 1945, and ended with the c ...

to offer star player Dick Wilkins $500 to lose their game against the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas, United States. It is the Flagship campus, flagship campus of the University of Arkan ...

(which Oregon did lose on that night);

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: the University of Colorado Boulder, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, the University of Colorado Denver, and the U ...

head coach Frosty Cox reporting to Ned Irish that Lee Robbins had gamblers try to proposition him, but he denied them and reported them to Cox (though Irish claimed not to remember the conversation); and Barry F. Sullivan from the University of Georgetown would also see gamblers try to proposition him, with Sullivan denying them all as well. Kase later earned a

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

in 1952 for his investigative stories into the scandal.

New York City Police Department cover-up

Parallel to the January 1951 case that led to the arrests of multiple college players, a report released by the ''

'' in February 1951 revealed that the

New York City Police Department The City of New York Police Department, also referred to as New York City Police Department (NYPD), is the primary law enforcement agency within New York City. Established on May 23, 1845, the NYPD is the largest, and one of the oldest, munic ...

suppressed around forty recordings of telephone conversations before, during, and after the 1949–50 season that detailed accounts of a substantial fix involving players from every major college in and around New York City. Further investigations revealed that bookie Harry Gross and his brother Frank Gross had engaged in widespread manipulation and bribery of city police. The Gross scandal eventually resulted in the resignation of Mayor William O'Dwyer, police commissioner William O'Brien, and various other officers who accepted bribes, as well as led to numerous police reforms along the way.

Manhattan College arrests

In January 1951, Junius Kellogg, a standout

center, was offered a $1,000

bribe Bribery is the corrupt solicitation, payment, or acceptance of a private favor (a bribe) in exchange for official action. The purpose of a bribe is to influence the actions of the recipient, a person in charge of an official duty, to act contrar ...

(equivalent to $12,800 in 2024) to shave points against DePaul on January 16. Although he was working for

minimum wage A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their employees—the price floor below which employees may not sell their labor. List of countries by minimum wage, Most countries had introduced minimum wage legislation b ...

at a frozen custard shop near campus, Kellogg reported the offer to his Manhattan coach

Ken Norton Kenneth Howard Norton Sr. (August 9, 1943 – September 18, 2013) was an American actor and professional boxer who competed from 1967 to 1981. He was awarded the World Boxing Council, WBC world heavyweight championship in 1978, after winning a ...

, who referred Kellogg to Hogan. To obtain evidence, Kellogg wore a wire when he was approached again in a nearby bar by Henry "Hank" Poppe, who explained the point-shaving scheme in great detail and claimed professional players were involved as well.Junius Kellogg is dead at 71 Refused bribe in '50s scandal
''

'', Frank Litsky, September 18, 1998. Retrieved 2 February 2017. After the DePaul game, Poppe and co-captain John Byrnes were arrested alongside fixers Cornelius Kelleher and brothers Benjamin and Irving Schwartzberg. Kelleher had paid the two players $40 per week (equivalent to $528.03 in 2024) before the 1949–50 season, as well as $3,000 per game to ensure Manhattan lost against

Siena Siena ( , ; traditionally spelled Sienna in English; ) is a city in Tuscany, in central Italy, and the capital of the province of Siena. It is the twelfth most populated city in the region by number of inhabitants, with a population of 52,991 ...

, Santa Clara, and Bradley and $2,000 per game (equivalent to over $26,400 in 2024) to beat the spread against St. Francis and NYU. Following their arrest, Poppe and Byrnes asked why they were being targeted when others were involved in match fixing.

CCNY, NYU, and LIU arrests

On February 17, 1951, after a victory over

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

in Philadelphia, the CCNY team were stopped in

Camden, New Jersey Camden is a City (New Jersey), city in Camden County, New Jersey, Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the Delaware Valley metropolitan region. The city was incorporated on February 13, 1828.Snyder, John P''The Story of ...

by two

undercover A cover in foreign, military or police human intelligence or counterintelligence is the ostensible identity and role or position in an infiltrated organization assumed by a covert agent during a covert operation. Official cover In espionage, a ...

detectives from Hogan's office. The detectives arrested three players who had been instrumental to the 1950 championship team: center Ed Roman,

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison gu ...

