POSTED: Tuesday September 29th 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Sidney Attorney Requests Congressional Intervention

Donald Maurice Jackson, the Principal of The Sports Group, a boutique sports law firm based in Montgomery, AL, has requested congressional intervention to investigate racial discrimination claims in NCAA enforcement actions and eligibility determinations.

Montgomery, AL, September 29, 2009——Donald Maurice Jackson, Principal of The Sports Group, has requested intervention from the United States House of Representatives and Senate to investigate a pattern of racially selective conduct by the NCAA Enforcement Staff and Eligibility Center.  According to Jackson, the NCAA has engaged in a pattern of selectively harsh treatment against African American student athletes.  In recent weeks, Jackson has provided considerable information to a number of congressional staffs regarding both ongoing NCAA investigations where athletes’ due process rights have been systematically denied and plans to supplement that information in coming days.  Currently, Jackson is engaged in an ongoing eligibility fight with the NCAA Eligibility Center over the amateur status of McDonald’s All American and Mississippi State signee Renardo Sidney.  The Eligibility Center has refused to provide evidence of any violations, refused to advise either the student-athlete or his family of specific allegations of violations, refused to provide the family or their attorney with the standard of proof to which they are being held and has, in effect, demanded that the family prove their innocence.  Representatives of the Eligibility Center, led by former NCAA Enforcement Representative Bill Saum, have demanded that Sidney and his family produce several years of bank records, income tax returns for family members (including grandparents) and cellular telephone records for every member of the family among other things.  In recent months, Jackson and the family have provided financial records, including cancelled checks, loan files from FDIC regulated lending institutions, leases, and documents establishing all of the family’s living expenses and the manner in which they were paid. Notably, the Sidney case was transferred to Saum’s division on July 1, 2009, where cases are processed with virtually no legal protections afforded to the student athlete, from the Enforcement Staff where student athletes are afforded slightly more legal protection.  This appeared to be an intentional effort to limit the legal protections available to the student athlete.   Several years ago, Saum led an NCAA division that attempted to declare former Jackson client and Kentucky and Louisville star, the late Marvin Stone, ineligible as a result of Western Union transfers sent to a middle aged engineer by the same name in Atlanta, GA.    Similarly former McDonald’s All American Mike Williams was investigated in a similar manner by Saum’s former division.  Williams was interrogated about flights and trips that he never took and was forced to miss six games during his freshman year at the University of Texas.  The University of Texas ultimately declared Williams eligible after Jackson demanded a due process hearing from the university.  The Atlanta engineer Marvin Stone entered into a confidential legal settlement with Western Union following their release of confidential information to Saum’s NCAA unit. 

“In recent years, I have seen a pattern of increasingly hostile and intrusive investigative tactics by the NCAA staff.  These harsh tactics, which have included denials of initial eligibility based upon invalidation of grades from state sanctioned, regionally accredited institutions and illegal, intrusive amateurism investigations have been disproportionately directed towards African American student-athletes and their families.    This has culminated in the most intrusive, initial eligibility evaluation in history.  The one consistent pattern that I have seen throughout these recent investigations has been the race of the overwhelming majority of the families and involved student athletes.  African Americans are disproportionately impacted by  these intrusive investigations, threatened with adverse eligibility consequences unless they voluntarily waive their rights under state and federal law and are more aggressively investigated.  Notably, the recent study released by the Michael L.Buckner Law Firm offered a clear picture of the manner by which race neutral NCAA legislation has been applied in a manner that impacts African Americans in a selectively harsh way.    Mr. Buckner is a former Consultant to the NCAA.  Candidly, the results of the Buckner study and my own involvement in eligibility reviews, amateurism evaluations and committee matters have uncovered a startling pattern of racially selective conduct.  The organization has attempted to cloak themselves in secrecy to hide from public scrutiny.  I have requested legislative intervention to address the disparities in treatment.  Candidly, many of the actions taken in recent years offend common sensibilities of right and wrong, violate federal law and demonstrate a startling arrogance.  The organization’s history in dealing with African Americans in the enforcement and eligibility process demonstrates either an intentional effort to discriminate or a troubling indifference to the manner by which NCAA rules are being applied by individual NCAA staffers with little or no supervision.  Either way, the results violate federal and state law and the only method for addressing these issue may be congressional intervention.  Every member of Congress and the Senate has NCAA member institutions in their respective states and districts that are being affected by this arrogant non-compliance with state and federal law.”, Jackson said.

