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In 1961, scandal struck Seton Hall. A week after the end of the 1961 college basketball season ended, the headline on the 23 March 1961 edition of The Setonian<\/em> read, \u201cGunter, Hicks Questioned By N.Y.D.A In Alleged Fix; \u2018Other Schools Definitely Involved\u2019 \u2013 Hall Stunned.\u201d It was shocking to say the least. As The Setonian<\/em> noted, \u201cthe alleged \u2018fix\u2019 involved two Seton Hall University basketball players: Arthur Hicks and Henry Gunter.\u201d<\/p>\n New York district attorney Frank Hogan discovered this scandal \u201cinvolved 37 different players from 22 schools.\u201d According to The Setonian<\/em>, Hicks and Gunter were offered bribes of $1,000 and $1,500 on two separate occasions, if not more, to ensure Seton Hall would lose certain games by a certain number of points. It is important to note that Hicks and Gunter were considered the two best players on the 1960-61 squad.<\/p>\n Just the week prior, The Setonian<\/em> had reviewed the college basketball season, noting how \u201cRegan guided Hall to a winning season.\u201d It was Seton Hall basketball legend Richie Regan\u2019s first season as head coach. He was a part of the championship winning team of 1952-53. He replaced his former Hall of Fame coach Honey Russell. In Coach Regan\u2019s first season, the team went 15-9. It was a respectable record, but one that many students were excited to build upon.<\/p>\n However, this scandal eliminated any possibility of such building. On 10 September 1961, President Doughtery made an announcement \u201cconcerning the future basketball policy of Seton Hall University.\u201d It was a three-pronged policy:<\/p>\n These policies were to go into effect immediately. These were \u201cinternal sanctions imposed on the program.\u201d While initially the tournament bans were indefinite, they would eventually be clarified to \u201ca plan where no postseason invitations would be accepted for 10 years or in-season tournaments for 5.\u201d This plan became known as a \u201cde-emphasis of basketball.\u201d As a result, \u201cthere were fewer scholarships, and limited media coverage was given until the early 1970s.\u201d<\/p>\n At first, the scandal and the subsequent de-emphasis cause many writers for The Setonian<\/em> to look backward to the basketball greats of yesteryear. In an article titled \u201cFormer Greats Remembered As Big Ball Era Terminates,\u201d The Setonian<\/em> discussed many of the brightest basketball moments in Pirate history. From Bobby Wagner to Richie Regan to Walter Dukes, The Setonian<\/em> sought to reminisce on the good old days of Seton Hall basketball history.<\/p>\n This was especially heartbreaking for freshman hooper Nick Werkman. As a freshman during the 1960-61 season, he was not allowed to play for the Varsity squad as the NCAA did not allow freshmen to play for Varsity teams, despite being by all accounts \u201cthe best player on campus.\u201d<\/p>\n Known as \u201cNick the Quick,\u201d \u201cTricky Nick,\u201d and \u201cthe Twist,\u201d Nick Werkman is the second most prolific player in Seton Hall basketball history behind the great Walter Dukes. Werkman scored 2,273 career points. Werkman \u201cled the Pirates in scoring for three straight years with a 32-point-per-game average.\u201d Werkman also was close to the top of the nation for his scoring averages, \u201cranking third in 1962, second in 1964, and first in 1963 with individual season averages of 32, 33.2, and 29.5, respectfully.\u201d However, all this individual success came without any chance for postseason glory.<\/p>\n In an interview from 2019, Werkman revealed his belief that \u201cin hindsight I made a mistake\u201d in deciding to stay at Seton Hall after the post season ban. Werkman stated, \u201cI probably should have changed schools because I did not realize how damaging it would be to my career.\u201d Werkman was incredibly popular at the Hall, and \u201cmany people have said [he] saved the program.\u201d Despite how celebrated Werkman was, all of his accomplishments \u2013 from leading the nation in scoring to becoming the first Pirate to score 50 points in a single game to numerous All-American selections \u2013 came without the possibility of becoming a champion.<\/p>\n Throughout the years of the 60s, The Setonian<\/em> made numerous attempts to drum up interest in the basketball program, despite the program\u2019s inability to contend for postseason glory. In the 13 December 1962 edition, there was a basketball special released. The special edition explored the team, the history of the program, the coaches, and the opponents. There were numerous interviews with Coach Regan throughout the decade, all of which pleaded for the same thing: school spirit and pride in the basketball team.\u00a0 Attendance was consistently low during the 60s, specifically after the great Werkman graduated.<\/p>\n In 1965, the University, after years of pressure from the student body, finally agreed to end the tournament ban. The 25 February 1965 edition of The Setonian<\/em> celebrated, \u201cSHU ENDS TOURNAMENT BAN.\u201d The newspaper noted, \u201cThe imploring of this ban originally was due to the actions of a few individuals. This hindered the spirit of the school and continued to detract from the reputation of Seton Hall.\u201d<\/p>\n Students offered mixed opinions to The Setonian<\/em>, from \u201cI care?\u201d to \u201cthe lifting of the ban will be an impetus to school spirit\u201d to \u201cthe lifting of the ban should have occurred three years earlier.\u201d Another was quoted advising the administration \u201cto improve the recruiting program\u201d to include the \u201cbest basketball players.\u201d<\/p>\n However, despite the lifting of the tournament bans, basketball continued to be de-emphasized at Seton Hall. It would not be until the 1973-1974 team that Seton Hall would \u201cearn its first NIT bid since 1957.\u201d It took a while for Seton Hall to regain its status as a basketball school. In explanation of student frustration with the administration, many often cited the de-emphasis of basketball as a reason for student discontent. Eight years after becoming national champions, Seton Hall University tore its storied program down, much to the dismay of its student body.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In 1961, scandal struck Seton Hall. A week after the end of the 1961 college basketball season ended, the headline on the 23 March 1961 edition of The Setonian read, \u201cGunter, Hicks Questioned By N.Y.D.A In Alleged Fix; \u2018Other Schools Definitely Involved\u2019 \u2013 Hall Stunned.\u201d It was shocking to say the least. As The Setonian […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5147,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/setonianinthe60s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/setonianinthe60s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/setonianinthe60s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/setonianinthe60s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5147"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/setonianinthe60s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/setonianinthe60s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":69,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/setonianinthe60s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47\/revisions\/69"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/setonianinthe60s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/setonianinthe60s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/setonianinthe60s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n