Suspense: The McKay College Basketball Scandal (

Suspense: 09/24/51, episode 439
Brought to you by the Old Time Radio Researchers, courtesy of The Suspense Project
The college basketball point-shaving scandal of 1950-1951 is the “actual event” that includes the sole appearance of Tony Curtis on the series. The show opening says the story was “taken from the headlines.”
In the case of this production, the Fred Hudson character, played by Curtis, is a simplified composite of the athletes involved. He takes money from gamblers to throw the game, his conscience gets to him, returns most of the money to them, and then gets back at them by reporting the scheme to the authorities. Hudson was expelled from the college, but elevates his dignity in the eyes of his loved ones because he did the right thing in the end despite the short-term bad consequences. In real life, the player who exposed the scandal reported it and never accepted any money.
Gamblers offered Fred Hudson $2000 to throw a game. That is approximately $25,000 in current US$2024 value. His family as portrayed in the story, having difficulty making ends meet, needed Fred to contribute to the household finances. The temptation to participate in the scam was understandable.
The story is by Millard Kaufman who also wrote The Island, which was used on Escape and Suspense. Kaufman’s career took an upward turn with an Oscar nomination for his 1954 screenplay for Take the High Ground! and another for Bad Day at Black Rock. That screenplay also received a nomination for “Best Written American Drama” by the Writers Guild of America. He had a very successful career.
Joe Kearns plays “Dr. Kellogg” in the story. This is a nod to Manhattan College basketball center Junius Kellogg who was the player who reported the scandal to Manhattan District Attorney Frank Hogan. When Kellogg was approached by gamblers, he told his coach, then sent him to Hogan. The second time gamblers approached Kellogg to participate in their scheme, he was wearing a wire that gave Hogan and the police what they needed to initiate their investigation and bring the perpetrators to justice. Kellogg soon left Manhattan College to serve in the Army in Korea. When he returned, he made up for lost academic time by doubling up on courses and graduated in 1953. He went on to play for the Harlem Globetrotters. While traveling with teammates in 1954, he was in a car accident, the only player injured. He was paralyzed from the accident and would later become an advocate for paralyzed veterans and wheelchair athletes.
The scandal was in the national news and affected seven different colleges. Thirty-two players were arrested, and one college received a one-year postseason competition ban. Some of the collegiate basketball programs, such as CCNY’s, never recovered.
Working titles of the story were “The Losing Game of Frederick Hudson” and “Burton College Basketball Scandal.”
This is one of the worst recordings of the 1951 broadcasts. It has detectable wow and flutter almost throughout and is the worst during the closing credits. The defect is jarring when it is first heard. Some collectors found it so disturbing they just clipped the end of the recording just before the worst of it began. Some modern-day collectors have attempted to use digital software methods to repair the problem, but they give up because it is too difficult to fix no matter how skilled they are.
The pioneer collectors who originally transferred the discs to tape had every intention of going back and re-recording them, but they never had the opportunity to. It is not known where those discs are. It is hoped that one day an Armed Forces Radio Service recording might be found.
The cast: TONY CURTIS (Fred Hudson), Martha Wentworth (Mrs. Hudson), Lou Merrill (Mr. Hudson), Joe Kearns (Dr. Kellogg / 1st Voice), Barbara Eiler (Jean), Jack Moyles (Ace), Bill Forman (Sportscaster), Jack Kruschen (Stanley), Gil Stratton, Jr. (French), Leo Cleary (Coach / Barr), Larry Thor (Narrator)
COMMERCIAL: Bert Holland, Harlow Wilcox, Sylvia Simms
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