Being a great athlete is a dream shared by millions, including almost all of the people who committed the biggest hoaxes in the history of sports. If you can’t make it on your own, an athletic hoax might be able to get you closer to your goal than you ever thought possible. From fakes in pro sports to college sports hoaxes, all of these stunts are motivated by one thing: a dream left unfulfilled.
Making it into college athletics, let alone into the pros, is unimaginably difficult. All of these sports conspiracies are from someone who just wanted to experience what that fame and fortune must be like. These aren’t all NFL hoaxes or cheaters (although, a great many of them are) - they’re mostly people who made bad decisions, got in over their heads, and then continued to make bad decisions. College sports athletes who cheat are possibly throwing away a great future, while many of these frauds didn’t exactly have a bright future awaiting them.
So, what happens to the dreamer whose dreams don’t come true? If you’re in on any of these huge sports hoaxes, you fake it 'til you make it… or you don’t, are found out, and then end up on this list.
Possibly too famous a hoax for this list, Rosie Ruiz won the female category of the 1980 Boston Marathon - and eight days later, she was stripped of her title. Not only did she fail to run the entire course, she came into the race a half mile before it ended. This was not a brilliantly thought out plan as no spotters, other runners, or cameras remembered seeing her on the course. Thankfully, the correct winner, Jacqueline Gareau, was later awarded the medal. Then, two years later, Ruiz embezzled $60 grand from a real estate company she worked for, and then in 1983 she was arrested for being involved in a cocaine deal.
130 votes
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157 VOTES
Instead Of Paying For Final Four Tickets, These Guys Invented A College
Even in 1963, Final Four tickets were expensive. The NCAA is known to give Final Four tickets to universities, so Len Tyrrell - coach at Fenwick High School in Forest Park, Ill. - came up with the (somewhat) brilliant plan to invent a college, which he named after his favorite pub, "Maguire's." The NCAA believed Tyrrell and gave a two year allotment of Final Four tickets to the "Maguire Jollymen." When the NCAA found out, they were upset, but no one went to jail or anything. Parties are still held to commemorate the time when some guys didn't have to pay to go to a game.
157 votes
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141 VOTES
Rocky Perone Discovers How To Go From Being 36 To 21 - Lie
Sports can be cruel, and you only have a brief period of time to be a great success. At 36, Rich Pohle was cut by the Kansas City Athletics and couldn't get back into baseball; so, he made himself "Rocky Perone," a 21-year-old Australian who came to America for the love of the game. He put as much work into his appearance as he did his game: he shaved three times a day, got facials, a wig, and mudpacks, and was careful about how he drank and ate. Amazingly, the San Diego Padres signed him, and he played one game for their Walla Walla affiliate before the other team's manager recognized him - he was cut the next day. In the game, though, he went one for two with a walk and he stole a base.
141 votes
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109 VOTES
You Can't Lose If You Don't Exist: The Plainfield Teacher's College Football Team
Before television, a lot of sports reporting came from "a guy on a phone told me something." In 1941, Morris Newburger, a partner at a Wall Street brokerage firm who loved sports and pranks, called The New York Times to report that the Plainfield Teachers had beaten Winona, 27 to 3 - and The New York Times printed it. After that, it took off. He and his friends called up publications and gave other scores describing huge victories the Plainfield Teachers had made against other completely non-existent schools. Sometimes, the newspapers asked for rosters, and Morris just gave the names of himself and other Wall Street brokers. Interest in the team became so great that Newburger installed a new phone line at his job to answer as "Jerry Croyden," the sports information director for Plainfield Teachers College. He even created a star player: "Johnny Chung the Celestial Comet." Time Magazine eventually broke the story that the school did not exist.
The world of college football is ripe with controversy and competition, and the scandal surrounding Notre Dame's beloved linebacker Manti Te'o and the tragic loss of his "girlfriend" only emphasizes this further. Manti Te'o had already established himself in the limelight of college football when he surprised everyone by signing on with Norte Dame over U.S.C. - so when his girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, suddenly died of leukemia, he secured himself a place in the hearts of college football fans everywhere. That is, until the media outlet Deadspin received a tip that it was all in fact a big hoax - there was no girlfriend at all. Whether or not Te'o was in on it was hotly debated for some time, until it was revealed that he had been tricked by a 22-year-old guy in southern California who had been impersonating a nonexistent Lennay Kekua through fake social media profiles.
81 votes
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60 VOTES
A Short Track Gets Even Shorter If You Don't Run All Of It
Fog obscures: Sylvester Carmouche was a jockey on a horse at the Delta Downs in 1989 when the fog started rolling in. He won the race handily, but was later accused of hiding on his horse in the fog and coming out of it during the final turn. Perhaps they caught on to him when he won the race by 24 lengths. This wasn't just cheating in a race, either - it was considered felony theft by fraud. Perhaps that's ironic, as his horse's name was "Landing Officer."
