Gambling suspect attended '04 UT game as guest
6/23/2007The man who allegedly ran a point-shaving scheme involving the University of Toledo attended the Rockets' 2004 conference championship game through a ticket provided to him by a UT player.
According to records of the Rockets' pass list for that game, which shows who was admitted into the stadium as a player's guest, Ghazi "Gary" Manni of Sterling Heights, Mich., was on hand for UT's 35-27 victory over Miami University in the 2004 Mid-American Conference Championship game, played at Detroit's Ford Field.
Mr. McDougle, a UT running back, played in that game.
Mr. Manni's name appears on that pass list, and next to it is an illegible signature. On the lists, either a check mark or a signature next to the name indicates the person attended the game.
Mr. Manni was also on UT's pass list for a game against Central Michigan in 2006, but there was no check mark indicating that he attended the game.
Those two games are the only ones for which Mr. Manni's name appeared on the pass list.
A federal complaint filed March 29 in U.S. District Court in Detroit alleges that Mr. Manni had UT running back Harvey "Scooter" McDougle, Jr., recruit football and basketball players to fix point margins of games for gambling purposes. Charges against Mr. McDougle were dropped in April, but the investigation is ongoing.
In compliance with the federal education privacy law, the names of all students are redacted from the ticket sheets, making it impossible to tell which player offered Mr. Manni a ticket. But whoever it was apparently offered Mr. Manni's family members tickets as well.
The names Gerri Manni; Gerri Manni, Sr., Jason Manni, and Jacob Manni also appear as guests along with Gary Manni for the 2004 MAC Championship game.
Gerri Manni, Gerri Manni, Jr., and Jason Manni also appear on the list of players' guests for the 2004 Motor City Bowl, but Gary Manni's name is not on that list.