| | KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Federal prosecutors questioned an
Oklahoma State athlete while a Nike Inc. executive and a Kansas
City businessman testified before a federal grand jury that has
been investigating reports of improper payments to high school
basketball players during summer league competition.
Oklahoma State freshman Andre Williams is one of the three
former high school stars from the Kansas City area who have been
suspended from play with their college teams. He was interviewed
Wednesday.
The grand jury is exploring whether improper payments endangered
players' college eligibility and economically harmed federally
funded universities.
Don Crenshaw, Nike's manager of high school basketball, spent
about an hour before the grand jury. Through his lawyer, J.R.
Hobbs, Crenshaw declined comment about his testimony.
"Nike is fully cooperating with the investigation," Hobbs
said. "Nike is not a target of the investigation."
Crenshaw directs Nike's high school basketball programs
nationwide, organizing tournaments, camps and corporate funding for
traveling summer teams.
Williams and two other former Kansas City prep stars suspended
from their college teams, brothers JaRon and Kareem Rush, all
played on a Nike-sponsored summer team while in high school.
Each has reportedly acknowledged receiving improper payments or
benefits before they went to college.
The coach of the summer team, Myron Piggie Sr., also was a paid Nike
consultant. Piggie says he has done nothing improper.
After Crenshaw's testimony the grand jury heard for about 10
minutes from Tom Grant, a Kansas City businessman who paid the prep
school tuition for Williams, who spent his senior year at a school
in Maine, and JaRon Rush, who played at Kansas City's Pembroke Hill
High School.
Grant, the chief executive officer of LabOne Inc., declined to
comment about his testimony. John Osgood, his lawyer, said Grant
has cooperated with the probe by giving investigators information
about the support his charitable foundation provided to the
players.
"He was just filling in some details about this whole
unfortunate episode," Osgood said.
Grant also provided financial support to the summer teams on
which the three Kansas City players competed.
Williams emerged from his 90-minute meeting with prosecutors
saying he was weary with the case.
"It's frustrating, to say the least," Williams said. "I'm
going back to school. I'm ready to get back on the court and
play."
Williams, who played at Schlagle High School in Kansas City,
Kan., before transferring to the Maine school, has been
indefinitely suspended by Oklahoma State for accepting
impermissible benefits.
Grant, who provided the tuition for Williams to attend the
school, said last week the NCAA has made a preliminary decision to
suspend Williams for a year because of the tuition payments.
The NCAA, according to Grant, said Williams must repay the
$20,000 in tuition before his eligibility is complete.
Williams' attorney, Mark Zannotti of Tulsa, instructed him not
to answer a reporter's questions about the investigation.
Zannotti, however, said that Williams' case, aside from the
grand jury probe, could set an NCAA precedent, but wouldn't detail
why.
"Since this case is going to be a precedent, (NCAA officials)
are going through all the channels to set a decision that sets a
correct precedent," Zannotti said. "We appreciate the NCAA's
willingness to keep a dialogue."
Kareem Rush, who is serving a nine-game suspension from the
University of Missouri team, spent about three hours in the U.S.
attorney's office earlier this week. The NCAA, which imposed the
suspension, has stated that he must pay $1,800 to a charity before
his college eligibility expires.
That supposedly is the amount he received in excess of
permissible benefits while playing summer basketball while he was
in high school.
Meanwhile, the lawyer for Los Angeles sports agent Jerome
Stanley confirmed Wednesday that a subpoena had been issued for his
client to appear before the grand jury.
Earlier this week, JaRon Rush, a sophomore at UCLA, acknowledged
to reporters that he had accepted money from a sports agent,
confirming earlier accounts from his grandmother that he got $200
from Stanley.
David Bass, a lawyer representing Stanley, reiterated Wednesday
that Stanley still contends he never gave money to JaRon Rush.
"There is nothing more to add," Bass said. "JaRon's public
statements do not change the facts. What we said is the truth, and
we have no idea why he (JaRon) would say that." | |
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The Weekly Word on college basketball
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