There is no shortage of bizarre scandals in NBA history. And, if we’re being honest, most of them involve David Stern. Did he really fix the 1985 draft lottery by freezing an envelope? Did the former commissioner force Michael Jordan into his first retirement? What was his role in the whole Tim Donaghy scandal?
The thing is, all of these are so well known that they don’t even feel bizarre anymore. They are kind of part of the league’s lore. Beyond that, there are plenty of peculiar, paranormal incidents involving basketball teams and players, such as Ron Artest and the Oklahoma City Thunder, but these don’t qualify as scandalous. Click on the link below to read about those.
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The thing about the most bizarre scandal in NBA history is that it has almost faded away from the collective consciousness. There are only a few traces it even happened.
This is the story of stamps, fraud, an NBA scandal and the Sacramento Kings franchise because of course it involves the Kings.
The most bizarre scandal in NBA history
Preamble
If you have ever visited the Sacramento Kings Wikipedia page, there is this throwaway line buried within the history section that most people probably dismiss as a joke. Even as someone born and raised in Sacramento, I had never heard about it.
The general manager was fired in a scandal in which he was found to be reusing marked postage stamps.
So, the general manager in question isn’t named and there isn’t a year in which this happened. There is also no citation. An NBA general manager committing some sort of postal fraud seems as if it should be a big deal even during the dark ages of basketball in the late 1970s/early 1980s. What is going on here? Is this real?
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Chapter 1 – Is this foreshadowing?
Things were starting to finally look up for the then Kansas City Kings after their move from Cincinnati seven years earlier. The team made the playoffs in 1978-79 under first year head coach Cotton Fitzsimmons. They boasted a dynamic backcourt with Otis Birdsong being named to the NBA All-Star team and Phil Ford winning Rookie of the Year.
And then on June 4th, 1979, the roof of the Kings’ home, Kemper Arena, collapsed from heavy rains and wind. However, there was a silver lining. Nearly a month later, General Manager Joe Axelson announced that he would leave his job to become the NBA’s Vice President for Operations.
Axelson is without question one of the worst general managers in NBA history. He traded Oscar Robertson for nothing, talked his then 41-year-old head coach Bob Cousy into making a playing comeback, had a conversation with Magic Johnson go so poorly that he went back to Michigan State for another season because the future Hall of Famer did not want to be drafted by the Kings and made terrible decision after terrible decision.
Anyway, with holes in the roof of their arena and front office, the Kansas City Kings got to work.
Chapter 2 – A competent hire
The Kings had to move from Kemper Arena to the smaller Municipal Auditorium ahead of the 1979-80 campaign. This was less than the ideal, but the franchise didn’t have many other options. In the front office, they tabbed John Begzos to replace the hapless Axelson.
On the surface, this was a solid hire. Begzos had guided the San Antonio Spurs through the ABA/NBA merger with the team making the playoffs every season under his watch. More importantly, he was also a strong marketer who could address the franchise’s chronic attendance issues.
Things went well in his first season. Kansas City won 47 games, although they lost in the first round of the playoffs. There were still plenty of reasons for optimism with Begzos and Fitzsimmons running the show. The team was predicted to win the Midwest Division heading into the 1980-81 season.
Chapter 3 – 15 months later
Fifteen months after being hired and a day before Halloween in 1980, the Kansas City Kings fired Begzos. It was a curious move, to say the least. The team was 5-6 but GMs weren’t fired for underperformance in those days. Seriously, Axelson had run the franchise into the ground on several different occasions and still kept his job.
Kings President and Co-Owner Paul Rosenberg was the only person to speak publicly on the matter and his only comment was, “the timing is unfortunate.” Nobody else went on record. The media was completely puzzled as to why Begzos was let go.
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Chapter 4 – Stamp of disapproval
A week later, The Kansas City Star published details on what happen. No one went on record in the story because of a pending lawsuit, but here is a play-by-play of how the situation unfolded:
- A neighborhood of Begzos approached his mother with a sweet deal: $240 worth of stamps for half off, or $120.
- He took the person up on this offer and gave the money to his mom who completed the deal for roughly 1,600 stamps.
- Begzos then sold the stamps to the Kings for the same $120 he paid for them.
Before we continue, there is one thing to note. The stamps had no visible indications that they were used nor were there any cancelation marks. That being said, it was still a crime to reuse stamps. Back to the play-by-play.
- The stamps are turned over to Kings’ staff for use. About ten or so are actually sent out.
