He saw that I was heading in the wrong direction and tried to mentor me.. Johnny Bench is a former MLB catcher who played for the Cincinnati Reds from 1967 to 1983. 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. So, in very basic terms, if B.C. The Nets coaches were telling me, Coach, hes gonna be a great pro., I had a great camp with the Nets and was poised to make the team, said Cobb. 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, I Guard 1 Through 5 | Heats Bam Adebayo Believes He Is NBAs Best Defender And Has Been The Past Two Years. I was practicing every day and so angry at the coach who cut me, said Cobb. At the close of the two-week trial, Alswanger was the last character witness who took the stand in Cobbs behalf. But as it turned out, the trial was simply one chapter of many in his life, and not the defining one. Draft: Utah Jazz, 6th round (1st pick, 109th overall), 1979 NBA Draft. But for many, there is a fierce bitterness that still lingers to this day. Also involved were bookmakers across the . He worked hard in class. The Shadow League is a narrative company. Boston College confirmed the investigation on Friday. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. He refused to take a plea deal in return for a reduced sentence. I was back at home, visiting for the summer and about to return to Israel, Cobb said. My parents have suffered. But well come back to that later. When he finished with his testimony, he made a beeline straight for the restroom. They showed me these pictures of these mafia guys and were asking me, Do you know him? Ernie Cobb, and Hill said in an article in Sports Illustrated -- for which he was paid $10,000 -- that he made payments to . He insisted on taking a polygraph test, against his attorneys advice, which he passed. When Henry Hill started threatening Kuhn and Sweeney, promising that they couldnt play with broken limbs, the players, according to Hill, claimed that they were doing their best, but the scheme would never work unless Ernie Cobb was in on the fix. He turned to me and said, Coach, Im glad youre sticking up for your kid. 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. Despite never having played organized basketball before, Cobb was moved up to the varsity squad as a freshman. The vast expanses of grass fields allowed him to run free and clear his mind. Boston College Accused of Point Shaving, was the big headline on the UPI wire. You understand? So I guess the thought process was, Well, if there were criminal activities going on, it had to be the brothers! My name and picture, and Michael Bowies as well, was on the front page of every newspaper in the country.. The reality is there are only four real contenders. . Things that happened to me and my siblings, it wasnt her fault. If the diagnosis was available back then, Im sure they would have found that I had ADHD, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Also wondered what became of Ernie Cobb. Whats going on? But by the next summer, in 1980, he sparkled while playing for the New Jersey Nets during the pre-season. Will I ever totally leave Boston College? 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: Other notable players selected in that draft included Sidney Moncrief, Bill Laimbeer, Bill Cartwright, Mark Eaton and Jim Paxson. When he was implicated in the scandal, I was shocked.. But the Justice . 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. . At 11:05 a.m., United States District Judge Leonard Wexler completed his instructions to the jury in the Federal Court Building in Brooklyn as Ernie Cobb awaited his . Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. Location unknown)Boston College's Ernie Cobb pulls down a rebound off his own shot against Holy Cross's Leo Kane during a men's college basketball. He was 83. don't know about ernie but i know rick. COBB, ERNEST CONSTANTINE. He acknowledges taking $500, but says he never did anything to fix games. I was so frustrated at one point that I got on my bike in Stamford, Connecticut and just started riding. Stamford (108,056) Ernie Cobb (Boston College basketball), Gary Cobb (NFL, 11 years), Donna Lopiano (Raybestos Brakettes), Dick Mayer (1957 U.S. Open golf champion), Andy Robustelli (Pro Football . College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com, Scores from any date in BAA/NBA or ABA history, Frequently Asked Questions about the NBA, WNBA and Basketball, Basketball-Reference.com Blog and Articles, Subscribe to Stathead Basketball: Get your first month FREE. And he always managed to be seen cruising around his neighborhood with a new, expensive one. It was the streets.. Thats the story chronicled by the latest edition of ESPNs 30 for 30 documentary series, Playing for the Mob, which premieres Tuesday night at 9 p.m. Lavine was able to get Sweeney, Hill, before he died, Ernie Cobb, Boston College's leading scorer that season, Michael Bowie, another player on the team, and others from the FBI agent on the case . "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. Thursday, March 22nd, 1984. All logos are the trademark & property of their owners and not Sports Reference LLC. The film represented something of a white whale for executive producer and co-director Joe Lavine, who for years attempted and failed to get the project green-lighted before finally landing at ESPN. 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. His girlfriend, whom hed met during his first week on campus, was an upperclassman that knew how to navigate the schools academic landscape. 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. But changing his behaviors did not happen overnight. 