Hobert Job Under Scrutiny -- UW Boosters May Have Violated NCAA Rules

University of Washington athletic boosters may have violated NCAA rules by providing quarterback Billy Joe Hobert with a job in high school and improper financial benefits after he joined the Huskies.

Pac-10 Conference official David Price said the conference is investigating the matter.

If the conference or NCAA determines that the boosters created a recruiting or competitive advantage, the Huskies could receive penalties ranging from a reprimand to a ban on playing in televised games and bowl games after the upcoming Rose Bowl.

The most serious potential violation involves a greenskeeping job at the Tyee Valley Golf Club received by Hobert - the state's top football prospect in 1988-89 - before his senior year at Puyallup High School. Hobert said he got the job because of arrangements made by Ron Crowe, the mayor of Puyallup at the time and a former Husky basketball player.

Crowe said prominent Husky booster Herb Mead contacted him with the job offer and told him the Huskies wanted to recruit Hobert.

"Herb called and said, `We've got him set up to work at the golf course,' " Crowe said. "Herb knows where the jobs are."

Crowe said Mead was working on the job offer with fellow Husky booster Roy Moore, who operates the Tyee course.

"Herb said Roy's a good alum and that he's looking for someone to do maintenance," Crowe said.

NCAA rules say university athletic boosters and alumni "shall not be involved, directly or indirectly, in making arrangements for or giving" financial aid or other benefits to a prospect.

The rules specifically state an athlete cannot be offered employment before completing high school.

Joanne Petersen, the golf course general manager when Hobert was hired, said Moore told her Hobert was a football player and told her to put him on the payroll.

"I had the impression that it had something to do with recruiting," Petersen said. Hobert was rated among the top prep quarterbacks in the country after his junior year in 1987-88, when he led the Vikings to the Class AAA state championship.

Mead and Moore denied arranging the job. "I don't care what anybody says, there wasn't anything wrong done," Moore said.

Barbara Hedges, University of Washington athletic director, refused comment on the potential NCAA rules violations. Mike Lude, athletic director when the potential violations occurred, could not be reached for comment.

The special treatment from boosters continued after Hobert enrolled at Washington, where he was 17-0 as a starter before the school declared him ineligible last month for accepting a $50,000 loan in violation of NCAA rules.

-- Hobert was paid higher wages than other groundskeepers at the Tyee course, a potential violation of NCAA rules stating that athletes must be paid the going rate for their services.

Moore said Hobert earned $7 an hour when he was hired, a rate that he acknowledges is up to $2 an hour more than he pays other first-time employees.

The practice of paying athletes more than other groundskeepers was extended to other players, say former golf-course managers and other employees. Among athletes who worked at the course were then-Huskies Jay Roberts and Ron "Cookie" Jackson, and current Husky Joe Kralik, who played at Puyallup with Hobert.

"Roy used to tell me, don't worry about it, that it was being compensated by somebody else," Petersen said. She said she didn't know to whom Moore was referring.

Moore said the better pay rate was based on their ability, not their football potential. But Petersen said their status as athletes was prominently mentioned when they were hired.

"I just know they hired football players in high school and paid them more money," Petersen said. "I was told when they started working that so and so is going to be working for the summer. I was told they were football players. I was told what to pay them by Mr. Moore. He was my boss."

-- Hobert said he received free meals at the golf course restaurant, a violation of rules if the extra benefits were not generally available to other students.

"It's a meal here, a meal there, maybe a little bit of borrowed money," Hobert said. He joked that if it hadn't been for the restaurant's generosity, "I'd be one of those skinny, 200-pound guys."

Hobert, who weighs 230 pounds, said he signed for meals at the restaurant but was often not charged for them. Asked about that practice, Moore said, "He could have now and then. He could not have now and then."

Moore said his records show that a total of $283 was deducted from Hobert's paychecks for meals during the summers of 1988, 1989 and 1991.

Shannon Daley, former restaurant manager, said Moore provided free meals to friends, family members, managers, some favored employees and players who worked at the course. She said other university students were not given free meals.

Moore said free meals were given to some workers, and that it was "maybe based on how I happen to feel about" them.

