I didnt think anything of it. and I were the victims of the same circumstances that were beyond our control. They showed me these pictures of these mafia guys and were asking me, Do you know him? Over one hundred schools tried to recruit the 5-foot-11 marksman, including UCLA and Kentucky. Using extensive background research as well as interviews with the principal characters, Fixed provides the first in-depth reconstruction of the point-shaving scandal involving the 1978-1979 Boston College basketball team, from the genesis of the plot in the summer of 1978, through the uncovering of the scheme during an unrelated investigation in 1980, to the trial that captivated the sports . On the stand during the trial, Rick Kuhns girlfriend, Barbara Reed, with whom he shared an apartment during his senior year at Boston College, testified that she overheard Kuhn and Sweeney discussing the Fordham game, saying that they had to keep the ball away from Cobb because he shot the ball all the time. If you missed Part I, you can read it here. I was reading about the Boston College point-shaving scandal of the late 70s and I was wondering whatever became of Rick Kuhn in his later life. How much he was indebted to it? Follow him on Twitter @jack_mccluskey. And unfortunately, if you see a real-life situation that involves people like myself and others, then you say, Wow, thats the type of effect that whatever [the gangsters] do can have on others lives.. The motley crew next ensnared Boston College's leading scorer, Ernie Cobb. Question, Comment, Feedback, or Correction? After his junior campaign, where he converted 52% of his shots, an inordinate number for a small perimeter shooter, and averaged 22.8 points per game, he was recognized as one of the most lethal scorers in the country. Cobb just wanted to live his life and do what he did best: play ball. Do you have a sports website? Quiz clue: Category (S = Singles, D = Doubles, T = Triples, HR = Home runs) / Hits . He ate, drank and slept basketball. But changing his behaviors did not happen overnight. Its something that hes still waiting for, to this day. Theyre no match for us. He told me, Well good, I plan on betting on those games and if you guys win and it turns out like that, Ill take care of you., Man, I was one of the most recognizable athletes on campus and people would come up and talk to me all the time, people I didnt know, Cobb continued. Cobb didn't get those years back, but neither did he seek redemption for his past. But I was still worried. Summaries. About. Its something that hes still waiting for, to this day. Everywhere he went, he had a book with him at all times., I became so focused, said Cobb. He dreamed of walking away from Boston College at seasons end as one of the schools most revered sons before embarking on what he hoped would be an accomplished, financially rewarding career in the NBA. I felt bad for my mom, he said. If the diagnosis was available back then, Im sure they would have found that I had ADHD, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. The third-highest scorer in BC history with 1,760 points, he was a co-captain with Sweeney in 1978-79, when he averaged 21.3 points a game. Hill flew into Boston, at the behest of Jimmy Burke, late in 1978 to meet with Mazzei, the Perlas, Kuhn and Sweeney at the Logan Airport Hilton and ensure that everything was in place. I told him, I think were gonna blow them out, we look really good. No one in my family had even graduated from high school. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. He eats it up. It was like this whole new world opened up to him and his desire to succeed was unreal. Experience of 5 years in . In the 1979 NBA Draft, Magic Johnson was the first overall pick of the Los Angeles Lakersafter leading Michigan State University to the National Championship over Larry Birds Indiana State team. His mother was doing her best to put bread on the table. The arresting officer for the second incident took an interest in the young kid, and saw more than just a young man escalating into juvenile delinquency. He recruited teammates Ernie Cobb and Jim Sweeney into the ring, after becoming connected with ex-convicts Paul Mazzei and Henry Hill. He recently earned his Masters Degree in Education and is currently considering pursuing a Ph.D. I feel like Ive led a remarkable life, he said. But when I was about eight years old, they started the busing experiment and I had to leave my community to go to school in the suburbs.. Hed averaged 21.3 points per game during the 1978-1979 season, leading the Eagles to a 21-8 record. Hill claimed he made between $75,000 . A wake will be held for Dr. Cobb-Stevens on Monday, July 16, from 4-7 p.m. at the Chapman, Cole & Gleason Funeral Home, 475 Main . I took every single practice and every single game seriously, said Cobb. I really wanted to get to the bottom of it from a personal curiosity [standpoint], and then also knowing that this had to be a great story.. 