The 40 Most Shocking Scandals That Rocked the Sports World

At the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Jim Thorpe became the first Native American to win an Olympic gold medal for the U.S. A year later he was stripped of his Olympic titles when it came to light that he had violated amateurism rules by being paid to play semi-professional baseball years before his win. It wasn’t until 1983, 30 years after his death, that the Olympic Committee reinstated his two gold medals.

In 1919, eight Chicago White Sox players allegedly conspired with gamblers to lose the World Series to the Cincinnati Reds. As the story goes, the players only received a portion of their funds after losing multiple games, so they attempted to call off the fix. Threats against their families convinced them to lose the final game. The men were acquitted in 1921, but were banned from ever playing professional baseball again.

Just after the City College of New York Beavers became the first college basketball team to win the NCAA and NIT tournaments in the same year, 31 players from seven colleges, including seven from CCNY, admitted to taking bribes in exchange for point shaving. The players helped fix a total of 86 games in 17 states.

Mark Gerard was a veterinarian who imported thoroughbred horses. In 1977, he bought two bay horses who looked nearly identical – one a champion racer named Cinzano and another a dud named Lebon. When Lebon was tragically injured and put down, Gerard switched its papers to show that Cinzano had died. He then made a fortune betting on Lebon (who was really Cinzano) in a race, but was found out, charged, and imprisoned.

In 1978, mobsters Rocco and Anthony Perla organized a betting syndicate that bribed multiple Boston College basketball players to keep their points below a certain margin. In 1980, mob associate Henry Hill was arrested on unrelated charges and revealed information about the scheme to the FBI. Multiple conspirators were convicted, and three players admitted to taking the bribe money, although only one was convicted.

In 1979, Rosie Ruiz finished the New York City Marathon in 11th place in the women’s category after jumping into the race part way through. Her fraudulent time qualified her for the Boston Marathon, which she won as the first woman to cross the finish line. Eight days later, however, her title was stripped when sufficient evidence proved that she hadn’t run the whole race, but had jumped in about a half mile from the finish line. Ruiz never admitted her guilt.

Spanning the 1980s, numerous MLB players were arrested or treated for using illegal drugs. Players on the Texas Rangers, Chicago White Sox, San Diego Padres, Cleveland Indians, Atlanta Braves were arrested for cocaine possession, while dozens of other players went to drug rehab. Many were able to continue playing after short suspensions.

Finding it difficult to attract football players to play for their small Dallas school, Southern Methodist University recruiting staff began paying recruits in the late ’70s. In 1986, after SMU was handed multiple probations for recruiting violations, an NCAA investigation showed that the school had a slush fund that paid out tens of thousands of dollars to some of the school’s players every year. The team was forced to forgo the 1987 season.

Light middleweight boxer Roy Jones, Jr. entered the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics favored to win the gold medal. He reached the final round undefeated, and landed 86 punches against his last opponent, South Korean boxer Park Si-Hun, who landed 32 punches in return. So when the judges released their 3-2 split vote favoring Park, even the referee was shocked. The three judges voting against Jones were investigated but eventually cleared of any wrongdoing.

In order to demonstrate the superiority of communism, East Germany began a state-sponsored athlete doping program in the late sixties. Often without their knowledge, and beginning in the teenage years, athletes were given steroids and hormones to enhance their physiques and performance. After the country won 40 gold medals at the 1976 Summer Olympics, skeptics took note, but it wasn’t until the 1990s that the extent of the program was uncovered.

MLB’s all-time hits leader, Pete Rose was known for his gambling problem. He was managing the Cincinnati Reds when he was investigated for betting on baseball – an allegation that he vehemently denied. Rose accepted a settlement that included a lifetime ban from the sport. In his 2004 autobiography, he finally admitted to betting on baseball, including on his own team.

The owner of the New York Yankees, George Steinbrenner had a falling out with one of his star players, Dave Winfield, over a foundation Winfield started. In an attempt to discredit Winfield, Steinbrenner paid Winfield’s publicist, gambler Howard Spira, $40,000 to dig up dirt on the player. Spira in turn attempted to extort Steinbrenner. The scheme was eventually uncovered and Steinbrenner was suspended for 15 months.

In the leadup to the 1994 U.S. Figure Skating Championships and the 1994 Winter Olympics, an associate of figure skater Tanya Harding attacked skater Nancy Kerrigan, battering her knee in order to prevent her from being able to compete in the upcoming events. Kerrigan recovered and went on to compete in the olympics, while Harding competed as well before being permanently banned from skating.

During a highly televised trial, retired running back O.J. Simpson was acquitted for the double murder of his ex-wife and her friend in 1994. He was later found guilty on related charges and ordered to pay over $33 million, after which his Heisman trophy was auctioned off. During the trial, his associates frantically hid other memorabilia belonging to Simpson in order to prevent its sale. In 2007, Simpson was imprisoned for stealing sports memorabilia from two dealers. He claimed the items had been stolen from him.

