The Catholic times. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1951-current, 1961-05-05
of TIMES
Black DGy
'st ~
In Sports
BY LOU FABRo
Times Sports Editor

Times Sports Editor
lone bad apple can spoil a whole barrel of good
apples" was a rule the good sisters drilled into us
many years ago during our %carefree days at st. Peter
School. AL r
The wisdom of that little saying, as old-fashioned
as it may seem burned through like a hot summer sun
last week when a grand jury IN New York revealed
the messy picture it discovered while investigating the
1960-61 college basketball fixing" scandal.
NINE TALENTED PLAYERS from five colleges
were hooked into the gambling web, the jury declared.
This brought the count to IL players from six schools.
In addition. five former college players were named
as "go-betweenS". The jury called these five eco
conspiratQrs. .
ACCUSED AS THE BAD APPLE" was Aaron
WagmaH5 a 27-year-old gambler who was charged
with Conspiracy and 81 counts of bribery and cor
ruption. Each count, it was explained, represents one
bride or Bride -attempt.
Wagrian had been indicted about a month ago,
with a 41-year-old gambler, for attempting to bride
a New York detective. He's Also the same guy who was
convicted of bribing a University of Florida football
player to control the score of a grid game last fall.
He's appealing that conviction and was free on bail
when arrested on the latest episode.
THE GAMBLER is ACCUSED of paying $3.50 to
81 500 to basketball players for shaving points in 26
games. District Attorney Frank Hogan said IL of these
games we're successfully" rugged.
While the sports world expected bad news when
the grand jury launched its probe several weeks ago,
it nonetheless was rocked by the. details which were
disclosed. This, indeed, was a "black day in sports.
I'M THE WREcKAGE, we find IL shame-faced
athletes whose immediate futures are shattered. And
we see the regulations of six outstanding schools scar
red and their students and faculty bodies deeply sad
dened. Moreover, we find the confidence of fans
across the nation assailed by violent croSscurrents of
suspicion, regret, outrage and sympathy.
At the same time, however, it was the integrity
of one player-Loweryi Kirk of Memphis State Uni
versity-that blasted the case into the open and
brought the undetermined practices to a Screeching
halt. LoWery rejected a 81 1000 bride and reported the
bride attempt to college authorities. "His name should
be honored," declared Hogan.
asst WEEKS REVELATIONS are saddening to
Diocesan fans because four players from outstanding
Catholic sch0ols-St. Joseph and LaSalle Of Phiia-
delphia-Were among those involved in the gambling
scandal, Earlier, two players from another Catholic Col
lege-SelQn Hall-were implicated. Players from Con-
necticut, Tennessee and Mississippi State also we're
linked ir the manipulations.
Particularly shocking to Diocesan fans is that
three players from st. Joseph, which finished third
IN the NCAA cage tournament, were caught in the
slippery gamblers web. The three-Jack Egan, Vince
kempton and Frank Majewski-were seen on tele-
vision by many Diocesan fans who watched st. Joseph
fall to the Ohio State Buckeyes.
ST. Joseph also was seen on TV as it won a record
smashing q%uadruple overtime battle with Utah. AS a
result Of the probe results, st. Joseph's third place
honor was erased by the NCAA.
BECAUSE THE PLAYERS r the ones directly
involved, they must shoulder much of the blame for
the mess. They betrayed the complete confidence of
school administrators and fans by falling for the in
ducements offered them.
AT the same time, however, ~topflight athletes
find themselves living in a world Shrouded with
materialism and unethical practices. Athletic-oriented
universities and colleges-the very institutions which
should serve as beacon lights in the materialistic at
mosphere-are drifting along with the tide of materl-
aism and misguided principles.
HlGH-PRESSURE RECRUITING is the heart of the
corruption which marks bigtime college sports. Playing
for fun or for the good of cold alma mater has been
blasted into oblivion by corrupt practices which have
been incorporated into codes of legitimate conduct.
The under table deals the questionable "free rides,
the coveredup gifts-all Of these put chinks in what
moral code an athlete may have had when entering
college. n
Thus; a player is pretty well Softened up when a
briber eases up to- him, offers him 81 900 and tells
him "itS only a game" or nobody gets hurt-you
just hold the score down.
The words of Brother d. Bernian, ESQ LaSalle
president, cover this phase of the argument quite
we'll. He said:
"our attitude toward those who have erred in
this matter Is one of bitter disappointment. In an
age when The cancer of situationsl ethics is eating at
the very vitais of our society, when stories of base
chieanery in high places, einbezzlements, vote frauds,
conflict Of interest daily fill the press, il is under
standable why the young and immature might sueeumb
TO tempfsfion.
III is high time that we, their elders, instead of
self.righteousIy asking Where is this younger gen.
Grafton headed?' ask instead. Where is this younger
generation coming fromT
Even as Brother Bernian spoke, the biggest stock
market scandal since the reckless days of the 1920s
broke into the news already cluttered with details
of price-ftXlng Shennanigans in the business world.
Mater1allstlc sickness seems to have stricken our
society and as Brother Bernian indicated, it's high