I could see myself coming into my own one day and doing that. When he was implicated in the scandal, I was shocked.. 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. My moment had arrived. During his court hearing, the judge sentenced him to a six-month sentence in the Meriden Juvenile Detention Facility. Cobb just wanted to live his life and do what he did best: play ball. The Boston College coaches practically lived in our gym. In the 1998/99 season he lead the Girls to the top. He worked hard in class. 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. We never starved. Jack McCluskey is an editor for ESPN.com and a frequent contributor to ESPNBoston.com. Old Greenwich was a really rich neighborhood, and theyd have all these beautiful bikes just sitting out there on the lawn. Boston College (1978-79) Conspirators paid Boston College players, mainly Rick Kuhn and Jim Sweeney, to shave points depending on the spread and opponent. After he interviewed him, he fell in love with him and told me, Hes innocent. Alswanger, my high school coach inspired me to rise above my circumstances, he continued. Not long after that, I was playing Pop Warner football and needed a mouthpiece. "Fixed" follows the point-shaving scandal of the 1978-79 Boston College basketball team. Question, Comment, Feedback, or Correction? Meridan had all this space and all these green fields where you could just run, said Cobb. Ernie Cobb played professional basketball in Israel for 17 years, where he learned to speak fluent Hebrew. Ernie, and anybody who truly knew him, who knew about his character and what type of young man he was, we were all heartbroken. The Globe, quoting an unnamed source in New York, said the three games in which point-shaving was alleged were a Feb.3 game against Fordham, a Feb. 6 game against St. Johns and a March 1 game in the ECAC Regional Playoffs against Connecticut. But I never agreed to fix any games or shave any points. Sep 28, 1980 - Ernie Cobb, . With his pro career and NBA dream in limbo for over four years since news of Boston Colleges point-shaving scandal was first splashed across the front pages of newspapers and magazines, he simply desired to have his life back. She helped tutor me, and encouraged me through some rough spots. She did the best she could. He told him that he had talent, but that wasnt enough. Id made remarkable strides from being sent to a juvenile detention facility, from not being able to read as a high school freshman, said Cobb. Please give him a chance. Alswanger talked with Ernie, who was entering the 9th grade, about his expectations. The 1968 Topps Baseball Card series includes 598 cards and features multi-player rookie cards. And I dont have that. Near the Boston College campus, he had a flat tire. In practice, he was the lunatic who his teammates sucked their teeth and rolled their eyes at when he told the coaches that they needed to run more sprints after an exhausting practice. I could have sneezed and they would have sent me to the principals office.. 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.. Browse our public records directory to see Ernest Cobb's contact info, age, cell phone number, email address, social media profiles, and more. It wasnt until I actually saw him play that I realized how special he was as an offensive talent. He was 87. We publish narratives intentionally and specifically to enlighten and transform the world. 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. I was back at home, visiting for the summer and about to return to Israel, Cobb said. 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 . Select the fourth team from the drop down menu. Learn more and register. It was the first time he saw the game as something that could improve his life, something that could take him places. He loved being able to play ping pong, shoot pool and go swimming, but there was one place at the facility that he loved above all others: the gymnasium. Select the players you wish to trade from the rosters below. I didnt know what that was all about. Ernie Cobb joined the scheme for the last five games . I never got to realize my dream of playing in the NBA, but Ive been all over the globe and have experienced so many different and beautiful cultures. Thats why I got into education and coaching. Eventually, he became a part of my own family and spent a lot of time over at our house. Watch our How-To Videos to Become a Stathead, Subscribe to Stathead and get access to more data than you can imagine. I was bored with my schoolwork and became the class clown. Read more atthe Shadow League. I told him, you cant just be great on offense, you gotta play great defense as well.. 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. And he was all about the team and winning, despite the fact that he was an offensive machine. Part 2 can be found here. We were all so excited for him. COBB, ERNEST CONSTANTINE. 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. From that day on, I became very studious.. It had to cost around $200,000 at the time to defend me.. Ernie listened intently. Javascript is required for the selection of a player. Kuhn, 28, was . At trial in 1981, the government's case consisted primarily of the testimony . Leading scorer Ernie Cobb was accused . I was mesmerized.. The filmmakers ultimately dont take a side on who did what, instead presenting at times conflicting accounts and letting the audience decide. Kuhn acknowledged his role and was the only player convicted. Today, Cobbs relationship with Boston College remains strained. Being at Boston College, when I first got there, was so amazing, said Cobb. But Ill always be curious about certain things that went on.. Select the first team from the drop down menu. 