Alvin Roth, and All-American forward Ed Warner. All three men were charged with conspiring to fix games, along with jeweler-turned-gambler Salvatore Sollazzo, Harvey Schaff of New York University, and former Long Island player Eddie Gard, who by then worked as an agent for Sollazzo. While under arrest, the CCNY players confessed to shaving points against inferior teams in exchange for $1,500 per player per game (equivalent to over $19,550 in 2024). Roman, Roth, and Warner were indicted for accepting bribes, while Gard was indicted for bribery and Schaff was indicted for attempting to bribe a teammate of his named Jim Brasco. Sollazzo and Gard were indicted for paying a total of $30,000 in bribes (equivalent to over $396,000 in 2024) to players over the prior two seasons.

Sol Levy

Sol Levy, an

referee who was in his early 40s at the time, was suspended and later arrested for arranging the outcome for fixing (or at least attempting to fix) six different NBA games in 1950. Notably, he succeeded in fixing games on November 11 between the

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), ...

and Washington Capitols, November 12 between the Celtics and Indianapolis Olympians (which was the game that notably caught him in the act), and November 19 between the

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the Na ...

and

Syracuse Nationals The Philadelphia 76ers are an American basketball team currently playing in the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The 76ers are third in NBA ...

, but failed in fixing games on November 4 between the

Minneapolis Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers franchise has a long and storied history, having played and won championships in both the National Basketball League (United States), National Basketball League (NBL) and the Basketball Association of America (BAA) prior to ...

and Washington Capitols, November 15 between the Baltimore Bullets and

Philadelphia Warriors The history of the Golden State Warriors began in Philadelphia in 1946. In 1962, the franchise was relocated to San Francisco, California and became known as the San Francisco Warriors until 1971, when its name was changed to the current Golden ...

, and November 18 between the Knicks and Warriors. However, Levy would also admit to associating with Salvatore Sollazzo and Eddie Gard, one of the implicated players from Long Island who also became a fixer himself, during this period of time. With Levy later receiving $1,000 from the duo (Sollazzo in particular), Levy would end up becoming an accomplice of them during this period of time as well. Levy's arrest later led to a modification to the Wilson-Morritt Act of 1945 to include a provision for referees. After Levy was freed up from his prison sentence he was initially given, Levy was later found murdered for not upholding his part in rigging at least three more games in the NBA.

Continued CCNY and LIU arrests

On February 20, three Long Island players admitted to their own complicity in the growing scandal. The three players had accepted a total of $18,500 (equivalent to over $244,210 in 2024) for eight games in the two most recent seasons, including their NIT opening round loss against Syracuse, and were arrested themselves. Alongside Adolph Bigos and Leroy Smith, the most notable arrest of the trio of player was that of Sherman White, who had been named the Sporting News Player of the Year the day prior. White's arrest prematurely ended his college career with him being only 77 points short of the all-time college scoring record at the time, as well as ended his chances of playing in the NBA; the

had planned on drafting him with a territorial pick in the 1951 NBA draft. A week after the Long Island arrests, Nat Miller of LIU and Floyd Layne of CCNY were also arrested. Layne admitted to accepting $3,000 (equivalent to over $39,100 in 2024) for rigged games during the most recent season. On information given out by Eddie Gard, Miller was charged for rigging two games for $1,500 (equivalent to $19,800 in 2024). Layne's arrest came after he scored 19 points for CCNY in a 67–48 win over

Lafayette College Lafayette College is a private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Easton, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1826 by James Madison Porter and other citizens in Easton, the college first held classes in 18 ...

and a game against Cincinnati was canceled. On March 26, three more players from the CCNY championship team were arrested: Herb Cohen, Irwin Dambrot (then a dental student at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

), and Norm Mager (then a rookie season for the original Baltimore Bullets franchise of the

). Mager later became the first player to be permanently banned from the NBA. On March 30, former LIU player Louis Lipman was arrested for fixing a game against

Duquesne University Duquesne University of the Holy Spirit ( ; also known as Duquesne University or Duquesne) is a Private university, private Catholic higher education, Catholic research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded by members of ...

on January 1, 1949. On April 13, LIU player Richard Fuertado was arrested for admitting to fixing four games in the prior two seasons. On April 28, gambler Eli "Kaye" Klukofsky was arrested for his own involvement in fixing some of the CCNY games.