14, left in first row), and Jim Sweeney (No. He said, Ernies the only kid who listened, did everything he was supposed to do and never tried to run away. rick kuhn boston college now. Whats going on? It was a meaningful existence, a testament to persistence and the strength of believing in the beauty of ones dreams, that hed worked so diligently to reconstruct from the ashes of juvenile delinquency and poverty. When the evidence came up at the first trial, it didnt match up, but they still came after me a few years later. I went into the Caldors department store in downtown Stamford when I was about 12 years old and tried to shoplift one, he said. A documentary about the Boston College point-shaving scandal is . 109 Ernie Cobb, Boston University 129 Paul Poe, Louisiana College 148 Keith McDonald, Utah State 167 Milt Huggins, Southern Illinois 185 Paul Dawkins, Northern Illinois . He acknowledges taking $500, but says he never did anything to fix games. They were comparing him to Calvin Murphy, the great pro, who was similar in stature and who was from Connecticut, said Alswanger. But well come back to that later. The 1968 Topps Baseball Card series includes 598 cards and features multi-player rookie cards. His competitive desires were satisfied with all of the recreation activities that were offered. He graduated on time with a degree in sociology. Uh-oh, overstock: Wayfair put their surplus on sale for up to 50% off. But for Bowie, it was too little, too late. On October 7, ESPN will air the latest installment of its acclaimed "30 For 30" series with a look back at the infamous Boston College basketball point shaving scandal from the 1978-79 season . On June 23 rd, 1983, more than four years after he'd played his final game at Boston College, Ernie Cobb was indicted and charged with taking cash bribes to alter the outcomes of games against . He was adamant, that he would take the stand in his own defense, despite his lawyers pleas not to do so. Jim Sweeney during Boston College men's basketball's 1978-1979 season. I had the complete package, said Cobb. | Jackson State Ices Thee Pregame Show, Detroit Mercys Antoine Davis Creeping Up On Pistol Pete Maravichs All-Time NCAA Scoring Mark, A Poor Mans Danny Ainge A Poor Mans Jeff Hornacek: Michael Cooper Torches JJ Redick. But the Justice . The fact that I went to court and fought for my name, that I stood up for myself and cleared my name, that I was exonerated and acquitted, its a travesty that Im still associated with this., My name is indelibly linked to it, Cobb continued. It all seemed like a fairytale, until he was indicted for allegedly fixing college basketball games for the mob. Sometimes, B.C. By Bob Hohler Globe Staff,March 16, 2014, 12:00 a.m. Rick Kuhn (No. They had a beautiful campus and it was small enough to where I could function, and yet it was big enough that I could get the exposure I needed to fulfill my dreams.. Select the first team from the drop down menu. Bowies reputation was immediately sullied and he subsequently lost his job playing pro ball in Europe when the story broke. As he walked across the scenic campus, marveled at the schools architectural splendor or ate until his hearts content in the dining hall, hed often pause to quietly give thanks for his fortunate circumstances. I kept me a shiny, new bike.. He says basketball was Ernie's "vocation and avocation. "Fixed" follows the point-shaving scandal of the 1978-79 Boston College basketball team. She helped tutor me, and encouraged me through some rough spots. I was nervous because I didnt know what was going to happen. We found public records for Ernest Cobb. Early on, before the season got underway, Cobb says that he was approached by a man from Pittsburgh named Rocco Perla, who hed seen hanging around campus with his teammate, senior forward Rick Kuhn. The reality is there are only four real contenders. But Kuhn was a player of limited ability, so he recruited his roommate and best friend, who also happened to be the most important player on the floor, the teams senior point guard, Jim Sweeney. He was a remarkable man. I knew that I could play basketball with anybody. He killed people. But I dont feel any bitterness toward the prosecution. The Boston Globe story was initially investigated and written by a young Boston College alumnus named Leslie Visser, who would go on to become a very accomplished, groundbreaking journalist and role model for women who aspired to work in the field of