The NCAA is currently under a consent decree with the U.S. Justice Department arising from the organization’s violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act resulting from the organization’s discriminatory application of initial eligibility bylaws to student-athletes with learning disabilities.  The Justice Department found that the NCAA violated the ADA.

Donald Maurice Jackson, a licensed attorney and the Principal of The Sports Group, advises organizations, student-athletes, coaches in NCAA enforcement matters and appeals.  He has appeared before the NCAA infractions committee and various other NCAA committees on behalf of member institutions, student-athletes and coaches.   In recent years, he has represented numerous high profile student athletes in NCAA investigative actions, including several McDonald’s and Parade All Americans.   Jackson is a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law and a former collegiate pitcher.  Jackson is the author of Fourth Down and Twenty Five Years to Go: The African American Athlete and the Justice System.

For more information, please contact Donald Maurice Jackson at 334.467.0545 or thesportsgroup@yahoo.com .

The Sports Group is a boutique law firm that, among other things, assists universities, coaches and student athletes with addressing issues in complex NCAA enforcement actions and appeals concerning fraud, amateurism, eligibility, unethical conduct and institutional control issues.  The Sports Group website can be located at www.thesportsgroup.org.

Following are initial correspondence sent to congressional staffs addressing the issues:

Exhibit 1

NCAA Investigative Tactics:

Dear Sir or Madam:

1. My name is Donald Maurice Jackson. I am an attorney based in Montgomery, AL and the Principal of The Sports Group (www.thesportsgroup.org). My practice group is a full service boutique sports law firm based in Montgomery. We provide legal services to NCAA and NAIA member institutions, coaches, athletes and prospective student athletes all over the country.

I am writing to request your staff’s review of the methods utilized by NCAA investigative staffers and representatives of the NCAA Eligibility Center as they relate to minorities, specifically African Americans. My practice has been substantially devoted to this fairly insular practice area for more than a decade. In recent years, I have noticed an increased focus on secondary schools populated by African Americans and an increased degree of scrutiny on the academic affairs and personal lives of African American student athletes and their families. In effect, race neutral NCAA legislation is being applied in a manner that has a disproportionately adverse impact upon African Americans. I believe that the enforcement methods have a discriminatory intent. (Notably, the NCAA is currently under a consent decree with the Justice Department resulting from the discriminatory application of their initial eligibility requirements to youngsters with learning disabilities. Accordingly, they have demonstrated a propensity to engage in discriminatory conduct.)

I am currently involved in a case involving a high profile youngster (whose family is originally from Jackson, MS) that recently signed a scholarship with Mississippi State University. His family has been advised that he will not be certified for initial eligibility unless his family produces bank statements to the NCAA and tax returns for the player’s grandparents documenting that the family had the financial capacity to support themselves. Further, the player was required to produce actual copies of his high school coursework from state sanctioned high schools to defend his former teacher’s grading decisions. Had the materials not been provided, he would have been denied academic certification. In my professional life, I have never seen a more intrusive and blatantly illegal action by a regulatory body.

At your convenience, please review my group’s website. I believe that you will find a depth of involvement in NCAA cases over the years that helps to establish the foundation of my concerns in this case.

I would love to speak with a member of your staff on this matter. I may be reached via cellular at 334.467.0545 for the remainder of the week. I will be in Washington, DC on business from midday tomorrow until Thursday evening and will be available at some point to address this further if you have questions. I may be reached via e-mail at thesportsgroup@yahoo.com.

