The college sports landscape is continually changing, and to many, it is changing for the worse. The latest example of this ever-evolving world was a recent ruling by a Texas judge allowing Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby to play this season after he admitted to betting on games while at three schools. Sorsby’s cardinal sin was betting on games involving Indiana University, the school he played for at the time. While he did not play in any games for that school that season, it is still an NCAA violation, and somehow it seems completely fine.
While betting and even point shaving have been a thing in college sports (see the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary “Playing for the Mob”), these things often happen outside the tri-state area. Much has been written, including a documentary, about the CCNY scandal in 1951 and how it affected New York City college sports. But in 1961, a New Jersey school was right in the middle of a nationwide scandal that would result in the demise of a program for over a decade.
The Seton Hall Point-Shaving Scandal
Arthur Hicks and Henry Gunter were two stars of the Seton Hall Pirates basketball program. Hicks was a 6’4″ forward who averaged 19 points and 12 rebounds per game for the Pirates during the 1960-1961 season. Gunter also averaged a double-double (21 points, 13 rebounds) in the same season under legendary Hall player turned head coach Richie Reagan. Both players were legitimate NBA prospects, as they played some of their best basketball against teams like Duke, Ohio State, and Providence.
Right after the 1960-1961 season ended, Seton Hall’s student newspaper, The Setonian, wrote a story about how New York District Attorney Frank Hogan interviewed both Hicks and Gunter, who were both arrested, about a possible betting scandal. After the interview and further investigation, Hogan concluded that there were fixed college basketball games involving 37 players from 22 schools.
According to The Setonian story, Hicks and Gunter were offered $1,000 and $1,500 on two separate occasions to guarantee that Seton Hall would lose games by a certain number of points, i.e., point-shaving. The school would dismiss both players in April 1961, but the worst penalty was what the NBA handed down. Both men would receive lifetime bans from the NBA, along with 22 other players involved in the scandal (Connie Hawkins’ ban was eventually lifted and he played seven seasons in the NBA).
Seton Hall did not take the point-shaving scandal lightly and in September 1961, the school self-imposed penalties that essentially resulted in the “death penalty” for the school. The consequences were as follows, as announced by Seton Hall president Bishop John Dougherty:
- No games against any school outside of New England and the Middle States area
- No preseason or postseason basketball tournaments
- No games outside of Walsh Gymnasium
Thanks to the scandal and the subsequent self-penalty, Seton Hall men’s basketball was persona non grata not just on campus but to the basketball world. Gone were games against big-time, nationally ranked opponents. They were joining official conferences like the Metropolitan Collegiate Conference or unofficial conferences like the New York-New Jersey 7 Conference. The Pirates were essentially in basketball purgatory until Bill Raftery led them to the NIT in 1974. They didn’t reach the NCAA Tournament until 1988 under P.J. Carlesimo. Everyone believes that SMU football getting the official “death penalty” in 1987 was bad. Many believe that Seton Hall’s own penalties hit the school harder than any the NCAA could have doled out.
Now, while the 1961 point shaving scandal has gone the way of the dinosaurs and isn’t really discussed much, this practice continued. From Boston College to Arizona State and schools in between, point-shaving and betting are still epidemics that college sports can’t escape. But there is hypocrisy in it as betting apps and sites dominate advertising during those games. Sorsby, Hicks, and Gunter are the people people wag their fingers at as pirrahs of sport, but there are those higher up who are doing the finger-wagging who should be looked at as well.
While Seton Hall has bounced back fully from that time in history and is considered an exemplary institution not just in New Jersey but nationwide, the 1961 point-shaving scandal was an unfortunate event for two players with bright futures who were just enamored of the money. Arthur Hicks and Henry Gunter did a bad thing, and Hicks even said, in the twilight of his life, that he regretted it. But the question remains for them and others throughout the history of these types of scandals, past and present…who were looking out for them?
