Tape Reportedly Reveals Violation by Missouri

A tape-recorded conversation between a Missouri assistant basketball coach and a former player’s mother allegedly reveals that the school broke National Collegiate Athletic Assn. rules by buying the player round-trip airline tickets.

The Kansas City Times, which reported the alleged violation in Monday’s edition, also said that the former player, P.J. Mays of Cincinnati, told Missouri athletic department officials in a taped conversation that he and two other players each received $100 from the assistant, Bob Sundvold.

Mays’ mother, Yvonne, said she reported the purchase of the airline ticket to Dick Tamburo, Missouri athletic director, and Carl Settergren, Missouri’s faculty representative to the NCAA and the Big Eight Conference, during a three-hour interview Sunday at Cincinnati.

Yvonne Mays said that Tamburo told her Sunday that Sundvold informed him of the violation nearly six weeks after the tape-recorded conversation.

Tamburo said Monday that he notified an NCAA official of the ticket purchases within the last two weeks, but said he has no knowledge of players being paid.