This Kid Opts Not to Shave

When a Cal State Fullerton student approached Titan freshman center Corey Sanders and allegedly offered him money to take part in a point-shaving scheme, Sanders had the same reaction most of us do when we hear the story.

“I was thinking, ‘Why would somebody want to gamble on a Cal State Fullerton game?’ ” Sanders said.

His next thought was that the student was working undercover for the NCAA.

Just in case, Sanders told an assistant coach, who told him to report the matter to Coach Bob Hawking. Hawking told the Fullerton campus police, who contacted the Fullerton Police Department.

Police arrested Jack Oh on Feb. 23 after recording a subsequent phone call between him and Sanders. Sanders said he was offered $1,000 to help keep Fullerton from covering a 10-point spread in a Feb. 19 game against Pacific, and that he could have made up to $75,000 if he continued with the scheme.

(Last week, Oh pleaded not guilty to a felony charge of offering a bribe to a participant in a sporting event. He was released from custody Friday, pending a pretrial hearing March 19.)

By all accounts, Sanders should be praised for doing what he should have done.

But the praise isn’t universal, he says. There are those who pat him on the back. One friend’s mother was so proud when she heard the story that she wanted to meet him. There are others who question him for passing up the cash.

There’s cause for serious concern. Not only because someone would bother to shave points on a Fullerton-Pacific game. Spend enough time in a dormitory on any campus in the country and you’ll find a serious gambler.

What’s scary is there will be some other kid like Sanders, who is thousands of miles from his home in Michigan, living the no-frills life of a college freshman. And there will be someone else offering him money to fix a game.

“A lot of people, I think, as freshmen would have taken the money,” Sanders said. “If I was in that situation and I didn’t have the teaching my parents gave me, I probably would have [taken the money].”

Not that he never considered it--$75,000 will get your attention.

“It crossed my mind,” Sanders said. “But I figured a lot of people would ask, ‘Where’d you get this from and where did you get that from?’ I didn’t want to make up any lies. I try not to lie to anybody. I just said, although I do need the money right now, is it really worth me getting caught?”

He never wanted the story to get out. He didn’t need the credit. But now people are calling him a fool, telling him all of the things he could have had. A Lexus. Or a Land Cruiser. New gear to wear, with a fat roll of dead presidents filling his pocket.

Instead of constant respect there’s an element of scorn, even though this is the type of story we don’t hear often enough. Maybe it shows just how money-oriented we’ve become.

“A lot of the college athletes are always known as doing the wrong thing,” Sanders said. “Here’s a situation where a kid did the right thing.”

And yet, “to a certain extent, I feel as though I’m the victim,” Sanders said. “I’m the one that’s been done wrong.

“I feel like it would have probably been easier if I would have just walked away and ignored it. You have to realize that if I would have walked away and ignored it, he would be still on the street, trying to approach another guy for another team.

“I know I did the right thing, but I feel as though I did the wrong thing. You get a lot of criticism for it, which I have received.”

His reward came from himself, the feeling he had when he did play against Pacific. Although he is 6 feet 11, Sanders never dominates games. He averages only 2.5 points and often winds up in the wrong place on defense. But you can never question his effort and enthusiasm, and he will never have to question himself.

He had promised Chris Dade that he would try his best to make Dade’s senior season as good as possible, and he did not renege.

“When I got in that game, it was like ‘I can’t be bought,’ ” Sanders said. “I’m not going to let anybody buy me. I refuse to let someone buy me for $1,000 or $100 or whatever the cost is. I refuse to let that happen to me.”

Unusual? It shouldn’t be.

“I hope that people don’t look at me in a funny way,” Sanders said. “When you get approached with this situation, you’re supposed to do the right thing. I hope out of all of the college students, I hope they would do the right thing also.

“It’s a privilege to play Division I basketball or whatever sport you play. You should take that privilege to the fullest. you should use that and respect that you have a chance to get a free education to go farther in life.

“If you’re good enough, whether you go to the professional level or you get your diploma, you’re going to end up with your $75,000,” said Sanders, who is majoring in criminal justice and wants to be a probation officer or a teacher. “You’re going to end up making money. Right now, these are my learning years.”

It’s NCAA tournament time, which means brackets are floating around all over the country and money is changing hands.

Sanders has only one prediction: “I know I won’t be gambling on anything.”