Venerable coach sides with betting-ban foes

Benjamin Grove

Friday, April 13, 2001 | 11:21 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Nevada lawmakers and gaming industry leaders have enlisted a well-known former college coach to publicly criticize a bill that would ban betting on college sports in Nevada.

Former basketball coach, NBA scout and Hall of Fame member Pete Newell, 85, considered one of the game's most respected sages, has agreed to testify against the National Collegiate Athletic Association, which is pushing the gambling ban.

Nevada sports books are essential for spotting game-fixing schemes, he said.

"I'll go to Washington -- I feel strongly enough about it," Newell said in a telephone interview from his suburban San Diego townhouse.

"Even though I don't make a practice of it (testifying). I don't particularly like it."

The NCAA-backed bill aims to close a "loophole" that allows one state to offer gambling on student-athletes, which bill author Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., called "unseemly."

Bill supporters say the legislation will begin to curb gambling by college students, in part by sending a message that gambling is illegal -- even in Nevada. A Senate Commerce Committee hearing for the bill is tentatively planned for April 26.

The gaming industry has launched a well-oiled lobby campaign against the legislation, which they say unfairly attacks only 1 percent of gambling in America -- the legal gambling in Nevada -- and takes no practical steps to decrease illegal gambling by students.

Newell is a gear that was missing from the casino lobby machine.

While the NCAA has mustered hundreds of college coaches and presidents who back their effort, few vocally opposed it.

High-profile greats like former North Carolina basketball coach Dean Smith, Connecticut basketball coach Jim Calhoun and football coach Lou Holtz have been powerful boosters for the NCAA bill.

"The fact that our student athletes live in this culture and in fact have become the focal point of billions being wagered is a very dangerous situation," Calhoun said at a hearing last year.

The soft-spoken Newell said he was willing to challenge other coaches because he believes tightly regulated Las Vegas casinos detect fixed games by closely watching bettors. And he said the NCAA bill would not affect illegal gambling beyond a "marginal decrease."

"I said to the NCAA, 'If you can come up with a better system, then I am all for it,' " Newell said. "But we are very fortunate to have Vegas. It's the one entity that can discern game tampering."

The international public relations firm Cohn & Wolfe, working for the gambling industry's top lobby group, the American Gaming Association, is helping to arrange for Newell to testify, Newell said.

The firm also helped him draft his April 3 letter to the Los Angeles Times, outlining his opposition to the bill, he said.

Staffers for Nevada lawmakers agreed to vigorously pursue Newell following a strategy session last week, a Capitol Hill source said.

Frank Fahrenkopf, president of the American Gaming Association, said he was pleased to have Newell aboard.

"He's been extremely outspoken against the NCAA bill, so it would be very helpful if he testified,' Fahrenkopf said.

The NCAA camp declined comment on Newell.

"Like the coaches who have testified on this side of the issue, (Newell) is a coach with a point of view. I don't know that we would want to comment more than that,' NCAA spokesman Wally Renfro said.

Newell has a lifetime of experience watching gamblers mix with athletes. In the 1940s and 1950s, long before Las Vegas books ever took bets on games, game fixers tied to illegal gambling networks often lurked around players, he said. Many illegal rings were based in New York, he said.

"When we'd go into a hotel in New York, I'd go to the hotel manager -- not the desk clerk -- and say, "These are my players' rooms, now, I don't want any calls going in or out," Newell said. "If the kids wanted to make a phone call, they made it in my room."

Nevada sports books are not at the root of the very old problem, Newell said.

"If you think that you are going to get rid of gambling, you still believe in a fairy god mother," Newell said. "I don't think Washington can control campus gambling. It has to be the university."

Newell coached college teams from 1946 to 1960, winning the NIT championship in 1949 with the University of San Francisco and the NCAA championship in 1959 with the University of California, Berkley. He won an Olympic gold medal as coach in 1960, when he was named national coach of the year.

Newell later was general manager of the San Diego Rockets and Los Angeles Lakers and a scout for the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers.

These days Newell is still connected to the game, traveling regularly, often to meet with coaches, work at player clinics or to watch games. He also runs the annual Pete Newell Big Man camp, attended by the nation's top college front-court players.

A careful student of the game, Newell will chat at length about a wide range of basketball topics. One of his favorites: the role of centers in the modern NBA game.

Newell hasn't been to Las Vegas much in recent years, but used to visit as an NBA scout hunting for talent on Jerry Tarkanian's UNLV teams, he said. He said he didn't gamble on games but added he likes to make occasional wagers on horses.

"I'm a $2 bettor," he said.

Gambling is now an accepted part of society, Newell said in response to lawmakers who argue it is morally wrong to bet on college students. Office pools are commonplace and even fathers of athletes make friendly bets with other dads, he said.

More serious student gambling may be a problem, but Newell said he plans to argue to Congress that, ultimately, the NCAA's plan is flawed.

"What they are potentially bringing about is taking out a watchdog," Newell said, "And the door will be open to these fixers."