-- Former managers and employees said players came and went as they pleased, and they were not disciplined as others were for slow and sloppy work.

The loose employment conditions flirt with an NCAA rule that requires athletes be paid only for work performed.

"We called them the milkmen, the milkers," said Jason Daley, 21, a former groundskeeper and Shannon Daley's son. "Everybody milks their job a little bit but these guys would take it a whole 'nother level."

Petersen said Hobert worked harder than other players. But Hobert admits he slacked off on the job more than other groundskeepers.

"I might bullcrap a little bit more than a lot of the other guys," Hobert said.

Mead and Moore are annual contributors to the Washington athletic department who provided $6,900 and $1,000 this year, respectively, according to university records. Crowe, as a former contributor and Husky athlete, is also considered a representative of the university's athletic interests, said Dan Dutcher, NCAA director of legislative services.

According to NCAA rules, only athletic-department coaches and staff members are allowed to make in-person, off-campus recruiting contacts with prospects. Hobert said that Moore talked to him about football in high school, but not specifically about the Huskies' recruitment of him.

Hobert said booster influence did not affect his choice of schools. "I always planned on going to the UW," said Hobert, also recruited by Notre Dame and Miami.

Crowe, a radio broadcaster at Puyallup football games, said he usually receives calls from Mead, a former fraternity brother, when the Huskies are interested in a Puyallup player. He said Mead later encouraged him to help recruit Damon Huard, son of the Puyallup head coach and another quarterback who signed with the Huskies.

The only Puyallup player whom Mead helped steer into a job was Hobert, Crowe said.

Hobert said he began working at the Tyee course the summer after his sophomore year at Puyallup, which is about a 25-minute drive from the SeaTac-area course. Moore said his employment records show that Hobert began work the following summer.

In any case, Hobert said Crowe advised him to apply for a job at Tyee while both were attending a civic-group function. "I just mentioned to him that I needed a summer job. And he knew Roy. Basically, I just went and put an application in."

Crowe vaguely recalled a later conversation with Hobert about the impending job.

"He might have told me that the UW got him a job at the Tyee golf course," Crowe said. "I might have said, `Yeah, I talk to Herb Mead a lot.' "

Hobert said he did not know that boosters other than Crowe helped him get the job. Crowe said he did not know arranging a job violated NCAA rules.

Mead confirmed that he occasionally talks to Crowe but denied helping arrange the job or relaying the offer through Crowe.

"I don't remember that," Mead said. "Not me."

Employment records show Hobert made $1,808 at Tyee in 1988, according to Moore. He made $1,164 in 1989 - the year he signed with the Huskies - and $560 in 1991. Beginning in 1990, Hobert worked summers mostly at K & L Distributors, another employer of Husky players.

Moore said he provided the employment records to the university after he was interviewed by David Price, Pac-10 investigator, and Richard Dunn, the university's faculty athletic representative. Both are involved in conducting an investigation for the conference, which will determine next spring whether the university was responsible for NCAA rules violations, and if penalties should be levied.

The probe stemmed from an improper $50,000 loan Hobert received earlier this year, but now investigators are looking into other potential NCAA violations. Before Price met with Moore Nov. 20, he questioned Husky head coach Don James in a Nov. 8 interview about previous employment for Hobert.

"Roy Moore hires an awful lot of students," James told Price, according to the interview notes. "They get golfing privileges and a discount on food, but nothing to raise any particular concerns. We go through this job thing a lot, to death, and they know they have to work for their wages, can't get any extra benefits."

Husky recruiting coordinator Dick Baird said he can't believe any of the alumni would arrange a job while a potential player was still in high school, nor does he think a $7-an-hour job would be worth it.

Baird said a core group of 400 boosters are sent letters explaining NCAA rules on a regular basis. Mead was on the list, but Moore was not, because he was not involved in recruiting back at a time when boosters were allowed to recruit.

Athletic department spokesman Jim Daves said he does not know anything about the case. But he feels that if a violation did occur, it happened outside the department, and that coaches and team officials would do anything they could to correct it.

"The people in college athletics will tell you the toughest thing to control are the outside interests," Daves said.