Top coaches and administrators from throughout the NCAA joined several members of Congress on June 13 in calling for the adoption of legislation to close a loophole in federal law that allows legalized gambling on college sports to continue in Nevada.

After a Capitol Hill news conference in Washington, D.C., the group -- which included Big Ten Conference Commissioner James E. Delany; University of South Carolina, Columbia, football coach Lou Holtz; University of Kentucky men's basketball coach Tubby Smith; and Pennsylvania State University President Graham B. Spanier -- testified before the House Judiciary Committee.

The Judiciary Committee, chaired by Henry Hyde, R-Illinois, the only member of Congress to have participated in an NCAA Final Four (1943, for Georgetown University), conducted a hearing on pending legislation to prohibit all gambling on college sports.

The Student Athlete Protection Act, H.R. 3575, introduced in February by Reps. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, and Tim Roemer, D-Indiana, is based on a recommendation from the National Gambling Impact Study Commission that all currently legal gambling on college sports be discontinued because of its harmful effects on students and the games. The legislation, strongly supported by the NCAA, enjoys bipartisan co-sponsorship by 72 other members of the House.

The coaches and educators testifying before the Judiciary Committee fully endorsed the legislation, which would remove the grandfather clause from the 1992 Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA). PASPA was adopted by Congress to ban gambling on amateur and professional sporting events. However, the 1992 legislation included an exemption for those states that already conducted sports gambling or had enacted legislation to do so. Nevada was the only state at that time, and continues to be the only state, to allow gambling on college sporting events.

"In my nine years as a president and chancellor, I have yet to hear genuine fans of intercollegiate athletics suggest that they support collegiate contests because they can bet on the outcome of the games," Spanier said. "We recognize that a ban on collegiate sports gambling will not eliminate all gambling on college sports, but it is a significant start."

The coaches said gambling is an unnecessary element of intercollegiate sports that has the potential to tarnish the integrity of the contests. "I wake up each and every day with a concern that an outside factor, backed by thousands of illegal dollars, will attempt to influence one of my players into dictating the outcome of a ball game," Smith said. "These influences, if successful, will destroy the integrity of the game I love, the integrity and the image of the programs by which I'm employed, and also ruin the lives of all those involved."

Spanier said, "Gambling on college student-athletes and the games they play -- whether done legally in the sports books of Nevada or illegally in any other state or on the Internet -- is a problem."

Holtz discussed his relationship with Kevin Pendergast, a place-kicker at the University of Notre Dame when Holtz was football coach. After leaving Notre Dame, Pendergast masterminded the Northwestern University basketball scandal, which involved money bet legally in the Nevada sports books. "There was no finer, more caring young man around than Kevin," Holtz said. "I looked forward to watching him grow and enter a career. Four years later, he was in jail. If it can happen to Kevin, it could happen to anyone."

Hyde and the ranking Democrat on the committee, John Conyers, D-Michigan, expressed their concern about the impact of legal gambling on college sports. In particular, they said they found it difficult to understand why Nevada would prohibit betting on its own teams while allowing gambling on the teams of the 49 other states.

Representatives of the Nevada gambling industry attacked the NCAA for not doing enough to combat illegal gambling on college campuses.

However, the NCAA has taken a number of steps to address problems associated with sports wagering. Among such actions, the NCAA has established rules to prohibit all sports gambling by student-athletes, campus and conference athletics personnel and NCAA employees. Recently, Division I adopted a stringent two-tiered penalty structure for violations of the NCAA's bylaws regarding sports gambling.

The new bylaws take effect on August 1, 2000, and include a no-tolerance policy for student-athletes who engage in activities designed to influence the outcome of an intercollegiate contest or beat a point-spread or bet, either legally or illegally, on their own team.

In addition, during the 1999-00 academic year, the NCAA began to conduct background checks on game officials selected to work in the Division I men's and women's basketball championships to ensure the individuals had no involvement in sports-wagering activities.

The NCAA annually meets with student-athletes and game officials participating in its Final Four basketball events to provide information on what to do if they are approached by someone with an interest in influencing the outcome of the game.

The Association also regularly participates in programs and seminars throughout the country to increase awareness and educate college officials, law enforcement, sports agents, the media and others about sports wagering. The NCAA produces a variety of tools to raise public awareness regarding the dangers of gambling on college sports, including public service announcements aired during NCAA championship broadcasts, videos, information packets and the recent pamphlet, "Don't Bet On It," distributed to more than 300,000 student-athletes.

The House Judiciary Committee is expected to consider the legislation within the next few weeks. Action by the full House would follow if the committee approves the bill.

The Senate version of the bill, the Amateur Sports Integrity Act, S.2340, was adopted by the Senate Commerce Committee in April. The bill's sponsors, Sens. John McCain, R-Arizona, and Sam Brownback, R-Kansas, plan to bring their legislation to the Senate floor in mid-June.

The college sports gambling prohibition legislation is part an overall federal strategy endorsed by the NCAA to address gambling on collegiate athletics.

The three-part strategy includes adoption of H.R. 3575 and S. 2340, a ban on Internet gambling (legislation has already passed the Senate and is pending before the House), and greater enforcement of existing state and federal laws that prohibit sports gambling.