The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-01-31
N Y GRAND JURY
 GOES TO WORK
 ON BASKETBALL
By CARL LUNDQUIST United Press Staff Correspondent


 New York Jan. 3l -- (U.P) - Nationwide repercussions to the most sensational college athletic scandal in history brought prompt assurance today from a quick-act- Ing grand jury that every phase of bribery and gambling involving baS- ketball players in the Metropolitan area would be investigated thor oughly.
 The grand jury completed a l2- hour investigation of the bribery deal in which five Brooklyn College players were promised $3,O0O to throw a game late last night and announced 1t would report it's find- ings to Kings tBrooklyn County Judge Samuel s. Leibowitz at 10 a. m. (EWT) today.
 |, Leibowitz, devoted sports fan, ordered the grand jury to check not only into the Brooklyn College scandal, but to investigate reports that other teams In the Metropon- tan area had been approached by professional gamblers.
 T am charging you also to con- duct a broad, exploratory, thorough and conclusive investigation within the scope of your authority" he said.
 college athletic authorities throughout the nation, shocked at the revelation that the unprecedent- ed wave of gambling had resulted in a scandal as sensational as the baseball Black Sox" sellout of 1919, were emphatic in their belief that the sport would be restored quickly to public confidence.
 They warned, however, that there was an immediate need for the es- tablishment of a high commissioner or czar with enforcement powers which would prevent the recurrence of such a scandal
 Metropolitan College basketball coaches and athletic directors pledged cooperation with the grand jury in an emergency meeting last night in which they stressed that there was no evidence that any other teams were involved with pro- IeSSlOIldl BdIIlULeIS.
 Ned Irish, promoter of basketball games at Madison Square Garden said drastic steps were taken at the meeting to combat the wave of gambling and the attendant shadow it casts upon the integrity of Amer ica's number one spectator sport.
 These measures, however, must remain undisclosed at the moment in order to be effective" Irish said.
 The steps taken are designed to give the players assurance of pro- lection from advances by gamblers and to correct the impression that this incident typifies the attitude of the college player in general.
 Morris Raskin. Brooklyn college coach, one of the witnesses to ap- pear before the grand jury, told the coaches that he had questioned Buddy Barnett, one of the players involved, and elicited derial of re- marks attributed to him that "every college in the city is doing 1t, so why pick on uS?"
 Barnett further emphasized that he knew of no one in college basket ball who had been involved in similar situation and that no one in any way connected with college bas- ketball gave him information or aid in making arrangements with the gamblers" Raskin said.
 The five players, Barnett, Bob Leder, the teams captain, Jerry Green. Stanley Simon, and Larry Pearlstein, were at liberty and no charges will be filed against them although they will be used as mate rial witnesses against the alleged conspirators, Havrey Stemmer and Henry Rosen. Steamer was ordered held under $2,500 bail for hearing Feb 5, while RoSen was arraigned in Manhattan (New York) felony court no charges of operating as fence for stolen goods from the fur and garment districts.
 pr. Richard Boyce, athletic di- rector at Brooklyn College. said after consulting other faculty members that the school was equipped in every way to deal with the current situation and to continue is efforts to give the large student body basketball team representative of the high standards of the institution"
 He indicaed that the five boys would be expelled from school but that other team members would be retained If given a clean bill ot health by the Investigating bodies. The team, aside from the fixed game" with Akron which was to have been played at Boston tonight, will complete it's 1945 schedule in- cluding one at Madison Square Gar den with St. Francis on Feb 10, which the five players admitted making preliminary plans to lose deliberately
 Players Cleared
 A spokesman for the Kings Coun- ty District Attorneys office said that no charges have been or will be placed against the players.
 The team, which had won seven Of It's II games this season. would have been the underdog against Akron. The gambling range prob ably would have been six to eight points. What Rosen and Steamer asked the five players to do was to see that Brooklyn was defeated by more than the highest number of points given by any bookmakers.
 The extent to which gamblers turned to basketball first was re- vealed when Nat Holman. coach of Citl College, ordered one of his players to take the ball out of bounds rather than try for a free throw in a game with Syracuse. City College was leading by six points at the time and the gambler had laid six and eight point dif- ferential. They gave bettor Syra- cuse and eight or forced bettor who liked City College to give six points. Had Holmans player sank the free throw 1t would have meant that the gamblers would have col- IanfaA ax, hakh onIp Tf tha hot