Slash burns Super Bowl XXX prop bettors
Westgate sports book director Jay Kornegay was working at the Imperial Palace in 1995, when Steelers rookie Kordell Stewart earned the nickname of “Slash” for his ability to play running back, receiver and quarterback. When Pittsburgh reached the Super Bowl against Dallas, Kornegay and his colleagues posted the standard prop total of 2½ players to have a pass attempt and bettors pounded the over in the hope Stewart would join starting quarterbacks Troy Aikman and Neil O’Donnell in throwing a pass. Kornegay also put up a unique prop that caught the imagination of the betting public.
SUPER BOWL XXX, Steelers-Cowboys, Jan. 28, 1996: “We had one, ‘Will Kordell Stewart catch a pass, have a rushing attempt and throw a pass?’ During the course of the year, he did it twice. And this line went from ‘no’ minus-250 to ‘yes’ minus-300. We had so much money on it. The only thing he needed to do was throw a pass. Sometime in the third quarter, Kordell came in at quarterback. He took the snap in the shotgun formation and rolled out out of the pocket. The whole room just erupts, ‘Throw it! Throw it! Throw it!’ It was so funny. It just felt like everybody in that room had that proposition. And he cocked his arm and then he just tucked it in and ran and he never had another chance to throw a pass. That was one we won. It was just an amazing proposition.”