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CENTRAL OFFICE FOR EASTERN INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETICS

Association of
Rowing Colleges
®
Eastern
Intercollegiate
Baseball League
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Eastern
Intercollegiate
Basketball League

Eastern
Intercollegiate
Football Association

Eastern
Intercollegiate
150-Lb. Football League

®
Eastera
Intercollegiate
Golf Association

e
Eastern

Intercollegiate
Gymnastic League
e

Eastern

Intercollegiate ,

Swimming League
e

Eastern

Intercollegiate

Tennis Association
®

Eastern

Intercollegiate
Wrestling Association

®
Heptagonal Games
Association

e
ILC. A. A. A. A.

e

Intercollegiate

Fencing Association
e@

Intercollegiate

Ice Hockey
Association

Intercollegiate
Rowing Association
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International
Intercollegiate
Ice Hockey League
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Pentagonal
Hockey League
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Collegiate Basketball
Officials Bureau

 

Biltmore Hotel, Madison Avenue and 43rd Street, New York 17, N. y.
MURRAY HILL 6-7580

ASA S. BUSHNELL, Executive Director

1944

October 21,

Local papers are today carrying the Associ=
ated Press: account of your comments on gambling in in-
tercollegiate sports, particularly basketball. Though
A.P. does not attribute these specific words to you,
the story emphasizes your charge that "professional
gamblers already have caused two boys to throw basket-
ball games in Eastern collegiate tournaments." It ‘goes
on to quote directly your reference to “known cases" of
such malfeasance. ;

Did you make any such categorical statements
as those cited? If so, what are the facts -- dates,
places, persons, understandings, results -- and where
is the proof? Also, if there are "known cases", who
knows about them, and, if their scene was an Eastern
one, why are they “known" in Lawrence, Kansas, but not
in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Buffalo, Pittsburgh,
and Washington? Investigations conducted in these parts
of the few rumored cases have shown that, though gamblers
may have tried to fix games, they have not succeeded in
any single instance.

Purposes and methods of the gamblers are fully
understood, and the very real menace to collegiate sport
which they represent. is clearly recognized. Obviously,
it is not enough to deplore their pr€™sence; action must
be taken to eliminate these gamblers and destroy any
slight possibility they may have of success in their oper-
ations. This action must be powerful and unrelenting, and
it must be effectual.

Certainly the proper agency to undertake and ac-
the solution of this serious problem is the NCAA.
course in order, if you so wish, for an interest-
ed party such as yourself to urge the NCAA into telling
action. However, it seems to me that the poorést sort of
way to do this is to jeopardize public confidence in game
and players by leveling vague and unsubstantiated charges
against them in the newspapers. Let's help the NCAA do the
job which confronts it by furnishing all possible authori-
tative information; let's not hinder the Association with
public statements which are bound to be damaging to athletics.

complish
3% i6 of

Sincerely