Kevin Pendergast

Kevin Pendergast is an American former football and soccer player. He was the most valuable player for the Notre Dame soccer team before Coach Lou Holtz recruited him to play for the football team as a placekicker. In 1998, he pleaded guilty to conspiring with players from Northwestern University's basketball team to engage in point shaving in three games.

College career He was a star soccer player at Simsbury High School in Simsbury, Connecticut and Notre Dame recruited him for its soccer program. In 1989 and 1990, he was the team's leading scorer. In 1991, the football team's starting placekicker, Craig Hentrich, sprained his knee and Head Coach Lou Holtz looked to the soccer team for a kicker to handle kickoffs. Pendergast has never played organized football, but joined the team as a walk-on.

In the 1992 Sugar Bowl against Florida, Hentrich again suffered an injury forcing Pendergast to attempt his first field goal in a competitive game. He made the field goal, and later kicked three extra points and another field goal as Notre Dame won 39–28.

With Hentrich healthy, returned to kickoff duty in the 1992–1993 season, but had his opportunity to start the following year. He was the team's leading scorer, converting 14 of 19 field goal attempts and kicked the go-ahead field goal in the 1994 Cotton Bowl Classic as Notre Dame defeated Texas A&M 24–21.

Gambling involvement In college, Pendergast began betting on sports, sometimes wagering $500 to $1,000 over a weekend. He also began gambling at a nearby riverboat casino, betting $25 to $50 a hand. After he graduated, he turned down opportunities to try out for professional football and moved to Chicago to try and start a rock band. There, he accumulated $20,000 in gambling debt, financing his gambling with credit cards. He convinced Lee, Dewey Williams and Matt Purdy to shave points in upcoming Wildcats games. Lee served a six-game suspension for betting on college sports, while Purdy, also a Northwestern football player, was accused of intentionally fumbling the football as a result of his own gambling debts. Pendergast would bet against Northwestern in the games. The scheme was only successful once, with Northwestern equaling the spread against Wisconsin resulting in little to no payout and unexpectedly covering the spread against Michigan costing him $20,150 and ending the scheme. His one successful wager was against Penn State, where he won $10,000. The game against Michigan was particularly tough as he had bet that Northwestern would fail to cover a 25 1/2-point spread and ended up losing by only 17 points. In total, via an associate, he made bets of $40,000 to $70,000.

Personal After his release from prison, former Notre Dame player Peter Schivarelli, who was a manager for the band Chicago offered Pendergast a job as assistant manager for the band. As of 2018, Pendergast is a registered nurse and continues to speak about his activities and his recovery from gambling addiction.