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. I was practicing every day and so angry at the coach who cut me, said Cobb. Of course, of course I was upset, but what could I do? I dont know. It all seemed like a fairy tale, until he was indicted for allegedly fixing college basketball games for the mob. Couldnt people see how much he loved the game? As a matter of fact, one thing Im really happy with in this film, is we really did get to everybody, Lavine said. Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Karl-Anthony Towns, Kawhi Leonard, Anthony Davis and Brandon Ingram will play outsized roles in how their respective teams close the season. By his sophomore year, he was a starter on the varsity and an All-League selection. By my junior year, it was show-time, said Cobb. Coach Alswanger was always schooling me about a winner never quits, a quitter never wins, about integrity, honor and character. No one in my family had even graduated from high school. I went into the Caldors department store in downtown Stamford when I was about 12 years old and tried to shoplift one, he said. You realize that you cant play if you dont do this. 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. The only problem was that he didnt have enough money to afford one. It wasnt an absolute disaster but it was a cousin. I did everything I needed to do in terms of having the grades and the standardized test scores to get in. I would walk long distances, for miles, out into the suburbs in Greenwich. Tell me what you did and what you didnt do. Most people may conjure up nightmarish images while trying to imagine being incarcerated at such an early age, butErnie's experience wasquite the opposite. He was a remarkable man. Summaries. Ernest Cobb Special Education Cross Catagorical High School at Phoenix Union High School District Laveen, Arizona, United States 1 connection But it wasnt a coincidence that one day, the F.B.I shows up asking me about gambling, and the next day Im no longer with the team. Man, I was really into bikes, Cobb said. 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. Cobb didn't get those years back, but neither did he seek redemption for his past. As a freshman, he played sparingly and averaged 4.5 points per game while the Eagles finished with a disappointing 9-17 overall record. Boston College, Draft: I didnt even know what goals were, said Cobb. I was so thankful, and was willing to work as hard as I possibly could, both in my studies, and in basketball, to be able to get the most I could out of the experience.. About. Cobbs older siblings began having brushes with the law. So for me to have a chance to go to college, that was so exciting to me.. 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. 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 got to meet Calvin Murphy after the game because Mr. Alswanger knew him, said Cobb. I understand that they want to disassociate themselves from the scandal. She was a miracle worker. They treated me great. Id also developed a reputation in school as a troublemaker. College: Boston University (1979) NCAA Season Stats - Per Game. . 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.. First Name. and I were the victims of the same circumstances that were beyond our control. College: Boston College. And, of course, there are betting lines with the pick circled and handwritten box scores with the names of the alleged conspirators highlighted. We spoke to everybody, whether they ended up in the film or not.. The story read, in part, as follows: Ernie Cobb tossed in 1,760 points in a stellar basketball career at Boston College and only two other Eagles scored more. We may earn a commission from links on this page. With having to work long hours, her children had a lot of free, unsupervised time on their hands, some of which was not utilized wisely. Will I ever totally leave Boston College? 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. He acknowledges taking $500, but says he never did anything to fix games. After she began working with him, she came to talk to me and said, Oh my god! How much he was indebted to it? don't know about ernie but i know rick. Class of 1979. He listened and did everything I told him to do. He said, Ernies the only kid who listened, did everything he was supposed to do and never tried to run away. Cobb internalized the subtle looks from his new teachers and administrators, the ones his young mind translated to mean, We dont want you here. He no longer felt encouraged in his new classroom environment, and sensed the sting of judgmental eyes when his hyper personality and wandering mind attracted the attention of adult authority figures. It really was over 10 years that Ive been trying to do this, so I dont know that I can just turn the page on it and go on to something else. ''I hadn't seen Ernie for several years,'' says Jack Hennessey, a Boston College psychologist who was an informal academic adviser to varsity . The final player involved in the fix, Rick Kuhn, is . 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.. We were looking good as a team and my goal was to be the best player I could possibly be. We present them here for purely educational purposes. 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. 