What could possibly tempt a basketball player just a few months away from almost assuredly going in the first round of the NBA draft to accept a paltry amount of money to get involved in point shaving?
One: an academic transcript with a C in driver’s education and a D in weight training, implying a possible lack of interest in learning.
Two: coke.
Just a few years after the Boston College point-shaving scandal that sent a player to prison and ruined the careers of others, bookmakers in New Orleans set their sights on the Tulane Green Wave.
As usual, the 1984-85 Tulane team was mediocre, despite the presence of 6'11" senior center John (Hot Rod) Williams, who was leading the team in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots, and was the reigning Metro Conference Player of the Year.
In high school, Williams was named Most Popular Boy, Most Likely to Succeed and Most Talented. At the time, there was no formal award for Most Likely to Accept a Shoebox Full of Cash to Attend a Particular University.
The Arrests
The point-shaving case came to light in late March when Williams and teammates David Dominique and Bobby Thompson were arrested. (Canadian readers may recognize Dominique’s name. He later surfaced at Brandon University, where he won a national championship.)
Two other players, Clyde Eads and Jon Johnson, had been given immunity, and they testified in front of a grand jury.
Williams, Dominique and Thompson were indicted on charges of violating Louisiana’s sports bribery law. All five players were suspected of shaving points in Tulane home games a few weeks apart, against Southern Miss and Memphis State.
Three Tulane frat brothers, “a tight-knit little group from the East Coast,” it was reported, (Louisiana lads wouldn’t do something so nefarious) were also arrested and indicted, as well as two New Orleans men, including convicted bookmaker Roland Ruiz.
One of the frat boys was indicted on charges of distributing cocaine to players, and reporters learned the coke was used as a way to become friends with the basketball players.
This apparently worked quite well.
In an artfully written paragraph, New Orleans newspaper The Times- Picayune reported “the cocaine was allegedly given to players as a goodwill gesture, a favor that may have won friendship and confidence. "All five players involved were doing coke," says (the assistant DA). In that atmosphere, the point-shaving idea apparently became that much easier to broach.
Nothing like sharing some blow with friends when planning an illegal scheme that will screw your teammates and fans.
Tulane went into the Southern Miss game as a 10.5-point favorite and won 64-63, which is some artful point shaving.
As Sports Illustrated reported, At a post-game gathering at (frat brother) Kranz's apartment, where cocaine was available, one player was heard to say, "Hey, we won the game and we still got all the money."
Later, as a four-point dog against Memphis State, the home team lost by 11 points.
Again, from SI: Tulane was ahead by six points at the half. Eads and some other Green Wave players met in the bathroom during the intermission and talked about what should be done. They agreed that State would have to be allowed to score early; indeed, State's star forward, Keith Lee, made three straight baskets in the first 2:17 of the second half to tie the score 34-34. Memphis State guard Andre Turner scored 10 points in the last 7:22 as State pulled away. In the 38 minutes Eads played, he took one shot, which he made, and had five turnovers. This is the same Eads who had been named Instant Offense at an awards banquet and who fired up 226 field-goal attempts during the season. Against State, he failed to shoot in the second half. He later claimed he had an injured wrist.
Williams had subpar numbers in both games, but not so bad that eyebrows were raised. That came from students who’d been told by a player “the fix is in for tonight’s game.”
Two laughably small amounts of money - $23,000 and $17,000 - were reported to have been enough to convince the players to go in the tank for the two games. Whether those numbers took cocaine into account was not reported.
The Investigation
There were discussions about rigging an upcoming Louisville game, but the players had too much integrity for that.
“We've wanted to beat Louisville forever,” one of them said and they did that, a 68-56 result ending an 18-game losing streak against the Cardinals.
But rumors had become rife in New Orleans.
Ned Kohnke IV, a lawyer and Tulane booster, heard at a restaurant that something was amiss at Tulane. He went to the DA and also confronted Eads, whom he happened to know.
The two took a drive, during which the concept of immunity was explained.
A perp walk followed.
After he was arrested and placed in handcuffs, Williams said, "I didn't do anything," but Assistant D.A. Eric Dubelier said Williams had made a confession.
Serious Violations
Tulane President Eamon Kelly is so shaken by the allegations that he has recommended the school drop basketball, Sally Jenkins wrote in The Washington Post. "What I feel personally responsible about is that schools don't do enough job of counseling," Kelly says. "That's where we fell down. Dreaming that it would never happen here, we really didn't develop a program to help the student athlete understand the dangers of gambling, drugs and other things."
Kelly said Tulane would “'honor scholarship obligations to student athletes in the men's basketball program.”
The president also said the end of the basketball program at the 150-year-old university would be permanent. It ultimately lasted five years.
It All Worked Out for Hot Rod
Williams was charged with sports bribery and conspiracy, and after his first trial ended in a mistrial, a second trial a jury found him not guilty of all five counts.
He was drafted by Cleveland in the second round of the 1985 NBA draft, but had to spend the 85-86 season in the United States Basketball League while he took care of his legal difficulties.
The next season, he was named to the NBA all-rookie team.
