LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Ralph Beard, an All-American guard for Kentucky and key figure in college basketball's biggest betting scandal, has died. He was 79.
Beard, who helped the Wildcats win national championships in the late 1940s under coach Adolph Rupp, died early Thursday at his home, his son, Scott, said.
A speedy, 5-foot-10 guard, Beard was among Rupp's famed "Fab Five," along with Alex Groza, Wallace "Wah Wah" Jones, Cliff Barker and Kenny Rollins.
The Wildcats finished 36-3 in 1948, beating Baylor 77-59 for the national title. The following summer, Rupp and the five starters teamed with the AAU champion Phillips Oilers to win the Olympic gold medal in London, then won another NCAA championship.
After two years in the NBA, and before the start of the 1952 season, Beard and Groza were among several players involved in a point-shaving scandal that rocked college basketball. The two stars admitted to shaving points while at Kentucky. They received suspended sentences, but were banned for life from the NBA.
The scandal "is never mentioned by people unless I bring it up," Beard said in a 2003 interview. "But the scandal was really a blip on the screen for Kentucky basketball. You just can't kill something that big."
Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press
Source: ESPN.com
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