Worcester native and sports promoter Daniel E. Doyle’s ties to the New England Basketball Hall of Fame, which he founded, have raised questions about the group’s legitimacy in the wake of Mr. Doyle’s May 3 indictment on 18 charges of embezzlement, forgery and other charges.
The New England Hall of Fame – which is separate from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield – has an induction ceremony scheduled at the DCU Center next month.
More than 200 players, coaches and others are set to be inducted at the $135-a-head event, which is expected to draw some 1,200 people to the downtown arena June 22 and feature big name former NBA players such as Rick Mahorn and executives such as Donn Nelson.
The group’s new directors say they met with Mr. Doyle, 64, to plan the event as recently as last month. That was a few weeks before Mr. Doyle was charged in Rhode Island with looting more than $1 million from his Institute for International Sport at the University of Rhode Island, which housed the Hall of Fame since 2002.