How Athletes Spend Their Money -- A Millions May Not Necessarily Go A Long Way, As Unscrupulous Financial Advisers, Dubious Investments And Reckless Spending Drain `Bottomless' Bank Accounts

CUTLINE: SEAHAWKS' RONNIE LEE SHOULD BE SET FOR LIFE.

CUTLINE: EX-HUSKY STEVE PELLUER LOST ON TWO BUSINESS VENTURES.

---------------------------------

When the Seattle SuperSonics promised Gary Payton $13.5 million over the next six years, the NBA club gave employment not so much to a willing college kid as to a eager entourage.

To negotiate the contract, Payton hired agent Don DeJardin. For marketing and more contract savvy, boyhood friend Aaron Goodwin got the job. Another pal, Milton Jackson, was enlisted as his ``press secretary'' in exchange for a college tuition.

Payton's money circulates enough to have a blood pressure. A Los Angeles man invests it, a Seattle associate pays the bills with it, a Los Angeles accountant checks it, a San Jose accountant checks it again, and two lawyers make sure no one snookers it.

Four more people started his Bay Area record company. Mom and dad are on the payroll at GP Productions, too, to run his upcoming restaurants in Oakland and Corvallis. And just to keep the point guard straight, Payton employee No. 16, a personal manager, is charged with making sure Gary gets his own college degree.

Gary (Payin') Payton likes the arrangement.

``You can't have one person handle your money,'' he said. ``You got to have a lot of people around you who are trustworthy.''

In the era of exploding salaries in American sports, a 22-year-old athlete can count on having his home furnishings selected, his loaf of bread picked up at the store, his every whim satisfied by more than $100,000 worth of aides. He can be incorporated.

But for every Payton, another athlete who has the chance squanders it through bad investments or reckless spending. Without the stratospheric income to take financial risks, live royally and still sock away enough in guaranteed certificates of deposit - as Payton has - many players are proving that better salaries do not always mean better decisions.

Bob Woolf, a prominent Boston attorney who has represented more than 500 players since 1964, contends that half of the players who have the chance to gain financial security fail to do so. Of that group, Woolf said, 35 percent end up penniless.

``Do you think any of the kids say, `Hey, I'm set for life,' '' Woolf said. ``No. The practicality, the avarice, the greed, the ego and the whole thing are different than in past eras.''

Sometimes, it's just ignorance.

One locker over from Payton, Olden Polynice is trying to escape a financial miasma that has dragged the Sonics into the matter, garnishing more than $35,000 of his wages in the past two years to pay off the fourth-year center's debts.

Polynice, who has had five civil judgments against him for more than $43,000 in unpaid bills on investments and personal purchases, said last night his money troubles are from ``trusting too many people.'' Co-signer on a bank account for the unsuccessful ``Battle of Seattle,'' Polynice was left with more than $15,200 of the debts even though he said he planned on being no more than a limited investor.

The Sonics began garnishing wages in Feb. '89 to pay off debts from the June '88 event, which pitted pro athletes against each other in sports activities. Last month, the club also wrote the final check in paying off the balance of a $25,226 judgment against Polynice to John Lowe, an attorney who represented him in a 1985 student case at the University of Virginia.

Polynice said he signed a promissory note with Lowe when he was in college, but was told then by the Virginia attorney that was only done to stay consistent with NCAA regulations, and that he would not have to pay him back for services. Lowe had no comment.

Polynice blames his former agent, Sid Blanks, for the Lowe judgment and is considering legal action against him. Polynice alleges that while he was in Italy, Blanks received court notice that Polynice was being sued by Lowe - but that he never told him of that notice, and in his absence a court judgment was granted.

Polynice said he fired Blanks last year because he failed to provide monthly financial statements, improperly handled his income tax filings, and the Lowe lawsuit.

``If he'd have done his job, I wouldn't be in the situation I'm in,'' Polynice said. ``I'm not going to be nice to people any more. Children are about the only people worth trusting, I've learned.''

Blanks, in return, filed a grievance in October against Polynice, according to George Cohen, general counsel to the NBA Players Association. Blanks, who negotiated Polynice's original five-year, $2.45 million contract, said last week he is seeking more than $40,000 in unpaid fees related to his four-percent commission.

``Not just Olden, but a lot of guys in these predicaments are there because they don't take advice well,'' Blanks said. ``I think that most agents give good advice. Sometimes, when things go wrong, though, the guy you blame the most is the guy closest to you.

``Olden's got his own mind, and he's always been that way. For the most part, that's what's gotten him into trouble.''