=University of Toledo arrests

= On July 20, four players from the

(Jack Feeman, Bob McDonald, Carlos Muzi, and Bill Walker) were arrested on charges of point-shaving in New York City and the surrounding area. Local bookmakers tipped Hogan off that gamblers frequently attended Toledo's home games and that some Toledo players were involved with both betting on and fixing a December 14, 1950 game against Niagara University. While local law enforcement had previously raided Toledo gambling establishments with the university's support, there had been little permanent effects involved. Instead, surveillance on Jacob Rubinstein, a Brooklyn bookie and friend of Toledo freshman Joe Massa, led the New York investigators to Toledo. Massa had previously trained with Bill Walker and introduced him to Eli "Kaye" Klukofsky, who offered Walker $250 (equivalent to nearly $3,260 in 2024) to fix games and an additional $250 for every player he recruited to join in. Rubinstein and three of the four players implicated Massa. Feeman's participation was revealed later on by an intercollegiate investigatory committee headed by Toledo's own President, Asa S. Knowles.

Jackie Goldsmith

Hogan made his biggest arrest on July 22, two days after the arrests in Toledo, when his office arrested Jackie Goldsmith, a former LIU and professional basketball player turned fixer. Goldsmith was reportedly the "master fixer" and "the sum of all that has been wrong in the basketball picture in recent years". After Goldsmith declined to play in his senior year for unknown reasons, he built connections in gambling and organized crime. Even while playing professionally for several minor leagues, Goldsmith had been "responsible for the corruption of more college basketball games than any other single person". Goldsmith reportedly kept apprised of all match fixing in New York City to advise gamblers that certain games were fixed and if games weren't as he sold them to be as such, he would plead innocence by claiming a double-cross.

=Bradley University arrests

On July 24, four days after the arrests in Toledo and two days after the arrest of Goldsmith, detectives from Hogan's office travelled to

Peoria, Illinois Peoria ( ) is a city in Peoria County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. Located on the Illinois River, the city had a population of 113,150 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Ill ...

to arrest three players from Bradley University (Mike Chianakas, Bill Mann, and Gene Melchiorre) for fixing their 1949 NIT consolation game against Bowling Green at Madison Square Garden. Melchiorre, an All-American point guard and the first overall pick of the 1951 NBA draft, was also considered the contact man for the group. The three players, along with teammates Charles Grover, Jim Kelly, Aaron Preece, and Fred Schlictman, admitted that they also fixed four games during the 1949–50 season. The Bradley investigation in particular revealed threats of physical violence and murder against players and their families, helping law enforcement understand how gamblers ensured that players kept their promise to rig games in the gamblers and fixers' favors. On August 27, Hogan obtained indictments against the Bradley players, along with gamblers Nick and Tony Englisis of Brooklyn; Marvin Mansberg; Jacob Rubinstein; Joseph Benintende of

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...

, a known narcotics dealer suspected of murdering

Charles Binaggio Charles Binaggio (January 12, 1909April 6, 1950) was an American gangster who became the boss of the Kansas City crime family and concocted a bold plan to control the police forces in Kansas City, Missouri, and St. Louis, Missouri. Early life Bo ...

and Charles Gargotta; and Jack West, who had also been questioned in 1947 for allegedly offering a $100,000 bribe (equivalent to $1,408,856.50 in 2024) to boxer

Rocky Graziano Thomas Rocco Barbella (January 1, 1919 – May 22, 1990), better known as Rocky Graziano, was an American professional boxer and actor who held the World Middleweight title. Graziano is considered one of the greatest knockout artists in boxing ...

. The Bradley players also willingly offered to fix games by contacting bookmakers themselves. In at least once case, players attempted to fix games in opposite directions, as was the case in a Bradley–Manhattan game, where Klukofsky offered Melchiorre $500 if Bradley failed to cover the five-point spread, while Byrnes and Poppe on Manhattan accepted a bribe to fail to cover from the other direction. The match in question ended with Bradley winning 89–67, well over the spread in question.

=University of Kentucky arrests

On October 20, former

players

Dale Barnstable Dale Barnstable (March 4, 1925 – January 26, 2019) was an American basketball player from Antioch, Illinois who was banned for life from the National Basketball Association (NBA) in 1951 for point shaving during his college career at the Univer ...

