Cocaine Allegation Denied by Holieway : Courts: His former roommate at Oklahoma testifies that the two used the drug while in college.

Charles Thompson, former University of Oklahoma quarterback serving a two-year sentence for selling cocaine, testified this week in Oklahoma federal court that he, Jamelle Holieway and other members of the Sooner football team used cocaine.

Thompson also said then-coach Barry Switzer suspected the Sooner players were taking the drug.

Thompson was testifying in the trial of John Green and Lamont Harris, former Oklahoma athletes accused of supplying Thompson with cocaine in January of 1989. Thompson sold the drugs to an undercover FBI agent, which resulted in his arrest and later conviction.

During Monday’s and Tuesday’s testimony, Thompson said he and his roommate, Holieway, the 1984 Los Angeles City high school player of the year, used cocaine several times together.

In an interview with The Times Tuesday, Holieway denied the allegation.

“It’s not true,” he said. “I didn’t do cocaine.”

Holieway, a star at Banning High in Wilmington, started for much of his four-year career at Oklahoma. As a freshman, the option quarterback led the Sooners to a national championship.

Holieway is an assistant coach in charge of running backs and quarterbacks at Long Beach City College.

Holieway, who failed to gain a place on the roster of the British Columbia Lions of the Canadian Football League last summer, said he tested positive for marijuana in a drug test administered by Oklahoma athletic officials. Holieway said he was at a party where a marijuana cigarette was being passed and he took some puffs.

“That was that,” he said. “The next day I had a drug test.”

Thompson also targeted Holieway in his book, “Down and Dirty: The Life and Times of Oklahoma Football.”

“The way I look at it, my name is bigger than his, so he brought me into it,” Holieway said. “It’s a whole big publicity thing to sell the book.

“It’s ruining my life. It’s giving my family a bad reputation. If you’re down and out, why bring everyone else into it?”

Holieway said he had talked to Thompson once since Thompson entered prison in Oklahoma.

“In jail, he was telling me how the book was going, but that was over a year ago,” Holieway said. “What he’s done has caught me off guard. It’s wrong to go out and belittle another man for money.”

Holieway said the Long Beach City College players have discussed the situation with him. “When they asked me, basically it was hard to sit there and say no,” Holieway said. “All I told them was don’t get caught up in that scene like I did. But I learned from it.”

Holieway said that although he was close with Thompson on the field, they did not have the same friends. He said he did not see Thompson use cocaine while they were roommates. But he said many Oklahoma players would attend parties with fraternity schoolmates where cocaine, pills and other drugs were present.

After testing positive for marijuana, Holieway said he abstained from taking drugs, but drank alcohol at those parties.

Holieway said he is concerned about the repercussions over the latest episode at Oklahoma. “I don’t believe I did anything wrong, but how will people look at me now?” he asked. “How can I speak? What about when I go for a job interview?”

Thompson testified that Switzer ordered him and Holieway to undergo drug tests in the spring of 1988. Thompson said Switzer went to their apartment and ordered them to take the test when they at first failed to appear for the tests.

Thompson said he was ordered to undergo a five-day rehabilitation program after testing positive three times in the spring and summer of 1988.

Thompson said that after his arrest, Holieway expressed concern about his name surfacing. In an interview last year, Holieway said he contacted Thompson to offer support. Holieway denied at the time that he was involved in Thompson’s situation.