A special panel at Southern Methodist University...

A special panel at Southern Methodist University has named Sherwood Blount, former SMU football star, as one of five boosters banned for life from associating with its football program.

Also released were the names of other boosters banned for varying lengths of time in 1985, after the program was put on probation by the NCAA. However, SMU says it still can’t identify who was behind additional payments--estimated at $61,000--to SMU players in 1985-86. Those payments resulted in a one-year ban on the university’s football program.

The names were issued at the order of the SMU board of governors, in the wake of Texas Gov. Bill Clements’ disclosure that SMU officials agreed to “phase out” payments to players instead of ending them immediately.

Published reports identified Blount as the booster who paid $5,000 to Pennsylvania schoolboy Sean Stopperich and arranged a job for Stopperich’s father. Stopperich never played for SMU because of injuries and told the NCAA of the improper payments.