Squeaky Melchiorre was born on this day in 1927 in Highland Park, Illinois. Though Melchiorre was only 5-8, he excelled at several sports, including basketball. He enrolled at Bradley where his teams went 119-22. He was a three-time All Conference selection, and as a senior he was a consensus All American.
He was selected as the No. 1 overall selection in the NBA draft, but he never played a game.
Just before the draft he had received a suspended sentence for his role in a massive point shaving scandal. Melchiorre and four of his teammates admitted to taking bribes to hold down scores in two games. Ultimately, 32 players from 7 schools were implicated. Maurice Podoloff – the NBA President – banned all of the players from the NBA for life.
His high school finally placed him in their Hall of Fame when he was 84.
It's John Starks birthday, born in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1965. He's one of the most traveled college basketball players. He began his career at Rogers State College, but was expelled for stealing stereo equipment. His next stop was Northern Oklahoma College, but he was also kicked out of that school, this time for smoking weed in his dorm room. From there it was Tulsa Junior College, and finally Oklahoma State.
He was passed over in the draft, but worked his way into the NBA. In 2004 he published his autobiography, My Life.
Other birthdays include: Ralph Simpson 1949 (Michigan State), Don Buse 1950 Evansville), Tony Barbee 1971 (UMass), Marcus Fizer 1978 (Iowa State), and Andre Drummond 1993 (UConn)