(who was working as a high school teacher in

Louisville Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...

at the time of his arrest),

Ralph Beard Ralph Milton Beard Jr. (December 2, 1927 – November 29, 2007) was an American collegiate and professional basketball player. He won two NCAA national basketball championships at the University of Kentucky and played two years in the National ...

and Alex Groza (both playing for the Indianapolis Olympians in the NBA) were arrested on suspicion that they threw a 1949 first round NIT game against

Loyola University Chicago Loyola University Chicago (Loyola or LUC) is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1870 by the Society of Jesus, Loyola is one of the largest Catholic Church, ...

at Madison Square Garden. The arrests came just months after Kentucky won the 1951 NCAA tournament and head coach

Adolph Rupp Adolph Frederick Rupp (September 2, 1901 – December 10, 1977) was an American college basketball coach. Nicknamed the "Baron of the Bluegrass", he coached the University of Kentucky Wildcats to four NCAA Division I men's basketball tournam ...

claimed gamblers "couldn't touch urstudents with a ten-foot pole." Despite his initial comments, the suspicions were first raised by Rupp himself, when he told assistant coach Harry Lancaster and athletic director Bernie Shively that "something was wrong with

his His or HIS may refer to: Computing * Hightech Information System, a Hong Kong graphics card company * Honeywell Information Systems * Hybrid intelligent system * Microsoft Host Integration Server Education * Hangzhou International School, ...

team" after the Loyola game. Hogan alleged that during the 1948–49 season, eleven different Kentucky games were fixed, beginning with a game against St. John's University at Madison Square Garden. Hogan also alleged that while the team was in New York, the Englisis brothers and former

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

student Saul Feinberg plotted with the three Kentucky players to fix more games. Barnstable, Beard, and Groza admitted to rigging three games, including the loss to Loyola. Tony Englisis alleged in a 1952 ''True'' magazine article that more games had been rigged, but the players denied it, and the New York courts declined to hear cases of match fixing which occurred entirely outside the state. Beard and Groza, who had signed a package deal with the Olympians for a seventy percent share of profits and ownership of the team, with an option to buy the team outright in three years, were permanently banned from the NBA and forced to sell their shares at ten percent of their original value. Despite making the playoffs in every season, the Olympians folded as a franchise in 1953. Kentucky players Walter Hirsch and Jim Line admitted to complicity in rigging games during the 1948–49 and 1949–50 seasons. Hirsch and Line also implicated Bill Spivey in rigging the 1950 Sugar Bowl against St. Louis, but Spivey was adamant that he had never fixed a game. While no charges were ever filed against Hirsch and Line since all of their match fixing had occurred in states without anti-bribery laws for amateur sports at the time, Assistant District Attorney Vincent A.G. O'Connor indicted Spivey for first degree perjury for failure to truthfully testify that he received $1,000 (equivalent to nearly $13,040 in 2024) for the Sugar Bowl from Jack West. His case ultimately resulted in a mistrial. Hirsch was permanently banned from both the NBA and

minor league baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

as a

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

once the discovery came to light. The entire Kentucky team would be suspended from basketball play during the 1952–53 NCAA basketball season.

Trials and sentencing

On October 27, 1951, Frank Hogan officially closed the investigation into the point-shaving scandal. In total, thirty-five players from seven colleges admitted to taking bribes between 1947 and 1950 to fix eighty-six games in seventeen states, with varying results and punishments being given out to each player at hand. All thirty-five players involved were permanently banned from the NBA, with some players also banned from other professional sports leagues as well. With the exception of the initial Manhattan College arrests, the trials were presided over by Judge of the Court of General Sessions Saul S. Streit. During the trials, Mike Chianakas and Gene Melchiorre of Bradley revealed that they could take easy courses, such as individual gymnastics, elementary badminton, elements of tumbling, golf, boxing, and both social and square dancing in order to maintain easy academic credits and graduate on time. By early October, Chianakas, Melchiorre, and Bill Mann would plead guilty to a misdemeanor, while the rest of the Bradley players would find themselves acquitted in the case. At sentencing, Judge Streit made scathing remarks on the roles of college officials and coaches and the corruption and commercialization of college athletics as a whole. When Streit sentenced the Bradley players on December 7, 1951, he vigorously castigated Bradley president David B. Owen, who had accompanied the team to all of their away games, blaming Owen and the university's booster club for openly giving money to players after games, paying for bogus jobs, and creating an atmosphere "inimical to sound educational practices". Streit's most damning remarks followed the sentencing of the Kentucky players on April 29, 1952. He issued a 63-page report including a litany of abuses against the university's basketball and football programs as "money-mad". He would also label the university athletic department in general "a highly systematized, professionalized, and commercialized enterprise" and "an acme of commercialization" with budgets comparable to professional sports franchises. Eli Kukofsky died of a heart attack before the end of his trial, leading all charges against the Toledo players to be dropped. Sherman White received one year in prison, while his teammates received suspended sentences. Questions regarding White's race have been raised by sports historians with respect to his comparatively harsh sentence. The following sentences or punishments that were given out by Judge Saul S. Streit, unless stated otherwise:

