Chuck Person leaves federal court in New York on Wednesday. The former Auburn University assistant basketball coach avoided prison in a bribery scandal that has touched some of the biggest schools in college basketball. Person was sentenced to serve community service during two years of supervised release. (AP photo)

NEW YORK — Former Auburn University assistant basketball coach and NBA star Chuck Person’s lifelong generosity may have driven him to the poorhouse, but it saved him from the jailhouse Wednesday when a judge sentenced him in a bribery scandal that touched some of the biggest college basketball programs.

U.S. District Judge Loretta A. Preska cited Person’s “random acts of charity that happened all the time” as she explained why he won’t be locked up for taking bribes to steer top college players toward a financial adviser who was cooperating with the government’s investigation.

“The worst thing you have to say is that you were charitable to a fault,” she told Person, who wiped tears from his face repeatedly. “Keep up the good work.”

She ordered him to do 200 hours of community service during the two years the Probation Department will supervise him.

“No purpose would be served by incarceration,” Preska said.

Sentencing guidelines called for two years in prison, though three other coaches who pleaded guilty to the same bribery conspiracy charge also received leniency.

Preska said the money Person gave to family, friends, strangers, charities and the schools that propelled him to a 13-year NBA career earned him leniency and a shot at redemption.

She said she “disagreed vehemently” with a prosecutor’s claim that Person was motivated by “insatiable greed.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Boone told Preska that Person’s crime was worse than others in the bribery scheme because he tried to get players and families to accept bribes even though the government cooperator never suggested it.

The judge read extensively from over 70 letters of support, many citing the generosity which included houses for at least 10 family members, college tuition for two nieces, and computers, school supplies and shoes for high school students.

When he ran out of money, he took out loans to give even more, including $300,000 for a lighted softball complex in Laverne, Alabama, Preska said.