Sports betting has come to the forefront of the conversation surrounding college athletics. Suspicious wagers on an Alabama baseball game that have led to the dismissal of head coach Brad Bohannon, followed up by Monday’s announcement that Iowa and Iowa State are looking into allegations of online gambling involving at least 41 combined players across multiple sports, highlight how big this issue has become.

But the college sports industry is no stranger to gambling scandals, both sweeping and narrow in scale. Here is a brief history of the most notable betting controversies to hit college sports.

1945: The Brooklyn Five

What happened: Five Brooklyn College men’s basketball players accepted $1,000 to intentionally lose a game against Akron. Police, tracking a robbery suspect, discovered the scheme during an unrelated raid on an apartment where the five players were present before the game against Akron was played.

The result: No players were arrested. The game wasn’t played. The two gambling ringleaders were jailed. As a result of the incident, the state of New York updated its sports bribery laws to include amateur sports (the laws initially covered only pro sports and horse racing) and noted the potential of limiting a margin of victory, an early reference to the new practice of point shaving.

1947-51: Men’s basketball point shaving

What happened: Thirty-three players across seven schools were found to be involved in point shaving over 86 games from 1947 to 1950. Seven players were on the 1949-50 City College of New York men’s basketball team, which won the 1950 NCAA Tournament and NIT (the only double in history). In 1951, Manhattan College center Junius Kellogg was approached by a former Manhattan player and offered $1,000 to fix a game by losing by five or six points. He refused and told his coach and then the police. He later wore a wire to gather evidence on other gamblers, which led the investigation to organized crime.

The result: A total of 32 players were arrested as the scandal touched CCNY, Long Island University, Kentucky, New York University, Bradley, Manhattan and Toledo. Another player, Jack Molinas of Columbia, was connected to the scandal years later.

CCNY was banned from playing in Madison Square Garden, de-emphasized athletics and eventually moved to Division III. LIU shut down its athletics program from 1951 to 1957. Kentucky, under Adolph Rupp, canceled its 1952-53 season, two years after winning the NCAA Tournament. The scandal was referenced in a 2004 episode of “The Sopranos.”

1957-61: Men’s basketball point shaving

What happened: Molinas, who had escaped the 1951 scandal, became the No. 3 pick in the 1953 NBA Draft, but he was suspended during his rookie season for gambling on games. He stayed involved in the gambling world and helped lead another scheme that touched dozens of players across 22 schools from 1957 to 1961. Florida football player Jon McBeth was approached with a bribe and told his coach. Word made its way to the police again.

The result: A total of 37 players were arrested, including those from Columbia, UConn, NC State, St. John’s and more. St. Joseph’s was stripped of a third-place finish in the 1961 NCAA Tournament. Future NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue unknowingly played in a fixed game while at Georgetown, which reportedly inspired his tough stance on gambling as an NFL executive. Molinas was found guilty of bribing players and sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison. He served five years and was the inspiration for the 1974 film “The Longest Yard.” Congress passed the Sports Bribery Act in 1964, criminalizing game fixing at the federal level.

What happened: Several Boston College players were recruited by organized crime to shave points during nine games in the 1978-79 season. Players were paid hundreds of dollars for their participation and given the chance by fixers to earn more by betting on the games. Only four of the nine affected games produced a winning bet, and the scheme fizzled out.

The result: Henry Hill, a mobster, was arrested in 1980 on drug trafficking charges. He revealed the point-shaving scheme in exchange for immunity. Among the players, only Rick Kuhn, who was the leader of the scheme and who roped in other players, was sentenced to jail. He received a 12-year sentence that was reduced to four. Hill was portrayed by Ray Liotta in the 1990 film “Goodfellas.”

1985: Tulane men’s basketball

What happened: Three Tulane students recruited five players to shave points in two games against Southern Miss and Memphis State. A week after the season, rumors of the fixing spread. A local attorney investigated and told district attorney Harry Connick (father of singer Harry Connick Jr.), who jumped on the case.

The result: Multiple players and students were arrested, along with two bookmakers. The school’s investigation discovered drug use and payments from coaches to players. As a result, the men’s basketball program was disbanded, forcing Tulane to withdraw from the Metro Conference. Athletic director Hindman Wall resigned, citing fatigue from the controversy. New football coach Mack Brown was installed as athletic director. The program returned in the 1989-90 season, and Tulane returned to the Metro Conference.

What happened: Players Stevin Smith and Isaac Burton were paid by bookmaker Benny Silman to make sure ASU didn’t cover the spread in four games at the end of the 1993-94 season. Smith reportedly owed Silman football gambling debts. Smith received $20,000 ($10,000 in cash and $10,000 in debt wiped away) for shaving points in one game and also bet on his own games. Word of the scheme spread, leading several people to show up in Las Vegas with a lot of cash to bet on ASU, which grabbed the attention of sportsbooks in Nevada, even though the bets lost the fourth game. They informed the Pac-10, the Nevada Gaming Control Board and the FBI of the suspicious wagers.

The result: Smith and Burton pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges. Smith was sentenced to one year and one day in prison, while Burton got two months. Silman was sentenced to less than four years in prison. After Silman’s release, he warned athletes about the dangers of gambling, and his story was made into a 2002 movie, “Big Shot: Confessions of a Campus Bookie.”

2003: Washington football coach Rick Neuheisel fired for bracket pool

What happened: Neuheisel participated in a neighborhood pool for the 2003 NCAA men’s basketball tournament and initially denied the accusations to NCAA investigators. He had received an internal UW memo that claimed off-campus tournament pools were allowed. An NCAA investigation looked into a potential show-cause penalty for Neuheisel.

The result: Neuheisel refused the school’s request to resign and was fired. The NCAA determined he violated association rules for gambling, but he was not penalized due to the incorrect memo. Neuheisel sued UW and the NCAA over his firing, and the trial revealed the NCAA had updated its bylaws weeks before interviewing Neuheisel and had not informed him what the interview would be about. He received a $4.5 million settlement and returned to college coaching in 2008 after three years with the Baltimore Ravens.

2004-06: Toledo football and men’s basketball

What happened: Two Detroit-area businessmen paid Toledo football and men’s basketball players from December 2004 to December 2006 to influence the final score of games. Investigators learned of the scheme in a wiretapped conversation.

The result: Seven players were charged (four basketball, three football), but none were given jail time, only probation and fines, due to their lack of criminal history.

2011: University of San Diego basketball

What happened: Former USD assistant coach Thaddeus Brown convinced point guard Brandon Johnson to shave points for up to $10,000 per game during the 2009-10 season, the FBI claimed, adding that at least four games were affected. Johnson was a former star player with NBA dreams whose career had been derailed by injuries. An unrelated drug-trafficking and illegal casino investigation uncovered an individual’s connection with Brown and Johnson, ultimately revealing the basketball scheme.

The result: Johnson was sentenced to six months in prison. Brown was sentenced to one year.

2012: Auburn men’s basketball

What happened: Point guard Kyievarez Ward was accused of attempting to fix an Auburn game against Arkansas in January 2012. He came off the bench but fell to the floor with an apparent leg injury after 19 seconds. Arkansas won the game. He was suspended before the next Arkansas game in February.

The result: Ward was accepted into a pre-trial diversion program in 2014 to dismiss the bribery and conspiracy charges.

Other incidents

• In 2014, UTEP dismissed three men’s basketball players for gambling on athletic events, but there was no evidence of point shaving or betting on their own games.

• In 2017, Five Richmond baseball players were suspended for sports betting, with no evidence of point shaving or game fixing. Players were later reinstated.

(Photo of Brad Bohannon: Vasha Hunt / Associated Press)