UCLA Inquiry Figure Denies Higgins’ Claims

The UCLA alumnus whom Fairfax High School basketball star Sean Higgins claimed in a national magazine article had offered him fringe benefits if he signed with the Bruins denied the allegations Wednesday.

Steven Antebri also said he does not belong to any UCLA booster group nor has he given any money in support of the basketball program.

Higgins told Sports Illustrated that Antebri invited him to his Holmby Hills house before he signed a letter of intent with UCLA. At that time, according to the magazine, Antebri said he could make Higgins some money, get him a car and house him in his chauffeur’s quarters where Reggie Miller now lives.

Antebri characterized the allegations as “nonsense.”

“This is not conjecture, this is not hearsay, these are facts,” he said. “When the NCAA has their day in court with UCLA, I think all of this will be resolved and I think Sports Illustrated and Sean Higgins are going to be in deep trouble.”

Antebri, 43, admitted that he did meet Higgins before Higgins signed the disputed letter of intent, which is currently the subject of an investigation by the NCAA and the Pacific 10, but that others were present at the meeting and nothing improper was offered to Higgins.

However, the meeting might be considered a violation of NCAA recruiting rules that prohibit boosters and recruits from meeting off-campus.

But Antebri does not consider himself a booster, and therefore he believes that the meeting was permissible, even though he admitted the NCAA might not interpret it in the same manner.

“If by their definition I’m a booster, I can’t help that, but in my heart, I don’t look at myself as a booster,” Antebri said.

“I have no (financial) interest in the (UCLA) athletic department at all. Anybody that wants to characterize me differently is going to have to fight the facts, including the NCAA, because it’s just not true.”

Higgins wants UCLA to release him from his letter of intent because he was coerced into signing it by his stepfather, Clifford Benson-Bey, who threatened him with a baseball bat, Higgins told Sports Illustrated. UCLA refused to release Higgins from the letter and called in the Pac-10 to settle the matter.

Higgins has said he wants to attend Michigan, the state in which his father, Earle, lives.

Antebri acknowledged that he met with Higgins, but also present, he said, were Benson-Bey, Miller and former Fairfax basketball coach Marty Beigel, who arranged it, Antebri said.

UCLA Coach Walt Hazzard was unaware of the meeting, Antebri said. Hazzard would not comment and neither would UCLA Athletic Director Peter T. Dalis. Higgins also refused further comment.

Antebri, an executive in the Century City investment firm of Bear Stearns & Co., said several former and current UCLA basketball players have worked for him. Antebri said he paid “$6 to $8” an hour to Stuart Gray, Michael Holton, Rod Foster, Miller and Montel Hatcher.

Among Miller’s duties were filing and messenger work, Antebri said.

“I don’t know what the going rate is,” Antebri said. “I’m only telling you that that’s what I would pay anybody else that worked for me.”

Antebri said that in the last eight years, as many as 20 students have worked for him, but only a few have been UCLA athletes.

Antebri said he has been interviewed on two occasions by NCAA and Pac-10 investigators, who visited the quarters at Antebri’s house where Miller lives.

Miller’s living arrangement with Antebri might also be in violation of NCAA rules, if it were determined that Miller did not pay adequate rent, if he paid rent in excess of what he is allowed for housing as part of the UCLA stipend, or if he did not pay what the full market value of what the property would bring as a rental.

Antebri said Miller, who moved into the “shoe box” chauffeur’s quarters in September, is being charged “several thousand dollars” for the length of his 10-month stay.

“Reggie worked for me and asked me if he could stay there,” Antebri said. “I charge him what I thought was a fair and reasonable rent based on something that was not rentable. I didn’t think it was necessary to go and get it appraised.”

The quarters where Miller lives are very small and in a state of disrepair, Antebri said.

Antebri also said that he told his side of the story to both Dr. Douglas S. Hobbs, the UCLA faculty athletic representative, and Jerry Ross, an attorney representing Hazzard and assistant coach Jack Hirsch.

“They seem totally satisfied that what I did with both Reggie Miller and Sean Higgins was above board,” he said.

Besides meeting him at his house, Antebri said he saw Higgins only one other time, when they said hello at a UCLA basketball game. Antebri, who is a 1961 Fairfax High School graduate, said he had only a desire to meet Higgins after following his basketball success at his alma mater in the newspapers.

Antebri no longer thinks highly of Higgins.

“He’s obviously been counseled by professionals,” Antebri said. “If you met with Sean Higgins at any time, he has trouble putting three words together. He was rather vacuous when he was in my house. And he wasn’t even able to carry on a dialogue. I mean the guy was just in outer space.

“For him to be saying that I was going to be making him money, and that was one of the things that he characterized (in the magazine article), I didn’t think he was capable of figuring something like that out.

“I can’t pass on the integrity of the situation, whether or not there’s some ticky-tack violation,” he said. “I only know that my intention was to meet with an alumnus of my high school. I did it on my own recognizance. I did not consult with the school.”

Antebri said he would take action against Higgins and Sports Illustrated because it is endangering his investment business.

“I think they’ve been malicious and reckless in taking an 18-year-old’s statement and publishing it without regard for what his possible motivation might have been. . . . I’m not so sure that we don’t have millions of dollars worth of damage. This kind of (thing) does not do me any good.”

Sports Illustrated also reported that the investigators have looked into the financing of a new house in Inglewood purchased by Higgins’ mother and stepfather.

According to the magazine, the Benson-Beys would have needed about $23,000 to cover closing costs and that Clifford Benson-Bey, a bus driver, could not have closed the house until he satisfied nearly $6,000 in outstanding federal income tax liens.

The liens were removed one day after Higgins signed with the Bruins, the magazine said, according to Los Angeles County records.