Bush-League Scandal

Pro football's tycoons have a good thing going, and the slightest scent of scandal makes them shudder--all the way to the bank. Last week they got a bad case of the tremblies. Those stories about players betting on pro games turned out to be true. As sports scandals go, this one was strictly bush league. But it was enough to make National Football League Commissioner Pete Rozelle reach for his cat-o'-nine-tails.

During a party in Miami last December, five members of the Detroit Lions bet $50 apiece on the Green Bay Packers to win the N.F.L. championship. For that, Rozelle fined each of them $2,000. He clipped the Detroit club $4,000 for pooh-poohing the whole business. Then he threw the book at Detroit's tough Tackle Alex Karras, 27, and Green Bay Halfback Paul Hornung, 27, the N.F.L.'s Most Valuable Player in 1961. Karras, said Rozelle, had made "at least six significant bets" of $50 and $100 on N.F.L. games since 1958. Hornung, football's "Golden Boy" with an income of $50,000 in salary and testimonials, bet up to $500 on the games. Neither bet against his own team, and neither made much money. Except for one year when Hornung was ahead by $1,500, he just about broke even. Just the same, both players drew "indefinite" suspensions that might knock them out of football for good.

Why was Rozelle so tough? A player who gets into the habit of betting, he reasoned, can also get into the habit of losing his shirt--and fall into the clutches of professional gamblers. Suppose a player was known to be a regular bettor, and then word got out that he had failed to bet on one game. How come? Was something up? Last but not least, gambling on football games is illegal in every state but one--and there are no pro teams in Nevada.

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