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. Leading scorer Ernie Cobb was accused . After he interviewed him, he fell in love with him and told me, Hes innocent. They made a mistake and we all mess up but its too bad they tossed away a great college basketball experience. Hill brought in his mentor, Jimmy Burke, to finance the operation and set up a network of bookies who could advance the financial potential of the scheme. As a freshman, he played sparingly and averaged 4.5 points per game while the Eagles finished with a disappointing 9-17 overall record. 1050. For me, it worked.. It's been more than 30 years since the . Height: 6-3. Sweeney fessed up to taking $500 under duress and escaped prosecution. There were times when the work got really hard, when I wanted to give up, when I had to stay up all night reading or studying or writing papers, and shed be right there pushing me, telling me, You cant give up! He hugged his tearful mother before walking out into the hallway for a few moments. I moved on many, many years ago, and I think the worst thing you can do is blame others or even blame yourself because thats kinda like a poison that just stays with you. She knew the terrain in terms of what I needed to be doing, said Cobb. UCONN brought in the Governor, judges, you name it., When the letters started coming in, I realized that I had a chance to go to college, said Cobb. 1975 TOPPS BASEBALL SET #197 ERNIE BANKS-FOX CHICAGO CUBS EX Sold by wlbjr | Ends on 2023-03-06 23:50:31 Every accomplishment made me want to work harder. 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.. But I wasnt sure if I was really up to B.C. It was a meaningful existence, a testament to persistence and the strength of believing in the beauty of ones dreams, which hed worked so diligently to reconstruct from the ashes of juvenile delinquency and poverty. Rocco Perla received a four-year sentence and Rick Kuhn was sentenced to a ten-year bid as well, which was later reduced to 28 months. Loughery told me that I had the ability to play in the NBA. I was like, You gotta be kidding me! Jim Sweeney and Rick Kuhns names werent mentioned anywhere. He ate, drank, and slept basketball. Id like to thank all the people who stuck by me all the time, Cobb said after the verdict was announced. . He was determined to prove that he could do the work, which would enable him to further chase his athletic dreams. When he first stepped on the hallowed parquet floor at the legendary Boston Garden, where B.C. 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. 17 Eric Leckner, Wyoming As a junior, he averaged 37.6 points per game and was named All-State. I have suffered. He just kept swishing them in, 30 or 35 points, I dont remember., Hill went on to say, And they (Kuhn and Sweeney) were still saying, We got to have Cobb. I realized that and so I passed the word through Tony (Perla), At all costs, talk to him. Next thing I heard Cobb was all set, but it was going to take another $2,500 for his share. Sign up to receive The Shadow League Newsletter in your inbox. Sign up to receive The Shadow League Newsletter in your inbox. 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. Hed averaged 21.3 points per game during the 1978-1979 season, leading the Eagles to a 21-8 record. And I dont have that. 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. He loved the foliage, the fresh air and scenery. These Boston College basketball players were way better than being involved with "Goodfella" Henry Hill and his underworld associates. About. Press release from the City of Menifee: MENIFEE - Menifee's street projects and construction updates are getting an upgrade! At around the same age, his parents separated, with his father moving across town. 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. 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.. The tone is set by black-and-white mug shots and film strips from surveillance of mobsters interspersed with BC team photos and action shots from newspaper coverage of the season. Ron Tompkins is a former major league pitcher who played for the Kansas . I was this poor kid with no financial resources, going on trial with a member of the mob. Ernie Cobb played professional basketball in Israel for 17 years, where he learned to speak fluent Hebrew. I told him, you cant just be great on offense, you gotta play great defense as well.. And, of course, there are betting lines with the pick circled and handwritten box scores with the names of the alleged conspirators highlighted. Jim Sweeney and Ernie Cobb) were brought to trial for point-shaving during the '78- '79 season. 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. And yeah, I took that money. I cant read., When he told me that, we immediately got him a tutor, said Alswanger. Its something that hes still waiting for, to this day. Cobb insisted on having his day in court, of clearing his name. (Rick Kuhn, Photo Credit: bostonglobe.com). Name: Ernie Cobb; Position: Point Guard; Height: 5-11 (1.80m) Weight: 180 (82kg) College Team: Boston College Eagles; Nationality: American; Birthplace: Stamford, Connecticut; Birthdate: 8/31/1956; Drafted: Selected by the Utah Jazz in the sixth round (109th pick overall) of 1979 NBA Draft. College: Boston University (1979) NCAA Season Stats - Per Game. The final player involved in the fix, Rick Kuhn, is . I was better than everybody on the team, but I talked back to him and he cut me because he said I had a bad attitude. At 11:05 a.m., United States District Judge Leonard Wexler completed his instructions to the jury in the Federal Court Building in Brooklyn as Ernie Cobb awaited his judgment. I had everything I could have possibly asked for. Id led the pro league in scoring over there and signed a very nice contract. He doesnt belong here and I think he can really make something of himself if somebody gives him a chance.. I had my own place to live and all the food I wanted to eat. Three Boston College players, Jim Sweeney, Rick Kuhn, and Ernie Cobb were fingered by Hill for participating in the scandal. When he told Alswanger about the indictment, his old high school coach spoke sternly with him, as he'd done sometwelveyears earlier when Cobb had just returned home fromthe juvenile detention facility. Kuhn, 28, was . We werent locked in individual cells. Thursday, March 22, 1984. Its something that hes still waiting for, to this day. Ernest Constantine Cobb, passed away peacefully on Feb. 27th, after a long and full life. Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude. We werent really checking for B.C. Everywhere he went, he had a book with him at all times., I became so focused, said Cobb. 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 . Cobb and Sweeney admitted to accepting money, but both deny willingly participating while on the basketball court. First Name. Tell me what you did and what you didnt do. 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. My girlfriend and I bought a new stereo, television and some furniture. He eats it up. It was like this whole new world opened up to him and his desire to succeed was unreal. He ate, drank and slept basketball. I never lied about that. One of his early passions was racing remote-controlled cars. He would teach me about these attributes and I began to internalize them. It was like a paradise to me, coming from where I came from. 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. 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. I took every single practice and every single game seriously, said Cobb. Check out the detailed 1976-77 Boston College Eagles Roster and Stats for College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com. It was the first time he saw the game as something that could improve his life, something that could take him places. After Cobb was not charged, he thought he was finally past the sordid affair. Its gonna be no contest. At 11:05 a.m., U.S. District Judge Leonard Wexler completed his instructions to the jury in the Federal Court Building in Brooklyn as Ernie Cobb awaited his judgment. And now, here I was on that same floor, pumped sky high, giving my defender buckets! Experience for 11 years as a high school mathematics teacher. Select the fourth team from the drop down menu. Studied Social Studies at Boston College. Out of everything that happened, thats one thing that hurts me tremendously, Cobb said. Couldnt people see how much he loved the game? My dad was still in my life, but something changed inside of me, said Cobb. 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. As for his role in what happened, Sweeney says hes never run from the truth. Between being bused to a school that I felt like didnt value me, and my dad leaving the house, my academics went downhill fast. After the investigation was completed, Cobb was not named as a defendant in the initial trial, U.S. vs Burke, which opened to a circus of media attention on October 27th, 1981. He jumped in the air, as if soaring for a rebound, as cheers filled the courtroom. We are not making it all up in our heads, thinking well of Kris Dunn because we want to: he has real talents to bring, and a body that for the time being will allow him to use them. I went to an all-black school where everyone knew each other, said Cobb. This is Part II of The Shadow League's feature story on former Boston College basketball player Ernie Cobb. I walk in the bathroom, and who was in there but Peter Vario, the big-time mobster that was on trial with Ernie, said Alswanger. 1978, and March 1, 1979. He spent countless in the gym, practicing his basketball skills, replaying a very hurtful experience over and over in his mind, from when he was cut from his junior high school basketball team back in Stamford. He wanted to win every foot race, every pickup game of basketball and sandlot football, or any other endeavor that ended with a final score and winning result. The Boston Globe's Bob Hohler documented Kuhn's role in the scandal and his luring of Sweeney and fellow captain Ernie Cobb in a March 2014 profile: . The thoughts continuously raced through Cobbs mind: how had he arrived here, he wondered, of all places, charged with allegedly conspiring to commit sports bribery while allegedly fixing college basketball games for the Mob? Kuhn, a reserve forward on the 1978-79 Boston College team, and four other men were convicted last November of a plot to manipulate the . Cobb's life takes several twists and turns . And in that article in Sports Illustrated, Henry Hill says, The word came back that Cobb was enthusiastic. The key phrase there is The word came back. I dont know what Rick Kuhn was telling Henry Hill or the Perla brothers. Ernie Cobb, G, 1975-79 - 1,760 12. They left, and that was that. But what was I going to do, take it to court?It was here that they began telling Perla we would have to have Cobb. You cant change things in life. August 31, 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? How much he was indebted to it? Henry Hill avoided going to prison, and he went off into the sunset of the governments Witness Protection Program, said Alswanger. 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. Drafted #109 in the 1979 NBA Draft by the Jazz. (Boston College, photo credit: bostonmagazine.com), Academically, it was a great school and my family could come and see me play, he said. The story captures Cobb's fascinating journey beginning with a challenged upbringing and the appearance of an unlikely mentor in Hermy Alswanger, to college basketball fame and then to the unwelcomed notoriety associated with being falsely linked to the Boston College point shaving scandal. Thing I heard Cobb was not charged, he made a mistake and we all mess up but too. Got on my bike in Stamford, Connecticut and just started riding Im sure they would have found that got... 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