An assistant football coach at Penn State University, Jerry Sandusky also founded a non-profit serving at-risk youth. Through this charity, Sandusky groomed and sexually assaulted young boys aged 8-12 from 1994 through 2009. In 2011, he was indicted on 52 counts of child molestation, and the following year was convicted on 45 counts and sentenced to at least 30 years in prison. Three Penn State officials were also found guilty of child endangerment after failing to report the allegations as they arose.

While serving as an athletic trainer for the U.S. women’s national gymnastics team, doctor Larry Nassar sexually assaulted and abused hundreds of women and girls under the guise of performing medical treatments. Although athletes began reporting his behavior starting in 1997, USA gymnastics failed to take action until 2015. He was convicted in 2017 and sentenced to 60 years in prison.

From 1986 through 1995, the Salt Lake Organizing Committee (SLOC) attempted to secure Salt Lake City as the location of the Olympic games, finally winning the honor in 1995 for the 2002 Winter Olympics. After allegations arose that the SLOC had bribed multiple members of the International Olympic Committee with cash payments, campaign contributions, real estate deals, tuition assistance, and even prostitutes, ten members of the IOC were expelled.

The day before the 1999 NCAA Tournament, a news story broke that an academic counselor had been paid to do coursework for multiple University of Minnesota basketball players since 1993. In addition, staffers had intimidated teachers into changing grades to keep students eligible to play. The team’s head coach, as well as an athletic director and the school’s vice president all resigned, and the team sat out the 1999-2000 season.

After Spain’s basketball team won at the 2000 Sydney Paralympics, an undercover journalist revealed that the team’s members had not been tested for intellectual disabilities. As it turned out, 10 out of the 12 players were in fact not disabled, but were allowed to play so that Spain could win more medals. The team was disqualified and stripped of their gold medal. In 2013, the head of the Spanish Federation for Handicapped Sports was convicted of fraud over the incident.

Head coach of the Indiana Hoosiers from 1971 to 2000, Bob Knight was known for his temper and for getting into physical altercations with players, other coaches, and even a police officer. He was finally fired in 2000 after video evidence emerged of him choking player Neil Reed in 1997, and the University instituted a zero tolerance policy aimed at Knight. A former player’s memoir, released in 2016 details various other abuses perpetrated by the star coach.

With only seconds left in the game, Boston Bruins player Marty McSorley intentionally slashed Vancouver Canucks player Donald Brashear in the right temple with his stick. The hit was so hard that Brashear fell and slammed his head on the ice, suffering a seizure and a severe concussion. McSorley was subsequently charged with assault and sentenced to probation – and his NHL career was effectively over.

As a Little League pitcher, Danny Almonte threw a no-hitter in the regional finals and got his Bronx team to the 2001 Little League World Series, which they placed third in. After an investigation, it was revealed that Almonte was two years over the age limit to play Little League. His father Felipe was banned from Little League competitions for life, and charged for falsifying Danny’s birth certificate. Danny, who knew nothing of the falsified documents, was cleared of any wrongdoing.

After an anonymous tipster sent the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency a sample of a previously untested-for steroid made at the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative, the USADA uncovered that numerous athletes in track and field, Major League Baseball, boxing, and the NFL had been using undetected performance enhancing drugs. Two BALCO executives subsequently plead guilty to steroid distribution and money laundering.

After staying at a hotel in Colorado, Lakers player Kobe Bryant was arrested and charged with sexually assaulting a 19-year old hotel employee in his room. Bryant insisted that the accuser had consented to sex. After she refused to testify in the criminal case, it was dropped, but a later civil case was settled out of court. Bryant also issued an apology acknowledging that he now understood the accuser had not consented.

After the 2003 murder of Baylor University basketball player Patrick Dennehy by one of his teammates, an investigation into the basketball program uncovered that head coach Dave Bliss had violated multiple NCAA rules by ignoring his players’ illegal drug use and by paying multiple players’ tuitions, including Dennehy’s. Bliss resigned amidst the scandal, but not before asking his players to lie to cover up his involvement in the tuition payments.

The University of Southern California’s Trojans football program was suspended for the 2010 and 2011 seasons after it came to light that USC failed to properly investigate funds and gifts given to star player Reggie Bush by a sports agent Lloyd Lake. The NCAA also vacated any wins that Bush participated in starting in December 2004, and Bush voluntarily forfeited his 2005 Heisman Trophy.

Amidst (false) allegations that players on the Italian soccer team Juventus were doping, government investigators discovered a different scandal – that Serie A league games were being fixed. Juventus manager Luciano Moggi along with a former referee nominator and other league managers were pressuring referees to side with certain teams – and the refs were complying out of fear of losing their jobs.

