Mystery Surrounds an Alleged Payment to Mills : Newspaper Reports That Kentucky Sent $1,000 to Fairfax Star’s Father

The events surrounding the trail of money allegedly sent from assistant basketball coach Dwane Casey of the University of Kentucky to Fairfax High School star Chris Mills’ father remained a mystery Thursday. Instead, word of its existence was greeted with a chorus of no-comments from most who would know about this.

In Albuquerque, N.M., where his son is preparing to play in the McDonald’s all-star game Sunday, Claud Mills confirmed that he had talked with an investigator from the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. but said: “We don’t anticipate anything coming out of it because there’s nothing to come out.”

In New Orleans, where Casey went to interview for the vacant post as head coach at the University of New Orleans, he would only issue a no-comment.

In Lexington, Ky., where Wildcat Coach Eddie Sutton spent the day huddled with boosters and assistant coaches, the Kentucky coach declined comment. He did issue an expletive, however, and said, “I can’t believe it.”

In Los Angeles, Fairfax Coach Harvey Kitani said he finds all the allegations, “hard to believe.”

The allegations surfaced in a story that appeared in the Thursday editions of the Los Angeles Daily News. The story said that the University of Kentucky had begun an internal investigation into an allegation that Claud Mills was to receive $1,000 in the pouch of an Emery Air Freight package in return for his son going to Kentucky.

The story, citing Emery records and statements by employees, said that a package sent from Lexington to the Mills’ residence was discovered to be carrying $1,000 in cash when it accidentally opened in the firm’s Los Angeles office. Shipment records show that the package was sent March 30 by Casey to Claud Mills.

Chris Mills, a 6-foot 7-inch forward who was named City 4-A player of the year as a junior and came back to average 28.3 points last season, refused to comment on the story. When reached in his hotel room in Albuquerque, he didn’t say a word, instead handing the phone to his father.

Claud Mills refused to talk specifically about the allegations, referring all questions to a Century City attorney. Attempts to reach the attorney were unsuccessful. But the senior Mills denied any wrongdoing, by him or Kentucky, and said emphatically, “We will prove it.”

He declined to say how.

“We’re more hurt than surprised that someone would try to do this,” Mills said. “I don’t even know why they would do this. The whole thing is a mystery.”

Asked if someone was out to sabotage his son’s plans to play for Kentucky--Chris signed a letter of intent in November--Mills said yes.

“I really think so, but we’re going to let the attorney work that stuff out,” he said.

David Roselle, president of the University of Kentucky, reiterated a statement he had issued late Wednesday, saying that the university would cooperate with the investigation. He said that Kentucky had requested the NCAA to join the school in investigating the case last Saturday, one day after learning of the allegations.

The NCAA Committee on Infractions publicly reprimanded the university for not cooperating fully with an earlier investigation and ordered it to monitor athletic expenditures and report the results to the NCAA for three years. That investigation was prompted by a series of stories in the Lexington Herald-Leader, which quoted former players as saying recruits received cash, clothes and gifts dating back to the 1970s.

The NCAA said it found no proof of violations within its four-year statute of limitations.

UCLA officials remained confident that Darrick Martin, the Southern Section 5-A player of the year from Long Beach St. Anthony, will remain with the Bruins, despite comments to the contrary by his father.

“I’m sure (new UCLA Coach) Jim Harrick is a fine man and a fine coach,” Jesse Martin was quoted as saying in Thursday’s Los Angeles Herald Examiner. “But there are just too many things about the (UCLA) situation I just don’t like. “

Martin, who signed with the Bruins last Nov. 18, was recruited by recently fired UCLA Coach Walt Hazzard.

Jesse Martin said Wednesday that his son should be free to attend another school in September and be eligible right away because a foul-up in financial-aid papers had made the letter of intent invalid. He did not say what was wrong with the financial-aid papers.

Jesse Martin said he had called Pacific 10 associate commissioner David Price and asked that the letter be ruled invalid. But UCLA and conference officials said there is nothing wrong with the letter of intent or the financial-aid package.