DALLAS -- Southern Methodist University has extended sanctions against only one of nine boosters banned in 1985 from associating with the university's scandal-ridden football program.
University officials this morning made public for the first time a list of the nine boosters -- five of whom have been banned for life -- for illegal payments to players and other violations of NCAA regulations.
Revelations that some members of the school's Board of Governors agreed to continue illicit payoffs to football players even after the school was placed on probation by the NCAA in 1985 has resulted in a series of investigations, calls for reform and a campus demonstration.
Leon Bennett, the university's vice president for legal affairs, said today's list did not take into account reported violations by SMU boosters occurring after the NCAA placed the university on probation in 1985 for a variety of violations, including making cash payments to football players and engaging in illegal recruiting. Boosters named in the report issued today were:
-John Appleton, Dallas investor and long-time financial supporter of SMU football. Appleton was banned in 1985 for three years from associating with the football program, but today's SMU statement said the ban would be made permanent.
The ban was extended because Appleton in 1985 hosted an assistant SMU football coach at his summer home in Wisconsin. Appleton originally was banned for paying for car repairs for an SMU football player involved in an auto accident.
-Sherwood Blount, a former SMU football player in the 1970s now working as a real estate developer in Dallas, permanently banned from associating with the football program. In their statement today, SMU officials noted that published reports have linked Blount to additional payments to SMU players since August 1985.
'The university has been presented with no evidence to the contrary and has no reason to doubt the newspaper reports,' the SMU statement said.
-Ken Andrews, banned fromassociating with SMU football for three years for offering to provide a recruit and his parents with clothing, automobiles and cash to attend SMU. The athlete did not attend SMU, and Andrews has denied any wrongdoing.
-Ronnie Horowitz, banned for life for loaning a prospective athlete an automobile and entertaining him at a local restaurant. The athlete did not attend SMU.
-George Owen, permanently banned in 1985 from associating with SMU football. The Dallas Morning News reported last year Owen had provided a rent-free apartment to SMU tight end Albert Reese. Owen denies any favoritism was shown toward Reese, who was suspended for the final two games of SMU's 1986 football season.
-Corpus Christi businessmen Jack Ryan and his son, Reid Ryan, who were involved in allegedly improper recruitment of a Corpus Christi-area athlete who did not attend SMU. Jack Ryan was banned from associating with SMU football for five years, and Reid Ryan, for two years.
-William F. Stevens, banned permanently for alleged involvement in impropoer recruiting of four football prospects.
-George Wilmot, banned for three years for taking a recruit and his parents to dinner at a Dallas restaurant in March 1983.
The sanctions against Blount stem from payments made to Pennsylvania football star Sean Stopperich, who signed with SMU in 1984 but later left before ever playing on the team.
'It should be made clear that persons cited in this report are those disassociated in 1985 and do not relate to actions recently under investigation by SMU and the NCAA, Bennett said.
David Berst, the NCAA's director of enforcement, said the regulatory organization would have no comment on the statement.
'We won't have any reaction to it,' Berst said, speaking from NCAA headquarters in Mission, Kan. 'The information submitted (to the NCAA Committee on Infractions) will be reviewed in due course by the Committee on Infractions and our response will be forwarded directly to the university.
'There will be no public comment at all from the NCAA.'
The decision to continue payments to players was made in 1985 while Gov. Bill Clements was between terms but serving as chairman of the board of governors. Months later, on Aug. 16, 1985, the NCAA placed the school on three-years' probation for paying football recruits.
On Feb. 25, the NCAA canceled the Mustang's football season for 1987 when it discovered several football players still receiving illicit payments.
In Austin Tuesday, Clements apologized for the payments and called them a mistake.
