Tulane Basketball Scandal: Shadows On The Court!

On April fourth, nineteen eighty five, the Green Wave University of Tulane basketball program is canceled indefinitely by their school president following scandals with gambling and paying players. Here's the story behind the scandal that took down a whole basketball program. Today on Daily Sports History. Welcome to Daily Sports History. I'm Ethan Reese, your guide to a rapid deep dive into sports history every day. Julane is a university out of New Orleans in Louisiana and actually have a deep history for basketball. They were the ninth oldest active basketball team in the country, so they gotten early back in nineteen oh five when they started their program. But they've never been the biggest or the best basketball team. They've had moments where they've been good, but never great, And the best they've done in the NCAA Tournament is getting into the round of thirty two and they've only been there three times. But what they did on the court isn't exactly what made them nationally famous. Instead, it was what they did off the court that changed the players and the basketball program's history forever. Now, coming into the nineteen eighty four nineteen eighty five season, Tulane had been a winning team, winning seventeen and nineteen games the years previously, but not making the tournament. But they did have a star on their team, John hot Rod Williams, who was a local Louisiana kid that grew to be six to eleven. Despite the controversy, he was able to make it to the NBA and have a decent career. But it's what he did in college as it really sticks with everybody. On February second, nineteen eighty five, with a ten and eight record and finishing up a five game homestand trying to finish the season out strong, they were favored to win against the incoming Southern miss University, and that afternoon, a two lane student, Gary Krantz, approached Green Waves senior forward Clyde EIDs. The two had actually known each other because Krantz had given Aids cocaine in the past, but this time he came to Aids with an idea. The spread for the game was ten and a half points, and Krantz told EIDs, if you could keep the team from winning by more than ten, they could all make a little bit of money off the game and they could still win. Aids liked the idea to get some money, as this was way before the name, image and likeness time where players got paid more than just getting a scholarship. But he knew on his own he couldn't control the game enough, so he he talked to a few buddies on the team and they enlisted fellow teammates John Johnson, David Dominic and Bobby Thompson and John hot Rod Williams with the idea and they were all in on the concept, and Krantz, the guy with the idea, enlisted some of his fraternity brothers David Rothenberg and Mark Olinsky to help with the money that they waged on the game, which was seven thousand dollars. And that first game against Southern miss when the fix was on at halftime was very close, which was good for everyone involved in the fix because as long as they did not win by more than eleven points, they would all make money. And despite the game being close, Tulane actually did win sixty four to sixty three, and only one starter was not involved in the scheme, Marcus Hamilton, so they had four of the five starters and even a bench player all helping them with their fixed and the players all had good enough games that it didn't seem like there was anything fishy going on, and of the five players that were in on the scheme, they took about four to nine hundred dollars home each after the win, so they all wanted to do it for the next game. Unfortunately, this was an away game versus Virginia Tech, and they were unsuccessful at fixing this game due to issues getting action for the bet, so they waited till February twentieth when Memphis State came came to play tu Lane on their campus. Memphis State later became known as Memphis a power in college basketball. They were the number fourth ranked team in the nation and would eventually head to the Final Four that year, and they were favored by seven points, but they were able to put the fix on this game as well. Chu Lane actually led throughout the first half with hot Rod Williams out playing everybody. Then out of nowhere, it seemed Williams made an unusual foul, which left a journalist covering the game say, if he didn't know better, he'd just say Williams did that on purpose. That foul meant Williams had to go to the bench. But keep their lead thirty four to twenty eight. But on that day, all the players in on the fix got together in the locker room bathroom at halftime to make their own adjustments to make sure they wouldn't win the game, and they only scored fifteen points in the second half, losing sixty to forty nine. But after the game, all the players in on the fix elected a total of over thirteen thousand dollars, with four thousand going to hot Rod Williams. Now by this time, rumors were starting to get around that the team was starting to fix games. It's a college campus and there was almost ten college students involved in involved in on this fix. It's unlikely that someone didn't talk, but many didn't think it was real. But after the season ended with fifteen wins and thirteen losses, they had another winning season, so you would think, oh, everyone would just go on their way. They didn't make the tournament that year, so the season was officially over. But at that final loss, an alumni was at the game. Ned Conkey, had heard rumors from his brother about a possible fix, and Ned just wanted to dispel these rumors and make sure they weren't true. But unfortunately, as he dug in more and more, he found out the disturbing truth that it was true. And unfortunately, Ned was an attorney, so he had to contact the district attorney, Harry Connick, who then approached Eads and John Johnson and told them they would give him immunity to give him all the information about the fix. All in all, eight people would be arrested for the fix, but that wasn't the only scandal that was going on. During the investigation, they found out that head coach Ned Fowler and to his assistance, were actually paying players to attend their school, which if you listened to our SMU episode, that's what caused them to have the death penalty where they lost their next season and had multiple sanctions on them, basically destroying their program. So school president Doctor Emon Kelly made the tough decision to disband the small program forever is what he said. He wanted to take the moral high ground that would benefit the entire university, and despite protests by over one hundred and eighty students, the program would be forever banished, but forever only last for about three years due to students who in nineteen eighty eight came to the president of the university and said, we all loved basketball here and we weren't even at school when this all happened. Is there a chance we could bring the program back? Listening to this after three years of not having a program, and then doctor Kelly finally caved in, saying it wasn't right to punish those who weren't here, and all the bad apples are now gone and we know now what to do to make sure this never happens again. So they came back in nineteen ninety one, and that season was a remarkable redemption story. They started thirteen and oh and made it to their first NCUBLEA tournament and won their first NCUBLEA Tournament game. Despite all the controversy and scandal, they were able to stay away from the death penalty, imposing their own death penalty on the program, but they came back from the ashes to become another success story. Thank you for listening to today's Daily sports history. If you like this, go tell a friend. Word of mouth is the best way for us to grow, and the more we grow, the more I can do to give you sports on a bigger level, which I would love to do. So go shout it from the rooftops Daily Sports History, and come back tomorrow for more Daily sports history.