Ralph Milton Beard Jr. (December 2, 1927 – November 29, 2007) was an American collegiate and professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player. He won two NCAA national

championships at the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a public land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky, the university is one of the state's ...

and played two years in the

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

prior to being barred for life for his participation in the 1951 point shaving scandal.

Early life

Beard was born in Hardinsburg, Kentucky. Beard grew up in

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

and attended

Louisville Male High School Louisville Male Traditional High School is a public co-ed secondary school serving students in grades 9 through 12 in the southside of Louisville, Kentucky, USA. It is part of the Jefferson County Public School District. History Ninth and Che ...

. He later cited the family's finances as a reason he took money from gamblers. His mother worked as a cleaning lady after his father left the family.

College career

He was a member of

Adolph Rupp Adolph Frederick Rupp (September 2, 1901 – December 10, 1977) was an American college basketball coach. He is ranked seventh in total victories by a men's NCAA Division I college coach, winning 876 games in 41 years of coaching at the Uni ...

's " Fabulous Five"

basketball team, with

Alex Groza Alex John Groza (October 7, 1926 – January 21, 1995) was an American professional basketball player from Martins Ferry, Ohio. Resulting from the CCNY point shaving scandal, Groza was banned from the National Basketball Association (NBA) for ...

, Wallace Jones, Cliff Barker, and Kenny Rollins. Beard won a gold medal in the 1948 Summer Olympics with the Fabulous Five and the

Phillips 66ers The Phillips 66ers (also known as the Oilers) were an amateur basketball team located in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, and sponsored and run by the Phillips Petroleum Company. The 66ers were a national phenomenon that grew from a small-town team to an ...

Professional career

Indianapolis Olympians (1949–1951)

Taken in the second round of the 1949

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

draft, Beard played two seasons with the Indianapolis Olympians and averaged 15.9 points and 4.4 assists per game.

CCNY point shaving scandal

In October 1951, authorities charged him along with his former teammates

and

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 Unive ...

with taking bribes as part of the 1951 NCAA point shaving scandal. They pleaded guilty and received suspended sentences but the NBA Commissioner

Maurice Podoloff Maurice Podoloff ( yi, מוריס פודולוף; 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) between 1946� ...

banned all three for life from the NBA. Beard admitted that he took $700 but denied that he had ever shaved points in a game. He claimed that

Frank Hogan Frank Smithwick Hogan (January 17, 1902 – April 2, 1974) was an American lawyer and politician from New York. He served as New York County District Attorney for more than 30 years, during which he achieved a reputation for professionalism and ...

, the New York district attorney, conspired with Podoloff of the NBA and Cardinal

Francis Spellman Francis Joseph Spellman (May 4, 1889 – December 2, 1967) was an American bishop and cardinal of the Catholic Church. From 1939 until his death in 1967, he served as the sixth Archbishop of New York; he had previously served as an auxiliar ...

, the

Archbishop of New York The Archbishop of New York is the head of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, who is responsible for looking after its spiritual and administrative needs. As the archdiocese is the metropolitan see of the ecclesiastical province encompass ...

to go after Midwestern players in an effort to protect players at Catholic colleges.

Aftermath

He worked in the pharmaceutical industry afterward. His only involvement in the sport after his ban was some scouting work with the

Kentucky Colonels The Kentucky Colonels were a member of the American Basketball Association for all of the league's nine years. The name is derived from the historic Kentucky colonels. The Colonels won the most games and had the highest winning percentage of ...

of the

American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major men's professional basketball league from 1967 to 1976. The ABA ceased to exist with the American Basketball Association–National Basketball Association merger in 1976, leading to four A ...

. He tried playing professional baseball but his ban for gambling prevented him from that sport as well.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

Personal life

Later in life, the University of Kentucky welcomed Beard back. The school retired his jersey and invited him to speak to players about point shaving. In 1985, he was inducted into the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame. Beard died on November 29, 2007 at his

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana borde ...

home.Former UK star Ralph Beard, part of a college basketball point-shaving scandal, dies at 79
Yahoo! Sports. November 29, 2007.

References

External links

at NBA.com * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Beard, Ralph 1927 births 2007 deaths All-American college men's basketball players American men's basketball players Banned National Basketball Association players Basketball players at the 1948 Summer Olympics Basketball players from Louisville, Kentucky College basketball controversies in the United States Chicago Stags draft picks Guards (basketball) Indianapolis Olympians players Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball players Louisville Male High School alumni Medalists at the 1948 Summer Olympics National Basketball Association All-Stars Olympic gold medalists for the United States in basketball People from Hardinsburg, Kentucky United States men's national basketball team players