From: crs@stein.u.washington.edu (Cliff Slaughterbeck)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.football.college
Subject: More info on Ch. Rice / Hobert (was Re: Trouble at the UDub)
Date: 9 Nov 92 18:04:13 GMT
Article-I.D.: u.1992Nov9.180413.27669
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle

andy@sunloop.Sun.COM (Andy Knipp SE Andersen) writes:
>crs@stein.u.washington.edu (Cliff Slaughterbeck) writes:
>>
>>The guy who gave Hobert the loan is NOT a booster or an alum of the UW.  He
>>is not affiliated with them in any way.  He may suffer from a very bad sense
>>of judgement, but apparently, so does Hobert.
>>
>
>   <NCAA regulations deleted>..
>
>I have seen no speculation that this guy could be an agent or a 
>front man for an agent. That was my first thought when I saw the
>articles.  I assume that the Seattle papers might have mentioned
>this possibility ?

The Seattle papers did not mention the possibility of Rice being an agent.

For those of you who are not in the know, I am from Idaho Falls, ID and
my parents still live and work there.  Charles Rice, according to my
father, is a long time area resident who headed Aerojet Nuclear corporation's
administration of the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (a national lab).
Aerojet employed about 10,000 people.  When Aerojet lost the contract to
administer the INEL, instead of going back to corporate headquarters, Rice
got togther with some friends and founded Energy, Inc. a firm specializing
in alternative energy sources and technical assistance.  The firm grew to
about 1,000 employees at it's peak, when Rice was forced out by the board
of directors, presumably at great financial gain to himself.

My dad used to play basketball against Rice and still knows him a little
because of his work with the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).
He was really surprised to learn of Rice's role in the loans, since he
has always considered him somewhat fiscally (and politically) conservative.
He wasn't certain, but thought that Rice was from Oklahoma.

According to UPI (through Clarinews), Hobert never told the UW anything
specific about the loan.  His inquiries were along the lines of "If
I got a loan from somebody not connected with the University in any way,
would that be OK?"  The coaches mistakenly told him that it was OK to do
that.  As I mentioned before, it is OK for athletes to get loans, it is not
OK for them to guarentee payback based on future earnings potential as a
professional.  Apparently, this is what Hobert and Rice did.  The loan 
documents do not mention the means that Hobert was to use in order to pay
back the loan, but it seems to have been a mutual understanding that this
is what would happen.

The Pac Ten and UW are expected to make their preliminary ruling by midweek
at the latest.  The NCAA will probably not investigate any further until
after the end of the season, and is unlikely to hand out any penalties 
stiffer than those administered by the Pac Ten.

****************************************************************************
Cliff Slaughterbeck           * 
Dept. of Physics, FM-15       *   Hey Matt!  The diffusion pump is full of
University of Washington      *   water again!
Seattle, WA 98195             *
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Newsgroups: rec.sport.football.college