Advertisement Might Violate NCAA Regulations

In Wednesday’s Times sports section there was a full-page advertisement for the Industry Hills and Sheraton Resort in the City of Industry. The ad boasted that the Ohio State football team had stayed at the complex.

The ad contained a picture of the team, with all 140 players appearing to have posed on the complex’s golf course. They didn’t. A team picture was superimposed on a picture of the golf course with the hotel in the background.

But that isn’t the problem.

The problem is the NCAA does not permit athletes with eligibility remaining to have their pictures or names used for advertising purposes.

It occurred to Ken Peters, sports editor of the Los Angeles bureau of the Associated Press, that NCAA regulations were being broken. Peters assigned reporter John Nadel to look into the matter.

David Berst, the director of enforcement for the NCAA, explained the rules to Nadel and said he wasn’t able to make a judgment on the ad “until all parties have something to say about the matter.”

Andro Lucich, director of marketing for the hotel complex, told Nadel that Ohio State officials had given their permission to use the picture for promotional purposes. Lucich, however, was unable to name the Ohio State officials who had approved the ad.

Rick Bay, Ohio State athletic director, told The Times: “As far as I know, they had no authorization to use it (the team photo). It bothered me when I saw it this morning. We never endorse a business or an enterprise.

“Without knowing for sure, my feeling is they (the hotel people) acted on their own. It’s pretty easy to get a copy of a team picture.”

Bay is one of the few Ohio State officials not staying at Industry Hills. He was reached at at the Huntington Sheraton in Pasadena Wednesday night.

“From everything I’ve heard from our people staying out there, it’s a great hotel and they’ve treated us very well,” Bay said. “We would tell them that privately but never publicly endorse their business.”

The space for the ad was purchased through an ad agency, Charles Sweeney and Associates, which specializes in hotels and restaurants. The ad arrived at The Times already made up and ready to print.

Lucich said that team pictures were requested before the team arrived Dec. 26. “They submitted this particular photo of the team, which is what we wanted,” Lucich said. “Obviously, they knew and were aware that it would be used for promotional purposes, however we wished to use it.

“It’s just a plain roster of their team and includes trainers and coaches,” Lucich added. “We wanted to acknowledge the team while they were here. The photo was probably taken back in Ohio. We’re not trying to say we actually staged this.

“The Ohio State officials here have already seen the ad and there have been no objections to it. They complimented us on it.”

The hotel complex purchased 350 extra copies of Wednesday’s paper and handed them out to team members and officials.

“Everything that we had planned here was done openly,” Lucich said. “Our intentions were sincere in acknowledging the Big Ten champions. That’s the impression we had from the beginning, that nobody objected to us using this photo in any way. Otherwise, I think we would have heard about it earlier.

“We meant no harm to Ohio State or the NCAA. We asked their (Ohio State’s) permission and they said yes.”

Pete Pino, general manager of the hotel complex, told The Times: “The background shot of Industry Hills is the same one we use in color advertisements in The Times magazine section on Sundays. The team picture came from them. We showed the composite to them (Ohio State officials) and they thought it was fine.”

The NCAA’s Berst said: “Occasionally, this kind of thing occurs unknown to the athletes involved or to the institution. When it does occur, the institution or the athletes are expected and required to take every action possible to stop what’s occurring. When such advertisements appear unknown to the athletes, then action is required to stop the ad.

“I don’t have the ad and I haven’t talked to any of the people involved. I’m not prepared to say what’s happened clearly violates NCAA rules. I do not know that and would not know that until all parties have something to say about the matter.”

Claudia Dinges, Ohio State’s assistant sports information director, said in Columbus that she wasn’t aware of the situation.

“I’m not aware of anything being sent to the hotel before the game, although I’m not denying that might have happened,” she told the Associated Press. “The administration at Ohio State, particularly Jim Jones, who has responsibility for keeping us informed of the NCAA rules, has us all aware of those regulations.”

Jones is Ohio State’s senior associate director of athletics. An attempt to reach him at Industry Hills Wednesday night was unsuccessful.

“We decline to send materials that might be used that way and try to explain that we would be endangering the athletes’ eligibility,” Dinges said. “I can’t imagine someone giving a picture for that purpose. I would deny such a request were it made to me. That very kind of thing has been said by the NCAA to be a real emphasis for this season.”

The eligibility of Ohio State quarterback Mike Tomczak was suspended by the university in June, 1983 after his picture appeared on the back cover of the May issue of Columbus Monthly magazine in an advertisement for a local department store chain.

However, Tomczak was reinstated after being cleared by the NCAA, at least in part because he received no money and did not miss any games.