Sunday, Aug. 14, 2011
Newark New Jersey — Sherman White, a 1950s college basketball star at Long Island University who served jail time for point shaving, has died. He was 82.
White died of congestive heart failure on Aug. 4 at his home in Piscataway, New Jersey, his widow, Ellen, said Friday.
The 203-cm White was one of the nation's best college players for LIU in the late 1940s, and led the nation in scoring in 1951.
"He was way ahead of his time," said former longtime St. John's coach Lou Carnesecca, a member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. "He was the first guy his size to play facing the basket. He was truly a great player and one of the best players of his time."
White appeared destined for a successful NBA career, but he was arrested in 1951 for taking money to fix the outcomes of games.