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Report: Rush admits to taking money
Posted: Tuesday December 21, 1999 01:20 PM
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Suspended basketball player JaRon Rush has admitted to UCLA officials he violated NCAA rules by accepting money from an agent, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday. The sophomore forward, who averaged 11.4 points and a team-leading 7.3 rebounds for UCLA last season, has been suspended from competition since Dec. 10 while the school investigates a possible NCAA violation. The newspaper cites unidentified sources who said the player admitted to the violation and to accepting money from Los Angeles-based agent Jerome Stanley. Stanley denies having anything more than a friendship with Rush, the paper said. The Times said sources "close to the situation" have confirmed that Rush acknowledged improper ties when UCLA officials confronted him about relationships with Stanley and former AAU coach Myron Piggie. The newspaper said Rush's grandmother, Jeanette Jacobs, confirmed a published report that Rush admitted to her that he took four payments of $50 each from Stanley. But the agent denies the allegation. "That's not true," Stanley said on Monday. "I did not give him any money at all. Zero." Stanley said he told university administrators the same thing last Wednesday. Jacobs said she had dinner with Rush after the Bruins lost to Gonzaga on Dec. 11. "The guy [Stanley] is saying it didn't happen. If it wasn't true, why would [Rush] say it?" Jacobs said. "[Rush] was just telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. And see what it got him." Piggie, his former coach, also has said he has not provided money to Rush since he's been at UCLA or introduced him to a sports agent. The Orange County Register reported a few days after the suspension was announced that a grand jury is investigating Piggie on suspicion of income-tax evasion, fraud and money laundering. Rush returned last month to his hometown of Kansas City, Mo. to testify in Piggie's case. According to the Los Angeles Times, unidentified sources said a U.S. attorney from the Western District of Missouri met with an FBI agent and UCLA athletic director Peter Dalis a day before Rush was suspended. Dalis has said Rush's status will be determined when the school completes its investigation. The school said Friday that Rush will probably be allowed to rejoin the team for practice after Christmas, even though the direction of the investigation is uncertain. Rush, who started 22 of the 28 games in which he played as a freshman, came off the bench in all three games so far this season, averaging 11.3 points and 4.7 rebounds.
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