The NCAA News - News and Features

August 17, 1998

Former athletes encourage gambling education at summit

BY JANE JANKOWSKI
STAFF WRITER

KNOXVILLE, Tennessee -- Good kids, bad choices.

That's how law enforcement officials described two former student-athletes who were indicted in March as part of a point-shaving scandal at Northwestern University.

Former University of Notre Dame football player Kevin Pendergast and former Northwestern basketball player Dion Lee told their stories publicly for the first time August 5-6 before 150 college athletics administrators and conference officials at the Southeastern Sports Gambling Summit.

The administrators gathered to learn how and why student-athletes gamble and what they can do on their campuses to combat the problem. The summit was hosted by the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

"These were good kids making bad mistakes," said FBI special agent Randy Sealby, who investigated the case in Chicago. "This was a difficult case emotionally because it uncovered the seamier side of college athletics."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Collins said law enforcement officials were struck by how "hauntingly simple and relatively unsophisticated" the scheme was to fix three Northwestern basketball games in early 1995. "A friend of Kevin's who knew Dion Lee was a gambler hooked them up," he said.

Lee and Pendergast have pleaded guilty and await sentencing this fall. As part of their plea agreement, the two will participate in gambling-education programs for the NCAA for the next five years.

"Life's full of choices and I made the wrong choices," Lee said. "Gambling has been around me my entire life. It was an outlet for me for dealing with different situations at Northwestern."

Lee, who earlier had been suspended for six games for betting on football games not involving Northwestern, said he was distressed by the lack of playing time, Northwestern's lack of competitiveness during that season and his relationship with his coach.

"We were losing anyway and often by more than the spread, so I looked at it basically like 'what the hell,' " said Lee.

Pendergast started to gamble after a dismal soccer season as a sophomore at Notre Dame. "I was up $1,000 or $1,500 early on and thought I had found an easy way to make money," he said.

Eventually, he said, gambling became a lonely existence of reading newspapers and watching games alone.

Pendergast's life changed after becoming a member of the Notre Dame football team, he said, and gambling disappeared from his life until after graduation. In January 1995, depressed and in need of money while living in Chicago and fronting a rock band, a friend introduced Pendergast to Lee and the scheme began.

Now that Pendergast has been indicted, has had to explain to his father what happened, has lost his teaching job and is undergoing counseling, he said he is still asking himself why.

"I don't know. I have no idea why I thought this was the best thing for me at the time," Pendergast said.

He's not sure intervention would have made a difference while in college. "If someone had explained that for the small amount of money you're wagering, this is what could happen -- something like that may have helped," he said.

Lee said more contact and mentoring from adults could have made a difference for him. "It's not just on kids' shoulders," he said. "Kids come from different backgrounds. As administrators you have to talk to kids, understand where they come from."

Lee has played overseas and this summer is operating a basketball league. "I'm giving back to the community where I grew up and talking to them like I'm talking to you," he said. "You don't know how many Dion Lees are out there. If I can help one of those kids in the neighborhood I grew up in, I'll be happy."

FBI available to help

Federal Bureau of Investigation agents are available to provide training about sports gambling on college campuses throughout the country.

College officials interested in arranging an FBI presentation on their campus should contact William S. Saum, NCAA agent and gambling representative, at 913/339-1906, extension 7416.