David Shapiro
Shapiro attended George Washington University (GWU) on a basketball scholarship and was co-captain of the university’s basketball team from 1946 to 1949, when the team went to the Southern Conference playoffs. He also received his master of law degree at GWU. In 1949, Shapiro courageously reported to the New York District Attorney that racketeers had approached him to fix the score of a GWU basketball game to be played at Madison Square Garden and to manipulate scores in the final 16 games of the season. Shapiro spent six months helping the district attorney’s office gather evidence leading to the arrest and conviction of four racketeers. The District Attorney stated that Shapiro “…rendered an outstanding service to sports and law enforcement.” Shapiro received national attention as a sports hero and was awarded the Bremen trophy, the American Legion Citation for Good Citizenship and a Veteran of Foreign Wars Good Citizen Medal.
