Put Your Money on This

To the Editor:

I write to correct some imprecise facts or misinterpretations in Chaim Schneider's otherwise thoughtful and valuable article regarding gambling on the Yeshiva College campus (March 9, 1999).

Let me be the first to agree with the basic premise of Mr. Schneider's article; gambling, particularly sports betting, is wide-spread at Yeshiva College. Any doubts I might have had were erased by the seemingly inordinate interest in this year's "March Madness" and the omnipresent

tournament pool betting sheets. Indeed, numerous inquiries to my office about "the tournament" turned out to really be about the betting pool rather than the Sarachek Tournament and young Tamir Goodman. I can only hope that Dean of Students Nulman is accurate in his assessment that gambling is less prevalent on our campus than at most universities.

Gambling, especially gambling on sports contests, is a major concern to the NCAA and all other intercollegiate athletics professionals. This concern is largely in response to the all-too-many betting scandals involving intercollegiate teams, dating as far back as the 1940's and as recently as last year. The next "scandal" is surely just ahead.

To help prevent sports gambling and its potentially insidious effect on intercollegiate athletics, the NCAA, among other things, requires that each athlete be educated about the dangers of and the illegality of sports betting. A large part of that effort involves the Athletic Director meeting with each team before the start of their season to discuss this issue, as well as others (eligibility regulations, drug abuse, etc.). The meetings culminate with each student athlete signing forms attesting to their understanding of and agreement to adhere to the NCAA regulations.

Because of my personal background and history at City College of New York, the gambling issue is especially relevant to me. City College's basketball team was at the center of America's worst collegiate point-shaving scandal in 1951. In that sorry episode, many of the nation's best college basketball teams and players were implicated in point-shaving and the dumping of games over a period of several years. Sadly, even the once-in-a-lifetime achievements of the 1949-50 CCNY team, winners of both the NCAA and NIT championships , were tarnished by the revelations from that scandal. Partially for that reason, in my pre-season meeting with the Macs, I showed the team a copy of the HBO documentary about the scandal , "City Dump." That documentary, filled with vintage film and contemporary interviews, did much more than chronicle a sad episode in intercollegiate athletics.

A major point of emphasis was how easily young college basketball players, many Jewish, were corrupted by professional gamblers and gangsters. In virtually every instance, the corruption started with seemingly innocuous introductions, small gifts and favors, or "friendly" bets. The end results include jail time, ruined reputations, lost careers, and disgraced college sports programs. Individuals implicated at Yeshiva College to this day are derisively referred to as "the Dumpers" by other alumni, even after productive lives and careers. Perhaps the only good thing to have evolved from that scandal was that City College and other CUNY school de-emphasize athletics, no longer choosing to compete in big-time, big-money, scholarship intercollegiate athletics.

As the Director of Athletics, I take sports gambling to be a serious issue and one which I, and all our coaches, must constantly be alert to. We will continue to educate student athletes about its perils and problems. As much as I appreciate the work of Mr. Schneider, however, I do so because it is necessary, even required, not because of the Commentator article. The article does, however, contribution to a campus-wide recognition of a potentially serious problem for all students, and for that I do thank Mr. Schneider and the Commentator.

Sincerely,

Dr. Richard Zerneck

Director of Athletic & Physical Education

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