sports media. I called my buddy Frank Melzer, who was an attorney, said Alswanger. He insisted on taking a polygraph test, against his attorneys advice, which he passed. The Boston College case arose out of the Lufthansa investigation. The story: Three Boston College players -- leading scorer Ernie Cobb, forward Richard Kuhn and Sweeney, the team's point guard -- were fingered by Hill for participating in the point-shaving scheme. I was back at home, visiting for the summer and about to return to Israel, Cobb said. That includes Rick Kuhn, the former minor league baseball player who started the scandal and who Sweeney says got him involved in it. Ernie Cobb, the star of the Boston College basketball team in the 1978-79 season, was found not guilty yesterday of charges that he joined a game- rigging conspiracy to benefit gamblers that season. I hadnt seen Ernie for several years, Jack Hennessey, a psychologist at Boston College that had served as an informal academic advisor during Cobbs days as a student, told the New York Times in April of 1984. . He was like a big brother to my own son. He really set the tone in terms of being a strong, dynamic, willful player that wondrous talents like John Bagley, Michael Adams and Dana Barros, all of whom went on to play ball in the NBA after their careers at B.C., followed. Man, I would watch Jo Jo White, Dave Cowens and John Havlicek playing on television, on that same famous floor where Bill Russell and Bob Cousy and all of those great Celtics teams won all those championships, said Cobb. If you got your own apartment after high school, that was considered a success. Just by being there, Id already reached success beyond my wildest dreams. age of adaline comet. The Shadow League is a narrative company. He loved the foliage, the fresh air and scenery. Id like to thank all the people who stuck by me all the time, Cobb said after the verdict was announced. I was eating Rory Sparrow up, who went on to have a decent NBA career, in that camp. I dont know if the losses can ever be made upnot the losses me and my family and friends have suffered. Boom_70, Aug 31, 2011 #5. mrblake New Member. He traveled throughout the world, getting paid to play the game that he loved. After Cobb was not charged, he thought he was finally past the sordid affair. Some 36 years later, there doesn't seem to be a lot of love lost between key characters Rick Kuhn, Ernie Cobb, and Jim Sweeney, the trio of Eagles allegedly paid to keep scores as close as they . I dont know what went down because I wasnt involved. Logos were compiled by the amazing SportsLogos.net. Boston College Accused of Point Shaving, was the big headline on the UPI wire. Ernie, and anybody who truly knew him, who knew about his character and what type of young man he was, we were all heartbroken. I have an incredible circle of supportive friends and have met some amazing people who have impacted my life in ways that I cant even begin to describe., Mr. As a freshman, he played sparingly and averaged 4.5 points per game while the Eagles finished with a disappointing 9-17 overall record. Playing for the Mob makes good use of Scorseses classic, splicing in Goodfellas clips between interviews and using Liotta as the films narrator. Boston College, Draft: The characters and events were later immortalized by the actors Ray Liotta and Robert DeNiro in the classic film, Goodfellas. the official stats partner of the NBA, NHL and MLB. Will I ever totally leave Boston College? When he finished with his testimony, he made a beeline straight for the restroom. 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My girlfriend and I bought a new stereo, television and some furniture. These people [in the mob] get glamorized or sensationalized, Sweeney said. Thursday, March 22nd, 1984. We had a good old time. And now, here I was on that same floor, pumped sky high, giving my defender buckets! You cant change things in life. Man, I was really into bikes, Cobb said. The teachers lived in our same community and they had relationships with our parents outside of the school. won the gangsters some serious money by falling short of the spread. NCAA. Ernie Cobb. like that until he got there. Ernie, dont lie to me, Alswanger instructed him. Per Game Team and Opponent Stats Table G MP FG FGA FG% FT FTA FT% TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS; Team: 26: 30.6: 72.3.423: 12.9: 18.4.701: 40.6: 11.1: He wanted to tell his side of the story. They made a mistake and we all mess up but its too bad they tossed away a great college basketball experience. Cobb was always a competitive kid. I told him that he was going to have to work very hard and that he was going to have to do things the right way if he