Seventy years after he broke a color barrier at Manhattan College, Junius Kellogg is still a presence.
“He doesn’t know who I am, I know that, but I just want to thank him for laying the foundation for a young man like myself,” said RaShawn Stores, interim head of men’s basketball at the college, and the first African American to be a head coach for the Jaspers.
Kellogg arrived at the college in 1949, a 6-foot-8-inch center from Portsmouth, Virginia.
What You Need To Know
- Junius Kellogg was the first African American scholarship athlete at Manhattan College in the Bronx
- He played on the basketball team and in 1951, refused to take a $1,000 bribe from a gambler to throw a game against Depaul University at Madison Square Garden
- Kellogg's refusal helped unveil a massive gambling ring centered around college basketball involving more than 30 players from seven colleges
- Kellogg became a paraplegic after a car accident, which led to a successful career coaching wheelchair basketball
He was the first African American scholarship athlete at the school.
Two years later, he was approached by a former teammate with a proposition concerning an upcoming game against DePaul University at Madison Square Garden, where local college teams regularly sold the place out before professional basketball gained popularity.
“Junius was offered $1000 to basically throw the game, to shave points by deliberately missing shots or deliberately missing passes and the like,” said Amy Surak, archivist and director of special collections at the college.
Kellogg said no to the offer and reported it to his coach, who alerted the authorities, who were already investigating illegal gambling in college basketball.
Kellogg was asked to meet again with gamblers, but this time wearing a wire as part of a sting operation.
After the game, which the Jaspers won, arrests were made in a betting scandal with 32 players from seven colleges taking bribes to fix games between 1947 and 1950.
“What he did is he really brought public attention to that nefarious sort of nexus between organized crime and college athletics, and that was huge,” said Surak.
Kellogg would graduate in 1953 and joined the Harlem Globetrotters’ traveling basketball team.
His career was cut short after a car accident while on the road left him a paraplegic.
He didn’t let that stop him, as he became a successful coach for wheelchair basketball and advocate for the disabled.
Kellogg died in 1998, but his legacy is not lost on Coach Stores, who had a successful career as a player for the Jaspers as well.
“That’s something that we try, and show our guys that you know whatever tragedy may happen you gotta keep fighting in life and keep on facing adversity head on,” Stores said.
To continue his legacy, the college maintains a Junius Kellogg Scholarship Fund to honor his honesty and courage.