It was a big news week 35 years ago this January.   While the collapse of the Hartford Civic Center on January 18, 1978 was grabbing the headlines, a  scandal  brewing in the world of Jai Alai was also dominating the evening news that week.   Jai Alai is a sport played with a long, curved wicker basket worn on a player’s wrist.   It was a big deal in Connecticut until the casinos came along in the 1990s and put the industry out of business, at least in our state.

Spectactors could bet on the players and in 1976 a whiff of scandal came to light.   Some players were accused of being paid to lose.  The state launched an investigation into these allegations and on Sunday, January 19th, 2012, in our Face the State flashback, we broadcast some vintage video of Al Terzi reporting on it. 

Here are some shots of Al staking out the key witness in the case  in a snow covered parking lot of AMC Gremlins and Ford Pintos.

By the way, that orange and yellow 3 logo is about cool as the harvest gold telephone my parents had in our kitchen.  UPDATE:  Here is the link to the segment http://www.wfsb.com/video?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=6658698

Also read:  http://dennishouse.wordpress.com/2009/11/17/530/