Instant wealth would be a brave new world to anyone just out of college, but to professional athletes it's an especially dangerous scenario. Trained to focus on the immediate challenge - and often lacking a fear of consequences because they've always had someone pick up after them - many athletes come into the leagues with an inherent appreciation for short-term, high-risk ventures.

Player union officials are taking greater efforts to defuse that instinct, more aggressively promoting the need for low-risk investing and modest personal spending. The NBAPA plans to produce home-study courses on money management and offer investment seminars in league cities, said executive director Charles Grantham. But the task is tremendous.

Professional athletes have few peers financially. In Seattle, roughly $40 million in player salaries this year are floating around the community among 80 or so people: $17 million with Seahawks, $12.6 million with Mariners, and about $10.5 million with Sonics. The average three-sport city spends slightly more, $43 million, on its athlete-entertainers.

Where does the cash go?

TO VEHICLES.

Heroic spending is done at the area Mercedes dealerships, where athletes often spend upwards of $80,000 per car and seem to prefer sedan models. Why do so many Mercedes dot Sonic and Seahawk parking lots? They're sturdy, a nice statement and good investment, sure. But a sales manager at Barrier Motors, Michael Vena, said he's heard his large clients commend the extra amount of room in Mercedes, the same reason mini-trucks have gotten so popular with athletes.

In other words, they fit.

TO STEREO EQUIPMENT.

A top-rate car sound system costs about $3,000 at Magnolia Hi-Fi, said salesman Kevin Hoppe. But with some athletes, there's always a chance he'll sell the U-Can't-Touch-This package similar to the one sold recently to one Seahawk:

Cassette deck ($1,200), compact-disc changer that holds 10 CDs ($900), custom Burlwood cabinet in truck ($2,000), cellular phone ($1,000), three amps ($1,500), two-set speaker system ($1,040), signal processing gear epicenter that reproduces bass notes ($180), electronic speaker-efficient crossover network ($180), equalizer ($279), plate speakers ($400), 12-inch woofers ($260 each), digital analog converter ($410), radar detector ($329), and car alarm that pops up door lock, trunk and garage door ($1,500).

With labor, the unit went for a cool $15,000.

TO SATELLITE DISHES.

Dave Wyman, Seahawk linebacker, made only one significant purchase for himself, a nice TV, upon signing his rookie contract. But like former Sonic forward Xavier McDaniel, who grew up in South Carolina, Wyman took little time to outfit his parents with a dish to pick up games from their home in Reno, Nev.

TO CLOTHES.

Not every athlete shops at Mario's, one of the top

men's stores in Seattle. Seahawk rookie Cortez Kennedy defines wealth as new sweatsuits and a large Charles Schwab account.

But of those players who stop in at Mario's, each spends about $2,500 per visit, said saleswoman Jenny Sedgwick, who keeps an active client list of more than 200 athletes.

Sedgwick, who plans her work week around the home schedule of the Mariners, has had separate sales of $10,000, $7,000 and $6,000 to visiting players, her largest bills ever to customers.

Sedgwick keeps track of the likes and dislikes of all of her athlete regulars, who comprise about half of her $500,000 a year in sales. Detroit Pistons forward John Salley, for instance, buys ties.

Said Sedgwick, who works on commission: ``Athletes are the best customers because they're quick, they never return anything, they don't care about tailoring and they take you to lunch afterward.''

Spending is usually most generous in the player's initial season, Woolf said. He calls it the ``wicked year,'' when many rookies figure they need the basics right out of college - a car, clothes, maybe a home - and then some.

Woolf, whose company also manages the finances of many of his athletes, said he tries to get his players in a pattern where they receive a weekly allowance of 5 to 10 percent of their salary. For a player averaging $1 million a year, that means about $300 to $500 a week in cash for incidentals (after Woolf pays all credit-card, mortgage, electric and other bills from his office).

But in that disorienting rookie season, when the player's dream is first realized, advice on spending habits often goes unheeded. Woolf commonly tries to purchase an annuity and life insurance as a safeguard, as soon as the athlete gets his money.

``It's unbelievable how you speak to the kids now,'' said Woolf, who gets misty at the thought of haggling with the Red Sox to get pitcher Bill Monbouquette's salary up from $20,000 to $22,500 in 1964.

``You ask them if they made any money in college, and they say, `$4 or $5 an hour in the summer.' So you ask them how much they could live on their first year. `Oh, $250,000.'

``Would you believe that? I'm telling you: It's a miracle if you can keep them to $125,000 that first year.''

Seahawks offensive tackle Ronnie Lee enjoyed the luxuries of big-time sports in the first half of his 12-year career. He cruised in the warm air of Miami in cars Don Johnson would look proper in, wearing clothes as fine as any Dolphin teammate.

Lee still splurges on what he wears, but said he should be set for life even without severance pay of $180,000 due from the league.

