Higgins’ Mother Says He Was Not Coerced on Letter

The mother of Fairfax High School basketball star Sean Higgins said Thursday that her son was not coerced into signing the letter of intent with UCLA that he now wants voided.

Vickie Benson-Bey, speaking for the first time about the recruitment of Higgins, which is the subject of an inquiry by the NCAA and the Pacific 10, also denied inferences that she and Higgins’ stepfather received money to influence her 18-year-old son to sign with UCLA.

“The portrayal that UCLA or agents of UCLA would make monetary payment for the services of my son is . . . obscene and fiction,” said Mrs. Benson-Bey. “This has been blown out of proportion . . . people decided to make their little stories and flower them up.”

Higgins was quoted in a recent Sports Illustrated story as saying he did not want to sign a letter of intent with UCLA, that his stepfather, Clifford Benson-Bey, slapped him and threatened him with a baseball bat, and that he actually wanted to enroll at Michigan to be near his natural father. UCLA, which has not released Higgins from the letter of intent, turned the dispute over to the Pac-10.

The younger Higgins, who hasn’t spoken to other reporters, has moved out of his mother’s and stepfather’s home and now lives with relatives of his natural father, Earle Higgins.

Mrs. Benson-Bey said she had not asked her son what he actually told the magazine.

“That is not appropriate at this time,” she said. “I’m not going to break heads and say ‘Did you do this?’ and ‘Did you do that?’ because this is a family situation.”

Her husband was not present when she spoke to a reporter. She characterized any reports of physical coercion on Higgins as “ridiculous.” She said her husband had a “very good relationship” with Higgins.

“I wouldn’t let anybody chuck a bat at my son,” she said, although she later said that corporal punishment might have been used at times.

“(But) if he slapped Sean, Sean is our son, (and her husband) did no more than any other father would do to get his son’s act together. But there was no coercion or duress.”

The Benson-Beys moved into a new house in Inglewood, without Higgins, in January after paying more than $20,000 in closing costs and after paying off an outstanding federal income tax lien of nearly $6,000. According to Sports Illustrated, the lien was satisfied the day after Higgins signed the letter of intent with UCLA.

However, Mrs. Benson-Bey said the lien was paid off in December 1985. According to a source close to the Benson-Beys, the tax debt was satisfied when it was paid by check at that time but that the lien was not officially removed from the tax rolls until the Benson-Beys needed to do so before closing on the new house.

Mrs. Benson-Bey is a systems consultant for a downtown bank. Clifford Benson-Bey is a bus driver for the RTD.

“Under no circumstances has anyone paid for anything that has to do with my finances,” she said. “We haven’t done anything wrong.”

Jerry Roth, an attorney who also represents UCLA basketball Coach Walt Hazzard as well as assistant coaches Jack Hirsch and Kris Jason, assisted Mrs. Benson-Bey in assembling her financial records in advance of the NCAA and Pac-10 inquiry.

“That’s my limited representation of Vickie,” said Roth, who did not consider his involvement a conflict. Mrs. Benson-Bey said Roth helped her at her request.

Mrs. Benson-Bey also said Higgins never told her he wanted to sign with Michigan instead of UCLA. She did say that she didn’t favor Michigan as a school for Higgins, but not because of Earle Higgins.

Asked if she felt that she was in a tug-of-war with her ex-husband over their son, Mrs. Benson-Bey said: “I’m not pulling (but) there has been a tug.

“I still consider Sean a kid, 18 years old or not,” Mrs. Benson-Bey said. “My first concern is with my son. I’m just trying to put some strength back in my family. What’s happened is that people have been taking little bits and pieces and building a picture. It’s not a pretty picture. In some cases, it’s the wrong picture.”