Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

I've heard there are allegations about Bobby Layne gambling, and some speculate he retired after the 1962 season because he would have gotten suspended along with Paul Hornung and Alex Karras. Any truth to it? The topic does not come up in his biography "Heart of a Lion."

Shipley wrote:I've heard there are allegations about Bobby Layne gambling, and some speculate he retired after the 1962 season because he would have gotten suspended along with Paul Hornung and Alex Karras. Any truth to it? The topic does not come up in his biography "Heart of a Lion."

You should look at the Brian Tuohy thread that is somewhere on this page or page 2 of this section. I think they mentioned it there.

7DnBrnc53 » Sat Dec 13, 2014 6:07 pm

Shipley wrote:
I've heard there are allegations about Bobby Layne gambling, and some speculate he retired after the 1962 season because he would have gotten suspended along with Paul Hornung and Alex Karras. Any truth to it? The topic does not come up in his biography "Heart of a Lion."

"You should look at the Brian Tuohy thread that is somewhere on this page or page 2 of this section. I think they mentioned it there."

That's about all that can be done - look. There is nothing of any substance stated in any of the excerpts from that book. Certainly far more credible facts and / or evidence would have surfaced from far more reliable sources. The book seems to be nothing more than a collection of coincidences choreographed in a cute manner and given an attracive title. Zeke Mowatt probably knows more about rocket science than this guy knows about fixing games. Armold Rothstein he is not.

I believe Coach Troup told a story on tte previous forum. Dr. Z told him he managed to view some NFL files on Layne and gambling. Apologies if I have misremembered.

I do find it hard to believe that Layne would ever throw a game. The man seemed to cherish winning above all else. The stories abound Layne kicking an offensive lineman for missing a block.

As I've written previously, Layne or anybody else had more to gain by playing all out.

oldecapecod 11 wrote:7DnBrnc53 » Sat Dec 13, 2014 6:07 pm

Shipley wrote:
I've heard there are allegations about Bobby Layne gambling, and some speculate he retired after the 1962 season because he would have gotten suspended along with Paul Hornung and Alex Karras. Any truth to it? The topic does not come up in his biography "Heart of a Lion."

"You should look at the Brian Tuohy thread that is somewhere on this page or page 2 of this section. I think they mentioned it there."

That's about all that can be done - look. There is nothing of any substance stated in any of the excerpts from that book. Certainly far more credible facts and / or evidence would have surfaced from far more reliable sources. The book seems to be nothing more than a collection of coincidences choreographed in a cute manner and given an attracive title. Zeke Mowatt probably knows more about rocket science than this guy knows about fixing games. Armold Rothstein he is not.

I also think in this day and age, with tens of millions of people watching every game, that it would be impossible to throw a game because eventually one of the players would talk. Throwing a game might have been feasible in 30's or 40's, but today every play is videotaped from several angles and scrutinized ad nauseum by opposing teams and the media and analysts and fans alike. Also, if a game was thrown or a player was intentionally not giving 100 percent to help the other team, don't you think the refs would realize it and report it to the league immediately?

When Tuohy was at this forum discussing all the fixes, he pretty much came out and admitted that every Super Bowl is fixed. If that were true, don't you think the Vikings or Bills would have spoken up about how it wasn't fair that they were never allowed to win one while Pittsburgh and San Francisco win nearly every time they get to the Super Bowl?

It does irritate me that Tuohy cut and pasted our forum conversations on his website as if the PFRA somehow endorses his book.

The original post in this thread was about gambling, not throwing games; while they are obviously connected, they are two separate steps on the corruption ladder (with manipulating the point spread in between). I would agree that allegations of throwing games and shaving points are reckless and extremely unlikely, but i wouldn't be surprised if Layne put money down on games.

Rupert Patrick wrote:

oldecapecod 11 wrote:7DnBrnc53 » Sat Dec 13, 2014 6:07 pm

Shipley wrote:
I've heard there are allegations about Bobby Layne gambling, and some speculate he retired after the 1962 season because he would have gotten suspended along with Paul Hornung and Alex Karras. Any truth to it? The topic does not come up in his biography "Heart of a Lion."

"You should look at the Brian Tuohy thread that is somewhere on this page or page 2 of this section. I think they mentioned it there."

That's about all that can be done - look. There is nothing of any substance stated in any of the excerpts from that book. Certainly far more credible facts and / or evidence would have surfaced from far more reliable sources. The book seems to be nothing more than a collection of coincidences choreographed in a cute manner and given an attracive title. Zeke Mowatt probably knows more about rocket science than this guy knows about fixing games. Armold Rothstein he is not.

I also think in this day and age, with tens of millions of people watching every game, that it would be impossible to throw a game because eventually one of the players would talk. Throwing a game might have been feasible in 30's or 40's, but today every play is videotaped from several angles and scrutinized ad nauseum by opposing teams and the media and analysts and fans alike. Also, if a game was thrown or a player was intentionally not giving 100 percent to help the other team, don't you think the refs would realize it and report it to the league immediately?

When Tuohy was at this forum discussing all the fixes, he pretty much came out and admitted that every Super Bowl is fixed. If that were true, don't you think the Vikings or Bills would have spoken up about how it wasn't fair that they were never allowed to win one while Pittsburgh and San Francisco win nearly every time they get to the Super Bowl?

It does irritate me that Tuohy cut and pasted our forum conversations on his website as if the PFRA somehow endorses his book.

Also, when you go back to that Tuohy thread, another guy posted this thread on his blog (superfraud.blogspot.com). I posted the links on that thread.

Rupert Patrick wrote:

oldecapecod 11 wrote:7DnBrnc53 » Sat Dec 13, 2014 6:07 pm

Shipley wrote:
I've heard there are allegations about Bobby Layne gambling, and some speculate he retired after the 1962 season because he would have gotten suspended along with Paul Hornung and Alex Karras. Any truth to it? The topic does not come up in his biography "Heart of a Lion."

"You should look at the Brian Tuohy thread that is somewhere on this page or page 2 of this section. I think they mentioned it there."

That's about all that can be done - look. There is nothing of any substance stated in any of the excerpts from that book. Certainly far more credible facts and / or evidence would have surfaced from far more reliable sources. The book seems to be nothing more than a collection of coincidences choreographed in a cute manner and given an attracive title. Zeke Mowatt probably knows more about rocket science than this guy knows about fixing games. Armold Rothstein he is not.

I also think in this day and age, with tens of millions of people watching every game, that it would be impossible to throw a game because eventually one of the players would talk. Throwing a game might have been feasible in 30's or 40's, but today every play is videotaped from several angles and scrutinized ad nauseum by opposing teams and the media and analysts and fans alike. Also, if a game was thrown or a player was intentionally not giving 100 percent to help the other team, don't you think the refs would realize it and report it to the league immediately?

I don't agree with that. What does all that scrutiny do? Everybody has a bad game now and then. Aaron Rodgers played so badly today that it would be easy to say that he threw the game, but no amount of viewing videotape can prove it or disprove it.