The CCNY point-shaving scandal of 1950–51 was a

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

point-shaving In organized sports, point shaving is a type of match fixing where the perpetrators try to change the final score of a game without changing who wins. This is typically done by players colluding with gamblers to prevent a team from covering a ...

gambling scandal that involved seven American schools in all, with four in the

New York metropolitan area The New York metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the Tri-State area, is the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass, at , and one of the most populous urban agglomerations in the world. The vast metropolitan area ...

, two in the Midwest, and one in the South. However, most of the key players in the scandal were players of the

1949–50 CCNY Beavers men's basketball team The 1949–50 CCNY Beavers men's basketball team represented the City College of New York. The head coach was Nat Holman, who was one of the game's greatest innovators and playmakers. Unlike today, when colleges recruit players from all over the ...

Background

The cheating began with the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

(NCAA) and National Invitation Tournament (NIT) champion City College of New York (CCNY). CCNY had won the 1950 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament and the

1950 National Invitation Tournament The 1950 National Invitation Tournament was the 1950 edition of the annual NCAA college basketball competition. For the only time in history, the same school won both the NIT and NCAA tournaments as CCNY took both championships, beating Bradley in ...

over

Bradley University Bradley University is a private university in Peoria, Illinois. Founded in 1897, Bradley University enrolls 5,400 students who are pursuing degrees in more than 100 undergraduate programs and more than 30 graduate programs in five colleges. Th ...

. The scandal involved CCNY and at least six other schools, including three others in the

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

area:

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

, Long Island University (LIU) and Manhattan College, spreading to Bradley University in Peoria,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

; 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 ...

and the

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

, involving 33 players in all, as well as

organized crime Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...

. CCNY was eventually banned from playing at Madison Square Garden although the coach,

Nat Holman Nat Holman (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 to NCAA and National Invi ...

, was cleared of any wrongdoing.''Nat Holman: The Man, His Legacy and CCNY''
"The 1951 Basketball Scandal"
- The City College Library - City College of New YorkGoldstein, Joe
"Explosion: 1951 scandals threaten college hoops"
-

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

- November 19, 2003

Discovery of the scandal

Junius Kellogg Junius Kellogg (March 16, 1927 – September 16, 1998) was an American basketball player, coach, and civil servant. He was the first African-American to play basketball for Manhattan College. While playing for the Jaspers, Kellogg became known fo ...

, a standout Manhattan College

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

, was offered a $1,000

bribe Bribery is the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official, or other person, in charge of a public or legal duty. With regard to governmental operations, essentially, bribery is "Corru ...

to shave points before a game against DePaul. Although he was working for minimum wage (then 75¢ per hour) at a frozen custard shop near campus, Kellogg refused to take the money and reported the solicitation to his coach, Ken Norton. Norton sent him to New York City District Attorney

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 ...

. To obtain evidence about the corruption, Kellogg wore a wire when he was again approached in a nearby bar.Junius Kellogg is dead at 71 Refused bribe in '50s scandal
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', Frank Litsky, September 18, 1998. Retrieved 2 February 2017. The scandal first became public when Hogan arrested seven men on charges of conspiring to fix games on February 18, 1951. Among those taken into custody were All-America forward Ed Warner, center Ed Roman, and

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 ...

Al Roth, the three stars of CCNY's five that won both the NIT and NCAA tournaments, still the only such double championship in history (and destined to remain such, since teams are no longer allowed to enter both tournaments in the same year). The police had set up an

undercover To go "undercover" (that is, to go on an undercover operation) is to avoid detection by the object of one's observation, and especially to disguise one's own identity (or use an assumed identity) for the purposes of gaining the trust of an ind ...

operation. The arrests were made in

Penn Station Pennsylvania Station is a name applied by the Pennsylvania Railroad to several of its grand passenger terminals. Pennsylvania Station or Penn Station may also refer to Current train stations * Baltimore Penn Station * Pennsylvania Station (Cinc ...

when the players returned from

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

, after CCNY had defeated

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then calle ...

, 95–71. In all, 32 players from seven colleges admitted to taking bribes between 1947 and 1950 to fix 86 games in 17 states. Jack Molinas was not caught in 1951, but after he was suspended for

gambling Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three el ...

by the

National Basketball Association 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 St ...

(NBA) he was linked back to the 1951 scandal by bets placed on his then-college team,

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

.Goldstein, Joe
"Explosion II: The Molinas period"
-

- November 19, 2003

Aftermath

The scandal had long-lasting effects for some of the individuals involved, as well as

itself. Long after the scandal was over, coaches would warn their players what could happen to their lives if they chose to make some "fast money". While Kentucky was forced to cancel one season of play (1952–53), it was the only program that was not permanently hobbled by the scandal. To date, Bradley is the only other affected school to have appeared in a final major media poll. However, none of the programs would suffer more than CCNY and LIU. Following the discovery of several other irregularities, CCNY deemphasized its athletic program and dropped down to what is now

Division III In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

. LIU shut down its entire athletic program from 1951 to 1957, and did not return to Division I until the 1980s.

Documentaries

In 1998, George Roy and

Steven Hilliard Stern Steven Hilliard Stern (November 1, 1937 – June 27, 2018) was a Canadian television and documentary director, producer and writer. Biography Stern attended Ryerson Institute of Technology and served in the Canadian Infantry before inaugurat ...

, 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.''City Dump: The Story of the 1951 CCNY Basketball Scandal''
-

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

The story is also detailed in ''

The First Basket ''The First Basket'' is a 2008 documentary film on professional basketball's influence on Jewish culture. It is narrated by Peter Riegert. The film includes interviews and narratives provided by, and footage of, well known Jewish basketball person ...

'', a 2008 documentary covering the history of Jewish players in basketball.

Pop culture references

The scandal is referenced in the HBO series ''

The Sopranos ''The Sopranos'' is an American crime drama television series created by David Chase. The story revolves around Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster, portraying his difficulties as he tries to balance ...

'' during the episode " Rat Pack", which was the second episode of the fifth season, first broadcast on March 14, 2004. After learning of the death of New York mob boss Carmine Lupertazzi, Corrado "Junior" Soprano confirms that Lupertazzi invented point shaving for "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 census. Fleetwood acquired its modern character in the 1830s, when the principal lando ...

Jay Neugeboren Jay Neugeboren (born Jacob Mordecai Neugeboren; May 30, 1938 in Brooklyn, New York, United States) is an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. Education Jay Neugeboren was born In Brooklyn, New York and raised in Flatbush. He we ...

'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. A 1951 movie, '' The Basketball Fix'', was based on the scandal.

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"
''New York Times''. {{NYU Violets men's basketball navbox 1950–51 NCAA men's basketball season 1950 in New York City 1951 in New York City Academic scandals Bradley Braves men's basketball College basketball controversies in the United States Match fixing CCNY Beavers men's basketball History of college basketball in the United States Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds men's basketball Manhattan Jaspers basketball NCAA sanctions NYU Violets men's basketball Sports betting scandals Toledo Rockets men's basketball 1950s crimes in New York City