The Most Ridiculous Sports Hoaxes You’ve Never Heard About

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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."

One of the most chaotic plays in baseball is when the catcher accidentally throws the ball into the outfield. On August 31st, 1987, such a play became even more chaotic at a game between the Williamsport Bills and the Reading Phillies in Double-A ball. Bills Catcher Dave Bresnahan took a low pitch and then threw to third to pick off runner Rick Lundblade. Dave's throw sailed into the outfield and Rick broke for home... only to find that Dave somehow still had the ball and tagged him out. In the ensuing confusion, the truth came out: Dave had thrown a peeled potato into the outfield. Dave was later fired from the Bills for this, and still no one is sure how exactly he managed to hide a large peeled potato during the game. One wonders what might've happened had he, you know, just thrown to 3rd.