wanted to be successful, said Alswanger. Rick Kuhn during Boston College men's basketball's 1978-1979 season. They couldnt stop him. Fourteen hours later, I arrived in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.. Cobb had been a prolific shooting guard at Boston College in the late 1970s, a team captain whod etched his name into the schools record books as its third-leading career scorer. I understand that they want to disassociate themselves from the scandal. He took advantage of an opportunity that surfaced when a pro team from Israel offered him a spot on their roster. A chance meeting in prison. Ernie Cobbs story, in retrospect, is a modern-day adaptation of a Horatio Alger novel, seemingly lifted straight from the pages of Ragged Dick, where the impoverished boy, through determination, honesty and courage, rises out of despair toward a life of comfort and respectability. We publish narratives intentionally and specifically to enlighten and transform the world. As a matter of fact, one thing Im really happy with in this film, is we really did get to everybody, Lavine said. The game had saved his life, delivered him from peril, from a path leading nowhere, from dysfunction and illiteracy, to an elite college education and a shot at the NBA and a better future. The point-shaving allegations surfaced during an unrelated investigation into the 1978 theft of $5.8 million from the Lufthansa cargo terminal at New Yorks Kennedy Airport. I was doing well academically and the dream of playing professional basketball was getting closer.. After the four-week trial in 1981, Jimmy Burke was sentenced to 20 years in prison, while Paul Mazzei and Tony Perla were sentenced to ten. He refused to take a plea deal in return for a reduced sentence. was favored to win a game by ten points, Kuhn had to make sure, if the game was in play with the mobsters and the bookies, that they won by less than ten in order for the gamblers to make money. He sold copy machines and paved driveways for an asphalt company, which was ironically the same job his father found when hed relocated from North Carolina to Connecticut some twenty years earlier. Cobbs older siblings began having brushes with the law. (Rick Kuhn, Photo Credit: bostonglobe.com). The main thing was that they were really trying to rehabilitate us and teach us, hoping to turn us around before we became hardened criminals. Burkes gang had just successfully pulled off the Lufthansa airport heist at New Yorks JFK airport, where theyd stolen an estimated $5 million in cash and $875,000 in jewels, the largest cash robbery in America at the time. Tell me what you did and what you didnt do. Birthplace/Hometown: Stamford, Connecticut, Height: 5-11 (180cm) Weight: 180 (82kg), Current NBA Status: Unrestricted Free Agent. Loughery told me that I had the ability to play in the NBA. He was hopeful that hed have another chance to make it in the NBA. Shop sales in every category.Uh-oh, overstock: Wayfair put their surplus on sale for up to 50% off. The scheme was hit or miss early on. The scam was born when Jimmy Burke (De Niro's Jimmy Conway in the movie) and Hill recruited Boston College players Rick Kuhn, Jim Sweeney, and Ernie Cobb to manipulate scores to cover point spreads. I was this poor kid with no financial resources, going on trial with a member of the mob. He craved to clear his name once and for all. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. I continue to feel like I have to defend myself, all these years later, even after the government tried their case against me and I was found innocent. It devastated me as a youngster. So from then on I had a juvenile record. ERNEST COBB OBITUARY. Its one of several seeming contradictions the gangster-turned-informant offers during the film, right along with this doozy early on: I didnt threaten him or nothin, Hill says in the film, I just said, Its hard to play basketball with a broken arm.. I didnt know what that was all about. I was a senior in high school when Ernie Cobb was a senior at Boston College and Id heard that he was a very good player, said Lemuel Mills, a Boston area hoops aficionado, coach, community mentor and historian. He would teach me about these attributes and I began to internalize them. I was forthright and honest with them. His father found work in cement construction as a hard laborer in Stamford, Connecticut, the third-largest city in the state that is situated approximately 30 miles from New York City. Utah Jazz, 6th round (1st pick, 109th overall), 1979 NBA Draft, More Ernie Cobb pages at Sports Reference, More Ernie Cobb Basketball Reference pages. The phone calls flooded in from his friends and family in Boston and Connecticut, with despaired voices on