Sport: Degrading and Shocking

Twice before, the sham and shame of commercialized college athletics had been lambasted by Manhattan General Sessions Judge Saul Streit. Last week the judge was indignant once again. Before the court were three basketball players of Kentucky University's "fabulous five," young men who had proudly worn the U.S. Olympic emblem in the 1948 games. The three had pleaded guilty to "fixing" a game for gamblers.

Sharply and concisely, Judge Streit summarized a "heinous, degrading and shocking" picture: "I found that intercollegiate basketball and football at Kentucky have become highly systematized, professionalized and commercialized enterprises. I found covert subsidization of players, ruthless exploitation...

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