Trial Nears in Tulane Scandal

Seven months after a friendly cocaine buy mushroomed into a gambling scandal that rocked college basketball, NBA draftee John (Hot Rod) Williams faces trial on charges he shaved points in return for cocaine and cash.

The scheme, which allegedly involved Williams and eight others, spelled death for men’s basketball at Tulane University.

Williams, a 6-foot, 10-inch center, entered last season with hopes of being All-America. But he stands charged with two counts of sports bribery and three counts of conspiracy to commit sports bribery.

If Williams is acquitted, he could sign a six-figure contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers. If he is convicted, he could spend up to 17 1/2 years in prison.

Four have already pleaded guilty in the scheme. Williams, 22, a second-round draft choice of Cleveland, is the first to stand trial. His first day in court was to be Monday, pending an appeal to delay the trial for one week.

Testimony is expected to last two or three weeks and will feature enough coaches and players to field a round-robin tournament.

Basketball coaches Dana Kirk of Memphis State, Malcolm Turk of Southern Mississippi and Charles Moir of Virginia Tech will be on one side of the court, joined by Indiana Pacers player personnel director Tom Newell.

The opposing lineup will feature Tulane’s 6-foot-7 Clyde Eads, 6-7 Jon Johnson and 6-foot point guard Bobby Thompson, as well as Coach Ned Fowler.

Attorneys for Williams have subpoenaed 56 people in all, ranging from Tulane professors to the defendant’s former teammates to detectives and prosecutors who recorded a statement made by Williams on the night of his arrest.

The scandal reportedly was born in a friendly cocaine sale by Tulane business major Gary Kranz to Eads, a starting forward on the Green Wave team. Teammate Johnson reportedly also sought coke from Kranz, and within two weeks the conversation turned to point-shaving.

Eads and Johnson knew they could not fix the game without the aid of the team’s star, the prosecution theory goes, so they recruited Williams and his roommate, sophomore David Dominique. Thompson later joined the scheme.

Other Tulane students--fraternity brothers of Kranz’s--joined in the plot, and eventually off-campus gamblers were allowed to get a piece of the action, prosecutors say.

The players are accused of accepting at least $19,500 and cocaine to shave points in a Feb. 2 game against Southern Mississippi and a Feb. 20 contest with Memphis State. A plan to shave points in a Feb. 16 game against Virginia Tech was never implemented.