His competitive desires were satisfied with all of the recreation activities that were offered. A few blocks from Boston College, the place that held so much meaning to him, where hed worked so hard to create his lifes purpose, the symbolism was inescapable when he found that he had a flat tire. Also involved were bookmakers across the . Check out the detailed 1976-77 Boston College Eagles Roster and Stats for College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com. Please give him a chance. 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! Sign up to receive The Shadow League Newsletter in your inbox. The third-highest scorer in BC history with 1,760 points, he was a co-captain with Sweeney in 1978-79, when he averaged 21.3 points a game. Years later, I wound up using that police officers Cadillac to go to my high school prom, said Cobb. Part 2 can be found here. He talks about how he wanted to be an NBA player. But I dont feel any bitterness toward the prosecution. Boston College Guard and former Stamfod High School standout Ernie Cobb drives past St. John's Frank Alagia during a game in 1976. Not long after that, I was playing Pop Warner football and needed a mouthpiece. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. Select the first team from the drop down menu. He graduated on time with a degree in sociology. He was determined to prove that he could do the work, which would enable him to further chase his athletic dreams. But for Bowie, it was too little, too late. Its something that hes still waiting for, to this day. Alswanger talked with Ernie, who was entering the 9th grade, about his expectations. The game had saved his life, delivered him from peril, from a path leading nowhere, from dysfunction and illiteracy, to an elite college education and a shot at the NBA and a better future. The motley crew next ensnared Boston College's leading scorer, Ernie Cobb. This is Part II of The Shadow League's feature story on former Boston College basketball player Ernie Cobb. Proactive and highly responsive counselor to students, parents, faculty, community and district needs. He was adamant, that he would take the stand in his own defense, despite his lawyers pleas not to do so. 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. So Id go up there all the time and get me one. The problem was Cobb. It was there, where a whole new world opened up to him. 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. You cant change things in life. He had this unbelievable desire to succeed and you could tell that he wasnt going to let anything stand in his way.. 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. Height: 5'11" (180 cm) Weight: 0 lbs (- kg) Position: PG. Cobb just wanted to live his life and do what he did best: play ball. 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. Hed averaged 21.3 points per game during the 1978-1979 season, leading the Eagles to a 21-8 record. My parents have suffered. Im stuck. It was all so positive.. All of those guys walkedin his footsteps., He was the African-American guard in the modern era of B.C. The history of Boston College's involvement in illegal activity involving sports travels back to 1954, but the most notorious of the indiscretions was uncovered in 1981. . We publish narratives intentionally and specifically to enlighten and transform the world. The vast expanses of grass fields allowed him to run free and clear his mind. He refused to take a plea deal in return for a reduced sentence. 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. 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. Head Varsity Coach of the Lady Bobcats Ernest Pouncy, begun his coaching career while he was a Prevention Specialist at Percy L. Julian school in the Roosevelt School District. Players profiled in the book include Rick Kuhn, who pulled his teammates into the plot and paid for it with a 10-year prison sentence; Jim Sweeney, a prep school graduate and honor student who found himself trapped between gamblers and a conscience that wouldn't let him cheat his teammates; and leading . I was back at home, visiting for the summer and about to return to Israel, Cobb said. During the 1978-78 basketball season, Boston College was the latest team scandalized by a point shaving scheme involving the New York mob. Kuhn, 28, was . I wanted my name cleared and it took a long time.. When he was implicated in the scandal, I was shocked.. He insisted on taking a polygraph test, against his attorneys advice, which he passed. Things that happened to me and my siblings, it wasnt her fault. The reality is there are only four real contenders. And she loved him. Kenneth Walton, Deputy Assistant Director of the New York FBI, refused comment to the Boston Globe when asked if Cobb and Sweeney were under investigation. The SPORTS REFERENCE and STATHEAD trademarks are owned exclusively by Sports Reference LLC. He craved to clear his name once and for all. 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. Other notable players selected in that draft included Sidney Moncrief, Bill Laimbeer, Bill Cartwright, Mark Eaton and Jim Paxson. 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 . 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. Eventually, he became a part of my own family and spent a lot of time over at our house. Jim Sweeney admits that Kuhn gave him cash. I was mesmerized.. 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. Join our linker program. Out of all the schools recruiting him, Cobb decided to accept Boston Colleges scholarship offer. I saw Ernie score 28 points against the Celtics in one of the final pre-season games when he was with the Nets, said Alswanger, Cobbs former high school coach. Cobb admitted to accepting $1,000 but wasn't prosecuted. But I found out that I wouldnt be allowed to leave the United States because the government was going to bring me to trial.. Season School Class GP GS MIN PTS FGM FGA FG% 3PM 3PA 3P% FTM FTA FT% OFF DEF TRB AST STL BLK . We had a good old time. 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. . . The very next day, the Nets cut me., When the F.B.I. Select the second team from the drop down menu. After more than a decade spent trying to make Playing with the Mob happen, Lavine is ready to move on to a new project. That includes Rick Kuhn, the former minor league baseball player who started the scandal and who Sweeney says got him involved in it. Many long-time fans are now familiar with the Boston College basketball point shaving scandal, where the Mafia, led by wiseguy Henry Hill, recruited and bribed several members of the 1978-79 . Thats the real strength of his story, that you pick yourself up and make something of yourself.. Alswanger, my high school coach inspired me to rise above my circumstances, he continued. So I didnt even go on trial with Kuhn and the mobsters that put the whole thing in motion.. He killed people. Weight: 238. I was this poor kid with no financial resources, going on trial with a member of the mob. 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. Profile. Ernie Cobb, 24, 5'11", 180-pound star of the team, from Stamford, Conn. I opened up the door and it was these guys from the F.B.I., said Cobb. Hed have to start setting goals. It was a tragedy that he never got another chance to play in the NBA., Kevin Loughery never gave me a firm reason why the Nets were letting me go, said Cobb. And I dont have that. My mom raised me to be respectful, so I never talked back or exhibited any violent or aggressive behavior., But I had an overactive imagination and couldnt sit still, he continued. But I was still worried. like that until he got there. 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. Johnny Bench is a former MLB catcher who played for the Cincinnati Reds from 1967 to 1983. Or write about sports? Kuhn was later convicted and served ten years in prison for the crime. Id led the pro league in scoring over there and signed a very nice contract. We were looking good as a team and my goal was to be the best player I could possibly be. standards like the rest of the students, most who came from wealthy and very strong academic backgrounds. Confirm that your trade proposal is valid according to the NBA collective bargaining agreement. 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