Aftermath

Some investigative journalists questioned why the scandal did not reach colleges or universities in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

or any

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

institution (outside of Manhattan College). In the book ''Barney Polan's Game'', Charley Rosen suggests that some players from St. John's University were also involved in match fixing. Hogan countered claims of pro-Catholic bias by stating that the main players and gamblers involved were apprehended and that further punishments would be given out in order to help prevent future corruption. Ultimately, the scandal did little to reduce corruption or bribery in college sports and involvement with gambling, and CCNY coach Nat Holman wrote in 1954 that gambling in college basketball was as rampant as ever and that the game would once again be tainted by scandal. In 1961, an even broader scandal resulted in the arrests of 37 students from 22 different colleges and implicated hundreds more. The scandal had long-lasting effects for some of the individuals and programs involved, as well as

itself. * Sherman White was barred from college play after being only seventy-seven points short of the all-time college scoring record, with the

also being barred from selecting him as their territorial pick in the 1951 NBA draft. * Gene Melchiorre, who had been the first overall pick in the 1951 NBA draft by the Baltimore Bullets, was barred for life. * Bill Spivey sued the NBA and de facto commissioner

Maurice Podoloff Maurice Podoloff (; August 18, 1890 – November 24, 1985) was an American lawyer and a basketball and ice hockey administrator. He served as the president of the Basketball Association of America (BAA) from 1946 to 1949, and the National Basketb ...

in 1960 for $800,000 (equivalent to nearly $8.5 million in 2024) before accepting a settlement of $10,000 (equivalent to $106,140 in 2024). After playing professional basketball for the rivaling American Basketball League in the early 1960s, Spivey was eventually able to technically play an NBA game on February 11, 1968, when he participated in an exhibition game organized in Baltimore by the most recent iteration of the Bullets at that time between the Eastern Basketball League's Baltimore Bullets All-Star team and the original Baltimore Bullets All-Star team of past ABL, BAA, and

talents. * The Indianapolis Olympians folded operations in 1953 after both

and Alex Groza were forced to sell their shares in the team as losses due to their involvement in the scandal. Some figures involved in the scandal, such as Eddie Gard, would later play semi-professional basketball in the summer.

Kentucky

Kentucky cancelled one season of play following the university's involvement in the scandal and accusations of an overemphasis on athletics at the expense of academics. However, it was the only program that was not permanently hobbled by the scandal. The scandal forced

to renege on plans to resign from coaching for health reasons that he first had at the time. He continued working as a head coach for Kentucky until 1972, winning another NCAA championship for the program in

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the thir ...

. To date, Bradley is the only other affected school to have appeared in a final major media poll since 1951 (being the runner-up again in

1954 Events January * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head ...

), with NYU being the only other program to reach as far as the Final Four since then. As of 2025, Manhattan College (who have since upgraded themselves to

Manhattan University Manhattan University (previously Manhattan College) is a private university, private, Catholic university in New York City. Originally established in 1853 by the De La Salle Brothers, De La Salle Christian Brothers (Institute of the Brothers o ...

) is the only New York program to still maintain good standing as a Division I NCAA program.

CCNY

Following the discovery of several other irregularities involved with the program, CCNY would deemphasize athletics entirely and eventually became a Division III program. In November 1952, the New York Board of Education's Committee on Intercollegiate Basketball made further revelations that ultimately led to the demise of the CCNY program, including fourteen fraudulent transcripts, an illegal recruiting mechanism in the Student Athletic Academic Council, and plans for a

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

n tour that would have paid players. Nat Holman and assistant Bobby Sand initially resigned from their positions before ultimately returning in 1954, for everything outside of bad judgment and Sand being demoted to other duties instead.

Long Island

Following Long Island's 1951 expansion separating the main campus of Long Island University, Brooklyn from the then-newly created C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University, LIU Brooklyn fired basketball coach Clair Bee and shut down its entire athletic program from 1951 to 1957, with LIU Brooklyn competing separately as a Division II program afterward. Bee would later coach the Baltimore Bullets in the

from 1951–1953 in the franchise's final full seasons of operation before retiring from coaching altogether. The school did not return to Division I sports properly until the 1980s. Beginning in July 2019, the LIU Post Pioneers merged with the long-standing LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds to form a new Division I program, reunifying the locations for the first time since their separation in 1951 to become the LIU Sharks.

