NFL Stars Suspended by Commisioner!

April 17, 1963: Paul Hornung of the Green Bay Packers and Alex Karras of the Detroit Lions were suspended from the NFL indefinitely for betting on NFL games.

According to a newspaper article in the Nashville Banner on that day, not only were these two NFL stars suspended, but five other Detroit Lions, other than Karras, were fined $2000 each, and the Michigan franchise incurred a penalty of $4000 as a result of an investigation into pro football gambling.

The five Lions players involved were guard John Gordy, DB Gordy Lowe, linebacker Joe Schmidt, DE Sam Williams, and another unnamed player who allegedly bet $50 each on the 1962 NFL Championship game between the New York Giants and the Green Bay Packers. Alex Karras, on the other hand, incriminated himself in a television interview, stating that he bet on games but only for cigarettes and cigars, but the NFL judged him as guilty by association with individuals described by the Detroit Police as “known hoodlums.” Paul Hornung befriended a wealthy West Coast businessman just before the East-West Shrine game in 1956 in San Francisco, and that mystery figure who was known to bet on both college and pro games from then on would call to “query” Hornung about football. In 1959, Hornung was said to have started placing bets on NFL games with this so-called friend as they spoke twice weekly, and $100 to $500 bets were said to have been placed. Commissioner Pete Rozelle said that the review of Karras and Hornung’s suspensions would not be reviewed until 1964. We now know there was a reprieve to the sentence on 3/16/1964 (See March 16 reinstatement).