- A nosy postman handling Kings mail reported something suspicious about the stamps being used by the team to postal inspectors.
- After review, the inspectors found the stamps to have been used.
- Officials from the post office inform Begzos and the team they have been sending mail with used stamps.
That’s it. That’s the timeline of events. Was it stupid of Begzos to buy discounted stamps from someone who approached his mom? Of course. But this didn’t seem like an act worthy of termination. Unfortunately, his employer did not look too kindly on the incident.
Chapter 5 – Return to sender
After learning of the stamp shenanigans, Kings President and Co-Owner Paul Rosenberg told Begzos to resign. He refused and was fired two days later. The team’s side of the story has never been explained but a few theories were floated as to their thought process.
For starters, Kansas City officials believed the general manager would resign out of fear of being associated with this scandal. When he did not, they kind of backed themselves into a corner and had no other option but to fire him.
But why were they so adamant Begzos needed to go? Officially, the team seemed to assume he knew what he was doing and may have been trying to bilk them out of $120 through the stamp scheme. Unofficially, some mused a few within the Kings’ ownership group wanted him gone.
That is crazy when you think about it. His predecessor Joe Axelson made one wrong move after another and was allowed to carry on for a decade. Begzos guided the team to the playoffs in his one full season and made a series of competent moves but was let go over some used stamps.
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Chapter 6 – Paid postage
The matter unsurprisingly went to court and about five months later, the Kansas City Kings settled with their former general manager. No one on either side ever disclosed the terms which was a condition of the settlement agreement. It was estimated that the team owed him about $58,000 and he received close to, if not all, of that amount.
It appeared that Begzos was the victim here. He made an honest mistake. With no charges were ever filed in the case, most assumed the guy was fired by an ownership group looking for a reason to kick him out the door.
The Kings hired a new general manager prior to reaching the settlement with Begzos and that was that. Or was it?
Chapter 7 – The untold chapter
The most bizarre scandal in NBA history took an odd turn less than a year later and it has completely flown under the radar. An arrest warrant for Begzos was issued in Texas on theft charges at the start of 1982. Here’s what happened.
Begzos sold his San Antonio house in 1980 and accepted a down payment from the buyer in addition to a contract for a $20,000 payment to be made a later date. Begzos sold the contract to a bank but never told the buyer who sent him a check as per the agreement.
Begzos then cashed the check while the bank approached the homebuyer asking where the money they were owed was at. That is obviously very illegal and saw the arrest warrant issued for Begzos. He pleaded out to one year of probation on a lesser charge after paying the bank.
But you can’t help but wonder if this was really a dude making two honest mistakes around the same time or someone getting caught making some dodgy money moves? If this isn’t a pattern of behavior, then I don’t know what is.
We have all worked with dubious characters who everyone knew were in some questionable activities even if it couldn’t be proven. Is it possible the Kings were in a similar situation with Begzos who wasn’t actually a victim at all? Even if these were honest mistakes, a person running a professional team should exhibit better judgement.
The modern-day equivalent of this would be Sam Presti buying some discounted iTunes gift cards on Craigslist, selling them back to the team and then giving them out as roster bonuses. It’s just preposterous.
Whatever the case may be, this is without a doubt the most bizarre scandal in NBA history and one that doesn’t get talked about nearly enough.
Epilogue
Despite all the turmoil, the Kansas City Kings not only made the playoffs in 1980-81 but advanced to the Western Conference Finals. Of course, the franchise would move to Sacramento a few years later and not be particularly good for the next 20 or so seasons. A big reason for that was the fact they rehired Joe Axelson as general manager in 1982 who picked up right where he left off…by making awful decisions.
As for John Begzos, he would not work in a front office again. His probation passed without incident and the stamp buyer took a job at a cable television network in upstate New York shortly thereafter before moving back to Texas and opening a sports bar. He passed away in 2004.
Unfortunately, those involved in the most bizarre scandal in NBA history never went on record about what actually happened. Basketball was an afterthought at the time and Kansas City was a notoriously poor market with limited coverage. And unlike the sports media landscape in the years to come, there was no 24-hour news cycle to fill.
Seriously, imagine what would happen today if an NBA general manager was fired over buying discounted stamps, reselling them to their team at cost and then finding out they were previously used. But then, the person in question then won a settlement against the team only to have an arrest warrant issued for them on theft charges months later.
No matter where the Kings franchise calls home, they attract comical characters and find themselves involved in the most bizarre situations.
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