Colorado Foundation’s Spending Is Detailed

The University of Colorado’s fund-raising arm spent thousands of dollars on country club memberships for football and basketball coaches, and until last year paid for a membership to a men-only club, newly released documents show.

After months of defending its secrecy amid accusations of financial mismanagement, the CU Foundation released thousands of pages of records and correspondence relating to the school’s athletics program.

The CU Foundation also announced that its board has adopted a new public disclosure policy “to be as open as it can be with its various publics,” said George Sissel, the foundation’s board chairman.

Some of the money spent on club memberships and other expenses came from an account that until earlier this year was called the Golden Buffalo Scholarship Fund.

Sissel said he was confident the foundation had done nothing improper. At issue is what are called discretionary funds, donations not designated for a specific purpose by donors that are available to coaches and academic administrators.

The release of records is the latest development sparked by a scandal in the school’s football program that included allegations of sexual assaults on female students.

The records show the foundation paid $17,285 in 2002 and $27,940 in 2003 to country clubs for memberships for Colorado coaches, including football Coach Gary Barnett and basketball coaches Ricardo Patton and Ceal Barry.

Byram said those fees came from several accounts, including the Golden Buffalo Scholarship Fund.

E-mail exchanges suggest that foundation and university officials struggled with how to pay Patton’s membership to Bear Creek Golf Club because it excludes women.

Former athletic director Dick Tharp wrote to a foundation employee that school policy “prohibits association with any organization that discriminates, etc.” Payments to the club for Patton ended last year, the documents indicated.

Gov. Bill Owens criticized the use of Golden Buffalo fund money, saying donors may not be aware their gifts weren’t going solely to scholarships.

Foundation President Michael M. Byram said the foundation has changed that fund’s name to the Colorado Athletics Fund to end any confusion.

Officials of the CU Foundation, which has assets of more than $760 million, contend it is a private organization that it is not covered by open records laws. Some of the newly released records were edited to protect what the foundation called personnel or donor privacy.

Boxing

Oscar De La Hoya said he has no immediate fight plans, but told the Puerto Rican newspaper El Nuevo Dia that “I’m not retired at all.”

He also said that when he does fight, it will be as a welterweight.

“From 147 to 150, that’s my natural weight. It’s almost impossible to do something in the 154 or 160 divisions, it’s too heavy for me.”

De La Hoya said he would decide his future in the coming weeks but rejected a possible rematch against former middleweight champion Felix Trinidad.

Trinidad beat De La Hoya in 1999 in one of the most eagerly awaited fights of recent years.

“If he wants to come down [in weight], the door is open. But it would not be very intelligent from my part to go up in weight,” De La Hoya said.

North American Boxing Federation flyweight champion Brian Viloria, a late replacement for Fernando Montiel, used the opportunity to win the main event at Grand Olympic Auditorium.

Viloria increased his perfect record to 16-0 with 10 KOs by knocking out Angel Priolo (30-2, 20) 54 seconds into the seventh round of a scheduled 12-rounder. Priolo had previously been down in the third round.

Montiel had been forced to drop out because of flu.

In the semi-main event, super-middleweight Librado Andrade also kept his record perfect (21-0, 15) by winning by TKO over Thomas Reid (33-14-1, 13). Their fight was stopped at the 1:52 mark of the fourth round of a scheduled 10-rounder.

Motorsports

Sprint Corp.’s agreement to buy Nextel Communications Inc. for about $35 billion might mean another name change for NASCAR’S top racing series.

Sprint Chief Executive Gary Forsee said the Nextel Cup Series would keep that name next season, its second under a 10-year contract worth about $70 million a year. The new company, to be called Sprint Nextel, would consider “new branding” for the Nextel Cup in 2006, he said.

Soccer

American midfielder Earnie Stewart returned to VVV Venlo, signing an 18-month contract with the Dutch second division team.

Stewart, 35, began his career at Venlo in 1989 and played 66 games with the club before spending more than a decade with other clubs in the Dutch league. He moved to Major League Soccer’s D.C. United last year.

Stewart has 17 goals in 101 appearances with the U.S. national team. He announced his departure from D.C. United last month, saying he wanted to conclude his career in the Netherlands.

The Australian Soccer Assn. is changing its name to Football Federation Australia, a symbolic move that Chairman Frank Lowy said is meant to bring the country in line with the majority of the world.

The United States, Canada and New Zealand are among the few countries that call the sport “soccer.”

Hockey

Goalie Dominik Hasek and the World Stars team of NHL barnstormers lost, 6-1, to Swedish Elite League club Farjestad at Karlstad, Sweden.

Ray Whitney of the Detroit Red Wings scored the World Stars’ goal in front of 6,037. It was his sixth goal of the European tour.

Winter Sports

Olympic gold medalist Janne Lahtela of Finland won a freestyle skiing World Cup moguls event at Tignes, France, edging two Americans.

Lahtela scored 26.45 points. Travis Mayer, the silver medalist at Salt Lake City in 2002, took second with 25.91 points, followed by Travis-Antone Cabral with 25.41.

Jennifer Heil of Canada won the women’s event with 25.94 points.

Jurisprudence

The coach and starter present when French skier Regine Cavagnoud was fatally injured during a practice session in 2001 will be charged with manslaughter, judicial officials at Annecy, France, said. Coach Xavier Fournier and starter David Fine are to appear before a court before the summer.

Cavagnoud, the 2001 super-G world champion, collided with German coach Markus Anwander in Austria in October 2001 while training with the German team.

Fine allegedly cleared Cavagnoud to start without being sure that his German counterpart, Tjesimir Peranic, had warned Anwander that Cavagnoud was beginning her descent. Peranic will not be charged.

Cavagnoud crashed into Anwander at 50 miles per hour and died of her injuries two days later.

Arena Football

Mike Ditka became a minority owner of the Chicago Rush.

The Chicago legend joins the likes of fellow Pro Football Hall of Famer John Elway (Colorado) and music stars Jon Bon Jovi (Philadelphia) and Tim McGraw (Nashville) as a team owner in the indoor league.

WNBA

Dee Kantner was hired as the WNBA’s supervisor of officials, responsible for recruiting and training referees.

Kantner was an NBA referee for five seasons.