New York University

Following a surprising Final Four appearance amidst the subsequent 1961 scandal implicating New York University in the early 1960s, the Violets would disband their athletics programs for financial reasons in 1971 before reinstating them in 1983 as a Division III team. The Violets would start seeing newer, greater success as a Division III program since then.

Jack Molinas

In 1954, Jack Molinas of the Fort Wayne Pistons was suspended and later permanently banned for

gambling Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of Value (economics), value ("the stakes") on a Event (probability theory), random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy (ga ...

by the NBA for betting on games involving his own team. He was ultimately linked back to the 1951 scandal by bets he had also placed on his then-college team,

, working alongside another gambler that had slipped through the cracks at the time (specifically a brother-in-law of one of the gamblers arrested). Molinas later became an associate of the

Genovese crime family The Genovese crime family (), also sometimes referred to as the Westside, is an Italian Americans, Italian American American Mafia, Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City and Ne ...

and a central player in one of the most wide-reaching college basketball point-shaving scandals in 1961.

Legacy

Documentaries

In 1998, George Roy and Steven Hilliard Stern, Black Canyon Productions, and HBO Sports made a documentary film about the CCNY Point Shaving Scandal, ''City Dump: The Story of the 1951 CCNY Basketball Scandal'', that appeared on

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

."CITY DUMP" - The CCNY Basketball Scandal - YouTube
/ref> Initially, six of the surviving point-shavers of the time and Eddie Gard were discussed to have been involved in the documentary, but they would all back out, with most of them looking for financial compensation for participating in the documentary. However, Junius Kellogg and the now former Assistant District Attorney Vincent A.G. O'Connor would appear in the documentary, with archived footage of Frank Hogan also being shown as well. The story is also detailed in '' The First Basket'', a 2008 documentary covering the history of Jewish players in basketball.

In popular culture

* A 1951 movie, '' The Basketball Fix'', was based on the scandal. * Jay Neugeboren's 1966 novel ''Big Man'' is based on what happens to an All-American African American basketball star five years after he was caught in this scandal. * The scandal is referenced in the second episode of the fifth season of the

series ''

The Sopranos ''The Sopranos'' is an American Crime film#Crime drama, crime drama television series created by David Chase. The series follows Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey American Mafia, Mafia boss who suffers from panic attacks. He reluct ...

,'' "

Rat Pack The Rat Pack was an informal group of singers that, in its second iteration, ultimately made films and appeared together in Las Vegas casino venues. They originated in the late 1940s and early 1950s as a group of A-list show business friends, s ...

", first broadcast on March 14, 2004. After learning of the death of New York mob boss Carmine Lupertazzi,

Junior Soprano Corrado John "Junior" Soprano Jr., portrayed by Dominic Chianese, is a fictional character from the HBO TV series ''The Sopranos''. Usually referred to as "Junior" or "Uncle Jun" (pronounced “June”), he is the Boss of the DiMeo crime famil ...

confirms that Lupertazzi invented point shaving: "CCNY versus Kentucky, 1951. Nobody beat the spread. I bought a black

Fleetwood Fleetwood is a coastal town in the Borough of Wyre in Lancashire, England, at the northwest corner of the Fylde. It had a population of 25,939 at the 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 census. Fleetwood acquired its modern character in the 1830 ...

References

External links

"Whereabouts Of The 1950 City College Of New York Team, NIT and NCAA Champs (Part I)"
Lost Lettermen. March 11, 2010. * Berkow, Ira (March 29, 1996)
1998 "Final Four: A Look Back; Scandal, the Unwanted Scar of Triumph"
''The New York Times''. {{Toledo Rockets men's basketball navbox 1950s crimes in New York City 1950–51 NCAA men's basketball season 1951–52 NCAA men's basketball season 1951 in New York City 1951 scandals Academic scandals Bradley Braves men's basketball CCNY Beavers men's basketball College basketball controversies in the United States History of college basketball in the United States Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds men's basketball Manhattan Jaspers men's basketball Match fixing NCAA sanctions NYU Violets men's basketball Sports betting scandals Toledo Rockets men's basketball College sports scandals