Investing will be made more simple with the new 1991 federal tax law, said Gary Fournier, senior vice president of the investment firm Kidder Peabody in Los Angeles.

Tax shelters have been eliminated. Uncertain vehicles designed to foil the Internal Revenue Service, the shelters instead burned such athletes as Jack Clark, Willie Randolph and Ed Whitson. In the mid-'80s, they were among a group of baseball players who invested in a failed $3.3 million venture that bought the lease on a shopping mall and office building in Rock Springs, Wyo. (population: 22,000).

Financial counselors report a recent rise in conservative investing. Fournier, who counts the California Angels' Mark Langston among his more than 40 athlete-clients, said the former Mariner has invested primarily in tax-free bonds and should easily be set for life.

Such veterans as Seahawk quarterback Dave Krieg and Los Angeles Laker guard Magic Johnson also said conservative investments have ensured their financial security. But as long as there are buddies with financial opportunities, and athletes who will listen to them, boondoggles await.

Former University of Washington quarterback Steve Pelluer took the advice of old friends and bought into a restaurant and limited partnership in a computer leasing business. Said Pelluer, who lost money on both and is not set for life: ``I didn't receive as much counsel as I should have. I had the attitude I knew it all.''

Lee, who said a prospector actually tried to talk him into Everglades real estate when he was with the Dolphins, now routes even the can't-miss offers from Texas friends through his investment counselor. Rolling his eyes, Lee expects he would hear a proposal a day ``if I picked up the phone when they call.''

If it's mom on the line, though, most players are all ears. The family factor is the wild card in the budgets of athletes, most of whom buy their parents a new home before they ever get their own, according to Fournier.

Unlike many of America's other millionaires, athletes often come from impoverished situations. When they reach the pros, the first priority among many is to provide for their relatives, a burden that can make a salary of $510,900 - the average among NFL, NBA and baseball players this year - seem like much less.

Blanks said Polynice, for instance, made only one significant purchase in his two years with him: a home in Houston for his family. Polynice wanted to move his mother and youngest brother out of New York City, Blanks said, and rented an apartment for himself in Seattle.

``I thought that was admirable of him because he wanted to get his brother out of that environment,'' Blanks said. ``But that house did not get him in a financial bind. He was not in a situation where he was living beyond his means.''

Nothing is ever promised to a pro athlete, except a financial challenge as difficult as any task placed before him in the sporting arena. Hockey's Boston Bruins and other teams have offered their players financial counseling classes. But making the money last is often no more simple to the $950,000 NBA player as it is to the $26,000 U.S. citizen.

Only the amounts change.

``Most people in this country do no live by what they make,'' Woolf said. ``They live by their means. And that happens even if you make $1 million a year.''

-------------------------------

WHERE THE MONEY GOESPlayers in baseball, the NFL and NBA made an average of $507,600 this year. Here is an estimated budget for the typical Seattle athlete who draws that salary and is in his fourth season. Budget was provided by the Gary Fournier, senior vice president of Kidder Peabody, a Los Angeles investment firm that handles the finances of more than 40 athletes.-- $152,600 - U.S. income tax: About 30 percent, after deductions for charity, fines and other business expenses.-- $235,000 - Savings: Will allow him to have more than $1 million at end of fourth year, which would produce $60,000 a year thereafter on 6 percent tax-free bond.-- $120,000 - living expenses: $10,000 a month.YEARLY BUDGET: $120,000-- $24,000 - home: $300,000 house financed at $2,000 a month after $100,000 down payment.

-- 23,000 - Advisor fees: Four percent (20,300) to agent that negotiated contract and rest to accountant and investment counselor.-- $12,000 - cash: Money to spend when on game trips, and on random purchases.-- $10,000 - car: $50,000 Mercedes financed after $30,000 down payment.-- $10,000 - food: $200 a week, but player saves because teas pay for meals when on the road.-- $8,400 - parents' home: $100,000 hoe financed at $700 a month after $30,000 down payment.-- $3,600 - house help: $300 a month for person to clean house and prepare food to be eaten at convenience.-- $6,000 - clothes: Cost more than elsewhere because of cold weather.-- $6,000 - entertainment: Richest person at table often picks up bill.-- $4,800 - phone: $400 a month, because most Seattle athletes are transplanted from elsewhere.-- $3,600 - Utilities: $300 a month including cable.-- $3,500 - Property taxes: On both houses.-- $1,500 - car insurance: Single male under 25, non-smoker, normal driving record, lives in city.-- $1,200 - visits: Airline tickets for relatives to visit couple times.-- $2,400 - miscellaneous expenses: Personal travel, home and car repairs, league fines, etc.