Donald Maurice Jackson, Esq., Principal
The Sports Group
The Historic Union Station
300 Water Street, Suite 300-E
Montgomery, AL 36104
Website: www.thesportsgroup.org
E-mail: dmjackson@thesportsgroup.org
Cellular: 334.467.0545

Exhibit 2

NCAA Investigative tactics supplement:

1. I look forward to speaking with you relative to a pattern of NCAA enforcement activity that appears to be specifically targeted toward minorities. As you evaluate this issue, please consider the following specific examples:

1. During the summer of 2006, the NCAA Enforcement Staff and Membership Services Divisions engaged in an evaluation of secondary schools around the country (i.e. “diploma mills”). Many of the schools investigated were church affiliated schools and state sanctioned private secondary schools. Disproportionately, the schools that were investigated were either schools that primarily catered toward African American students, were themselves owned and/or operated by African Americans or were schools in urban or rural areas. Academic credentials from such schools were routinely rejected by the NCAA Eligibility Center. In effect, grades and transcripts from these schools were not accepted and literally hundreds of prospective student athletes were denied entry to NCAA member institutions. One of the schools that was affected was Laurinburg Institute, an African American secondary institution in North Carolina that has been in existence for over a century. Students from investigated schools were required to provide actual copies of course work, copies of grade books, etc. to establish the basis for their high school teachers’ grading decisions. If they were unable to do so, their academic credentials were summarily rejected and they were deemed “not certified” by the NCAA. My group counseled a number of secondary schools, NCAA member institutions and student athletes during the course of this investigation. Notably, the focus of the investigation was on schools with basketball programs notwithstanding the fact that initial eligibility bylaws are identical across the board for all sports. The investigation had and continues to have a disparate impact on African American student athletes and secondary schools that educate African American youngsters.

2. During the fall of 2002, a student-athlete at Mississippi State University, Mario Austin, was declared ineligible by the NCAA Enforcement Staff. The staff questioned several courses that he had taken as a tenth grader in Sumter County, Alabama. The staff’s rationale was that the NCAA Clearinghouse had made a mistake certifying him prior to his freshman year at MSU; he was declared ineligible as a junior. The NCAA questioned a decision that the Sumter County school system had made to “re-code” a number of courses. The school system was (at that time) still under a federal desegregation court order in the Lee. v. Macon case. Lee v. Macon was the federal court decision that desegregated schools in the State of Alabama. The decision to “re-code” the courses was made pursuant to the Lee case. Notwithstanding that, the NCAA opted to declare the player ineligible and question the content of his course work from the Sumter County school system. Sumter County is a majority African American school system located in the Black Belt of Alabama. The “re-coding” decision affected the entire school system. In effect, the decision by the NCAA to declare the player ineligible called his diploma (issued by an Alabama public school) into question. I represented the player in his eligibility appeal. We were required to provide live in-person testimony by an Education Specialist from the Alabama Department of Education (in Indianapolis) to get the player’s eligibility restored. Evidence indicates that such academic reviews are disproportionately focused upon African American student-athletes and secondary schools, including public schools, populated by high numbers of African Americans.

3. In recent years, the NCAA has engaged in a persistent pattern of intrusive amateurism evaluations. The evaluations are predominantly focused upon African American student-athletes. Notably, several years ago, such an evaluation focused upon Riverside Church in New York. The church sponsored a highly successful summer basketball program among it numerous ministries. Following an exhaustive investigation, at least one player was declared ineligible because a member of the church had apparently contributed to the private school tuition of one of that player. In such amateurism investigations, families are required to provide bank statements, cellular telephone records, income tax returns, car titles, utility bills, etc. to establish that they have the economic wherewithal to support themselves. These amateurism evaluations are disproportionately directed at African American families and student-athletes. In a particularly offensive recent interview, a client of my group! was questioned about whether he had enough food to eat growing up in Mississippi. In other previous cases, I have seen NCAA investigators attempt to declare a player ineligible (i.e. former Kentucky and University of Louisville basketball star Marvin Stone) over a Western Union wire transfer directed to a Marvin Stone in Atlanta, GA. Notwithstanding the fact, that Marvin Stone, the basketball player, provided documentation that he was in class in Louisville, KY at the time that the wire transfer was picked up, the Enforcement Staff attempted to move forward with the investigation. The wire transfer was picked up by an engineer named Marvin Stone in Atlanta, GA. There was no connection between the two men. The tone, tactics and underlying bases for amateurism investigations have a disproportionately adverse impact upon an insular group, African Americans. Further, the investigations are disproportionately targeted towards African Americans. I can provide considerable additional examples of such blatant abuses.