In a scandal that the media dubbed “Spygate,” the New England Patriots were caught illegally recording hand signals from an opposing team. This came after multiple teams had suspected the Patriots of spying. The NFL fined Patriots head coach Bill Belichick $500,000 and the team $250,000.

In 2007, officials raided Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick’s Virginia property and found dozens of pit bulls and evidence of dogfighting. Gruesome details soon emerged regarding the abuse and execution of dogs that did not perform well in fights. Once the highest paid player in the NFL, Michael Vick was sentenced to 23 months in prison and subsequently filed for bankruptcy.

After 13 years refereeing for the NBA, Tim Donaghy was accused of betting on games that he refereed, while controlling the point spread. An FBI investigation revealed that Donaghy was involved in a scheme where he’d use codes to give inside information to two bookies, who paid him for each winning pick. It also revealed that he bet nearly exclusively on games that he officiated. He was sentenced to 15 months in prison.

After not receiving a promotion, a chief mechanic at Ferrari took 780 pages of confidential information which amounted to the blueprints for the 2007 Ferrari F1 racing car, and handed them over to his friend at rival car company McLaren. When the friend’s wife went to a copy shop to copy the blueprints, a suspicious employee contacted Ferrari and the scheme fell apart. McLaren was initially cleared of wrongdoing, but eventually fined $100 million and barred from the 2007 Constructors’ Championship.

After thirteen years as a pro golfer, Tiger Woods was revered as the top player in the world. He appeared to have a great marriage and a happy life. Then, it came to light that he had been having an affair with a New York nightclub manager. After that, numerous women admitted that they also had been having sex with Woods, and he entered rehab for sex addiction. He and his wife divorced the following year.

From 2009 to the 2011-2012 playoffs, the New Orleans Saints operated a slush fund that paid its players bounties for injuring players on opposing teams. The NFL began investigating after a tipoff that several Saints players had deliberately tried to knock quarterbacks Brett Favre and Kurt Warner out of games in exchange for bounties. Multiple Saints officials and managers were suspended after the allegations were proven true.

In 2009, Cardinals coach Rick Pitino was the target of an extortion attempt after having sex with a woman in a restaurant. Then in 2015, the NCAA investigated the team after a madame claimed that she provided women to have sex with Louisville players and recruits. Pitino was eventually charged for failing to monitor the program. Then in 2017, he was placed on leave over allegations that an Adidas executive paid $100,000 to a recruit to play at Louisville and wear Adidas when he went pro.

Famous for winning the Tour de France seven consecutive times, Lance Armstrong was investigated for using performance enhancing drugs and found by the USADA to be culpable in 2012. He was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and his Olympic bronze medal. Armstrong eventually admitted to doping, and has been subject to a lifetime ban from sanctioned cycling events.

A tight end for the New England Patriots, Aaron Hernandez was arrested and then convicted for the shooting murder of a friend, Odin Lloyd, in 2013. He never admitted guilt, and while in prison, was also put on trial for the 2012 murders of two men leaving a Boston nightclub. He was acquitted of double murder, but committed suicide in his jail cell five days later.

Russia has lost 48 Olympic medals due to athletes testing positive for performance enhancing drugs. The state-sponsored doping of Olympic athletes has likely been going on for decades longer, but beginning in 2008, there has been substantial evidence of the program. The McLaren report, published by the World Anti-Doping Agency in 2016, concluded that over 1,000 Russian athletes benefited from the doping program from 2012-2015.

Amidst allegations of bribery, racketeering, money laundering, and wire fraud, seven FIFA officials were arrested in Zurich in May 2015. FIFA handed three officials 90-day bans, including the organization’s president Sepp Blatter, and the man who hoped to succeed him, Michel Platini. Eight sports and marketing executives also pleaded guilty to the charges against them, and forfeited millions of dollars.

After participating in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, four U.S. swimmers claimed that they were robbed at gunpoint in their cab outside of a gas station where they had stopped to use the bathroom. The true story soon emerged, however. The swimmers had urinated outside of the bathroom, vandalized the bathroom, then paid off the security guards who confronted them. All four were temporarily suspended by the U.S. Olympics Committee.

An MLB investigation revealed an elaborate cheating scheme in which the Houston Astros had been using game footage from the center field camera to catch messages from opposing teams, then relaying information to a runner on second base, who signaled to the batter which pitch was coming. Although the team had reportedly only used the tactic in 2017, the scandal didn’t surface until 2019.

Just a year after facing corruption allegations, president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation Luis Rubiales came under fire for grabbing his crotch and kissing player Jennifer Hermoso on the lips after Spain won the Women’s World Cup in August 2023. He resigned under pressure in September and was banned from soccer for three years.

In light of multiple NFL players being accused of sexual assault in the last decade, including Deshaun Watson, who has been accused of sexual harassment or misconduct by over two dozen women, the NFL recently changed its personal conduct policy to include harsher penalties for players who perpetrate sexual assaults “involving threats or coercion.”