the other end asking, Did you do this? Use without license or authorization is expressly prohibited. When he arrived on campus in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, Cobbs internal mantra was, I gotta stay eligible. With those persistent affirmations dancing through his mind, he took his academic responsibilities seriously from day one. They were so many activities and all this food. So Lavine was fascinated when he found out that Sweeney was one of a handful of Eagles players accusted in connection with a the point-shaving scandal that was making national headlines in 1981. The vast expanses of grass fields allowed him to run free and clear his mind. Cobb's life takes several twists and turns . He told Ernie that he had to strive to get good grades and work very hard to achieve them, because if he didnt maintain a certain grade-point-average, he wouldnt be eligible to compete. hoops that blazed a trail, Mills continued. I thought he might have been a student, because he was young and I saw him hanging around Rick Kuhn all the time. I went into that same Caldors and got arrested again for stealing one.. A social worker at the facility, who took notice of Ernies work ethic and burgeoning athletic potential, contacted Herm Alswanger, the varsity basketball coach at Stamford High School, where the youngster would soon enroll upon his release from Meriden. Also involved were bookmakers across the . 1975 TOPPS BASEBALL SET #197 ERNIE BANKS-FOX CHICAGO CUBS EX Sold by wlbjr | Ends on 2023-03-06 23:50:31 I was excited about school and learning. Out of everything that happened, thats one thing that hurts me tremendously, Cobb said. Couldnt people see how much he loved the game? Three basketball players at Boston College Jim Sweeney, Ernie Cobb, and Richard Kuhn became entangled with members of the Mafia in a points-shaving scandal during the 1978-79 season. Alswanger took Cobb to Madison Square Garden once to see the Knicks play against Calvin Murphy, the scoring dynamo who was considered the best player to ever come out of Connecticut. At around the same age, his parents separated, with his father moving across town. I said, If this dude has cash like that to burn and wants to give me $1,000 because I told him wed destroy Stonehill, sure, Ill take it. Maybe he was trying to cultivate a relationship with me and soften me up for something down the road. Also wondered what became of Ernie Cobb. On Friday morning, March 23rd, the jury came back with a unanimous innocent verdict for Ernie Cobb, exonerating him of all charges. Good morning!ESPN's "Playing for the Mob" has rekindled embarrassing memories for not only Boston College but also The Boston Globe, 35 . The Shadow League is a narrative company. Proactive and highly responsive counselor to students, parents, faculty, community and district needs. inStamford,Connecticut Rocco comes up to me and says, Hey, sometimes I bet on games and I wanna know how you think you guys are gonna do against Stonehill and Bentley? said Cobb. I have suffered. Do you recognize him? And my answer every time was, No! I didnt recognize any of those mobsters because I had never met them. At that point, I was looking forward to a trial, said Cobb. Contribute to The Shadow League today and help us share our narratives. Studied Special education at Grand Canyon University. At trial in 1981, the government's case consisted primarily of the testimony . When the story first broke, it said that Michael Bowie and I were the ones implicated, said Cobb. "I don't need to atone for anything that happened at Boston College," he says, "and I don't need to ask for anyone's forgiveness. We had the basics of everything that we needed. She knew the terrain in terms of what I needed to be doing, said Cobb. Do you have a blog? They treated me great. He yearned to shake himself free from being associated with the gangsters that would later be immortalized in the movie Goodfellas: Henry Hill, Jimmy Burke, Paul Vario and the Lucchese crime family apparatus that supported the biggest college sports point-shaving scandal since the 1950s. Ernie Cobb weighed 180 lbs (81 kg) when playing. Players profiled in the book include Rick Kuhn, who pulled his teammates into the plot and paid for it with a 10-year prison sentence; Jim Sweeney, a prep school graduate and honor student who found himself trapped between gamblers and a conscience that wouldn't let him cheat his teammates; and leading . On June 23rd, 1983, more than four years after hed played his final game at Boston College, Ernie Cobb was indicted and charged with taking cash bribes to alter the outcomes of games against Harvard, Rhode Island and Fordham.
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