Free basketball award certificate

Nike has had better days, but then again, so have the 37 high school players who made the mistake of trusting the shoe company during a September all-star tournament.

Nike officials faded to heed the warnings of the NCAA, which suggested the company check with state high school associations before inviting the nation's best prep players to the much-ballyhooed "Fab 40" tournament.

Did Nike receive the warnings of the NCAA? "I'm not going to contradict them," says Keith Peters, the public relations director for Nike. "If they did, they did. Now we want to rectify our mistake.

"We are making ourselves available, if wanted, to help the kids. We screwed up, they didn't. We continue to be apologetic."

Some of the players have been suspended by their state associations. Just last week Ron Mercer, a 6-foot-7 junior from Nashville, and Lorenzen Wright, a 6-11 senior from Memphis, were suspended for one year by the Tennessee Secondary Schools Athletic Association. In Illinois, senior Bryant Notree of Chicago and sophomore Ronnie Fields of Chicago were suspended for four games. In Mississippi, the state's High School Activities Association is considering a one-game suspension against Jerod Ward, a 6-9 senior.

Meanwhile, eight players from California attended, but the California Interscholastic Federation chose not to punish the eight players for Nike's mistakes. Minnesota officials told Nike they would waive the rule in this case.

Chris Schoemann, the NCAA's legislative services assistant, warned Nike officials in August that the tournament could violate state association guidelines.

"I told (Rich Shuebrooks, Nike's manager of basketball events) to check with the high school associations," Schoemann told the Los Angeles Times. "I told him to check, not so much from an award standpoint, but from the standpoint of whether these kids could travel during the academic year."

Shuebrooks did not return a call from The Sporting News asking for comment. "He won't," Peters says. "He has his job and I have mine. "

Nike's tournament was September 11-12 at its company headquarters in Beaverton, Ore. To add to the mess, Nike presented each player with shoes, assorted apparel and a $100 gift certificate. No one checked that out, either. The gifts violate some state association rules.

Arizona Coach Lute Olson, a Nike endorser, told the Times: "Any time you have someone running all-star games or camps, if they've checked with the NCAA and (the NCAA) has given them some advice that has not been followed, then somebody has really dropped the ball."

That, of course, would be Nike, which dropped the ball right on its foot. "We have been in direct contact with every state to try to do some of what we should have done before the fact," Peters says.

Then there is the case of Hampton, Va., guard Allen Iverson, who was recently sentenced to a controversial five-year prison term for taking part in a mob brawl.

During the company-sponsored All-American Basketball Festival in Indianapolis last July, Nike paid for Iverson's airfare back to Virginia for a court date. Not only was the gesture in poor judgment, but it also was an apparent NCAA rules violation.

And here's a surprise: Nike once again faded to check with the proper officials regarding the plane tickets. The Times reported that Bob Minnix, the NCAA's enforcement director, was at the Indianapolis camp and specifically instructed Nike to check first with the NCAA's legislative services department.

"To my knowledge," said Steve Mallonee, director of NCAA legislative services, "nobody checked with us."

Added Mallonee: "I'm not passing blame. I'm just saying that under (NCAA) rules, it was OK for (Nike) to give the kid his expenses to come to the camp. The problem was flying him back for court appearances."

"The kid was in a jam, we tried to help him out," Peters says.

Good intentions or not, Nike dropped the ball. For a company that prides itself on innovation and attention to detail, Nike missed the mark. It damaged its credibility and, more important, threatened the playing careers of prep stars who made a single mistake: they trusted Nike.

Free throws

North Carolina Coach Dean Smith signed a four-year deal with Nike worth a reported $4.7 million. Smith, as he has graciously done in the past, will donate a share of the money to charity. In this case, the amount will be $500,000.... It isn't official, but it appears that 6-11, 270-pound Todd MacCulloch, will commit to Washington. If true, new Huskies Coach Bob Bender probably got himself the best high school player in Canada. MacCulloch, who is from Winnipeg, apparently whittled his choices to Washington and Notre Dame before making his decision.... Coveted Baltimore guard Steve Wojciechowski will likely sign with Duke, rather than finalists North Carolina or Wake Forest.