27 febrero, 2023 . I was having a lot of success, we were turning around the fortunes of the program and I was getting a lot of press in the Boston Globe and area newspapers. Hes a good person. he keeps to himself. I was lightning quick, could run up and down, go left or right and could score from anywhere on the floor., He was breaking every record you could think of and by his junior year, people were saying, Whoa! | 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. Ernie Cobb was born in Stamford, Connecticut. High School: St. Xavier (Cincinnati, OH) Possessing a powerful combination of size, speed and football intellect, Luke Kuechly "looked like Clark Kent and played like Superman." He amassed the second-most career tackles in the NCAA record books, becoming the most decorated defensive player in Boston College history. age of adaline comet. I had the complete package, said Cobb. He tried to subsist as a substitute teacher, and even caddied at the Fairview Country Club in Greenwich, Connecticut, the affluent suburbs where hed previously been arrested for stealing bikes as a kid. Kuhn was the only player convicted -- receiving a record 10-year sentence -- and served 28 months in prison. I dont know if they recognize it, but B.C. Select the third team from the drop down menu. Obviously, I couldve done things differently, Sweeney said. Hill also named former BC athletes Ernie Cobb and James Sweeney as participants in the scandal. All logos are the trademark & property of their owners and not Sports Reference LLC. The scheme began with small-time gamblers Rocco and Anthony Perla who devised a plan with the players to deliberately shave points on specific games to win . 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. By Bob Hohler Globe Staff,March 16, 2014, 12:00 a.m. Rick Kuhn (No. 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. Ernie Cobb. In the summer of 1978, Rocco Perla and his older brother Anthony, back in Pittsburgh, were the ones who initially conceived the point-shaving scheme that would later rock the college basketball world. Cobb was always a competitive kid. Data Provided By He wanted to tell his side of the story. When I think about my journey, it brings tears to my eyes. Were really happy with it. Despite never having played organized basketball before, Cobb was moved up to the varsity squad as a freshman. 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. On Friday morning, March 23rd, the jury came back with a unanimous innocent verdict for Ernie Cobb, exonerating him of all charges. 1975 TOPPS BASEBALL SET #197 ERNIE BANKS-FOX CHICAGO CUBS EX Sold by wlbjr | Ends on 2023-03-06 23:50:31 . I told him, I think were gonna blow them out, we look really good. And look what he did to the lives of those kids. rick kuhn boston college now 19 3407 . Also wondered what became of Ernie Cobb. When the evidence came up at the first trial, it didnt match up, but they still came after me a few years later. The highlights of the film are the interviews with the former mobsters, now all well past their primes after serving their time, including the gangster Ray Liotta made famous in Goodfellas -- Henry Hill. I think it tells a great story, I think the story is told in an entertaining fashion, he said. Sign up to receive The Shadow League Newsletter in your inbox. They were a massive disappointment, yes, but also so transcendent for brief moments. Cobb was drafted by the Utah Jazz in the 6th Round and cut during training camp. He was a murderer and a horrible human being. 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. I was so frustrated at one point that I got on my bike in Stamford, Connecticut and just started riding. The other two kids made whatever choices they made, but look what was done to Ernie. We got really close and he looked out for me. He was adamant, that he would take the stand in his own defense, despite his lawyers pleas not to do so. It's also available for football, hockey and baseball. He refused to take a plea deal in return for a reduced sentence. He was adamant that he would take the stand in his own defense, despite his lawyers pleas not to do so. . Kuhn was a BC player at the center of the controversy. Heading into his senior season in 1978-1979, as the team captain, Cobb was hoping that he could lead his team to the NCAA Tournament. 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 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. She also recalled Kuhn saying that Cobb was too into his own game to cooperate with the betting thing, but the New York gangsters were adamant about getting him involved. 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 traveled throughout the world, getting paid to play the game that he loved. He was 83. Its something that hes still waiting for, to this day. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. . But the Justice . . Find out more. These people [in the mob] get glamorized or sensationalized, Sweeney said. (Boston College, photo credit: bostonmagazine.com), Academically, it was a great school and my family could come and see me play, he said. Everywhere he went, he had a book with him at all times., I became so focused, said Cobb. I dont know what went down because I wasnt involved. We have tools and resources that can help you use sports data. Sign up to receive The Shadow League Newsletter in your inbox. I was relishing that moment. Things that happened to me and my siblings, it wasnt her fault. Studied Special education at Grand Canyon University. Cobb and Sweeney admitted to accepting money, but both deny willingly participating while on the basketball court. Kuhn was later convicted and served ten years in prison for the crime. He stopped in my office with his bike with the flat tire and borrowed $20 to get it fixed and to get home. 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! Ernie, dont lie to me, Alswanger instructed him. 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