4. In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of academic reviews. In these reviews, student-athletes are required to justify the grading decisions of their high school teachers by providing copies of tests, assignments, homework assignments, terms papers, copies of teacher’s grade books, etc.. If they are unable to adequately convince NCAA staffers that they were entitled to the grades on their transcripts, their academic credentials will be rejected and they will be denied scholarships and admission to NCAA member institutions. These evaluations are disproportionately directed towards African Americans, particularly those that show academic improvement during their high school years. The fundamental belief is that African American student athletes are incapable of academic progress and improvement. Numerous African American student athletes have been denied scholarship opportunities in recent years as a result of these types of evaluations.

5. The NCAA is currently under a consent decree with the Justice Department arising from a discriminatory application of NCAA initial eligibility bylaws to student-athletes with learning disabilities. This conduct continues, specifically as it relates to African American student-athletes with such documented learning disabilities. My group has been involved in a number of such cases including one high profile case involving a Mississippi student athlete that was denied certification on two occasions prior to my group’s involvement. In effect, this student athlete was required to graduate from high school three separate times. He was advised by the NCAA to re-take a number of high school courses. He followed the road map that was set by the NCAA, re-entered his former public high school, took a number of courses via correspondence while he worked as a jailer in a county jail in southern Mississippi. The NCAA Eligibility Center still took the position that he was incapable of performing on the college level and granted him only a partial waiver. The racial undertones in that particular case were highly troubling. The student athlete is now in his third academic year at a Southeastern Conference institution and performing well academically. Race neutral NCAA eligibility legislation was applied in this and other similar cases in a manner that was highly discriminatory.

6. In recent years, the NCAA has made an effort to eliminate summer league coaches from the recruiting process. Many student athletes play summer league or AAU basketball around the country. Many of the coaches that organize, fund and coach these teams are African American. Terms such as “undesirable element” have been thrown around quite frequently in an effort to eliminate the influence of these coaches from the recruiting process and re-empower high school coaches (who are more likely to be Caucasian). Much of NCAA legislation in recent years has been devoted specifically to this effort to eliminate these summer coaches from the process. No such effort has been made to eliminate the influence or involvement of volunteer youth coaches in any other sport. Whether this trend is motivated entirely by race or the adverse impact is a coincidental byproduct of NCAA legislation, these recent rules certainly impact African Americans considerably more than other ethic groups. !

7. There is no specific standard of review or burden of proof in NCAA amateurism and academic evaluations. Further, student athletes and their families are denied protections that are otherwise guaranteed by state and federal law. In a current case, notwithstanding the fact that the NCAA has failed to establish any allegations or facts to establish a violation of any type, they are threatening to deny the eligibility of a former McDonald’s All American (and client of my group) unless his family produces bank statements for several years and his grandparents provide copies of their income tax returns. The NCAA has failed to specify what rule the family has allegedly violated (if any) and has failed to afford the family even basic due process. Such evaluations are more likely to involve African American student athletes and disproportionately affect African American student-athletes in an adverse way. In this and other similar cases, basic federal protections that are guaranteed under FERPA and state open records law are denied, as is the constitutional protection afforded under the due process clauses of both state constitutions and the U.S. Constitution. In light of the fact that African Americans are substantially more likely to be investigated, it is quite likely that the application and enforcement of these race neutral bylaws are being handled in a racially discriminatory fashion.

This is simply a brief snapshot of some of the issues. I am prepared to address additional issues in greater detail. I look forward to speaking with you further relative to this matter.

Donald Maurice Jackson, Esq., Principal
The Sports Group
The Historic Union Station
300 Water Street, Suite 300-E
Montgomery, AL 36104
Website: www.thesportsgroup.org
E-mail: dmjackson@thesportsgroup.org
Cellular: 334.467.0545

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Keywords · NCAA infractions · enforcement investigations · athletics · African Americans · student athletes · amateurism · academic certifications · Renardo Sidney · HBCU · Marvin Stone · Mike Williams

Name: Donald Jackson
Organization: The Sports Group
Email:
Phone: 3344670545
URL: http://www.thesportsgroup.org

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