Documents Show Oklahoma Asked Dealership Who Bought, Used Cars

Friday, December 15th 2006, 8:17 pm

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) The University of Oklahoma asked an attorney for a Norman car dealership to provide a list of players who used vehicles from the dealership during an investigation that resulted in the dismissal of two players from the school's football team.

The university released two pages of documents Friday after an open records request by The Associated Press. The documents are a letter from the university's legal counsel, Joseph Harroz Jr., to Jeff Atkins, an attorney for David Hudiburg, the current owner of Big Red Sports and Imports, and an attachment to that letter.

In the letter, dated September 5th, Harroz asks Atkins to require two employees be made available to interview with university officials. It said that OU had no reason to believe the employees were involved in any NCAA violations but that their testimony was needed ``to clarify and confirm our current understanding of the relevant facts of the matter.''

Among the documents requested in the attachment to the letter are the dealership's service records for an unknown number of people; tax forms, paycheck stubs and-or timesheets from 2005 and-or 2006 for 10 student-athletes; and ``names of football student-athletes who have made purchases from Big Red, driven Big Red vehicles and-or had their vehicles serviced by Big Red.''

The names on the list of requested documents were redacted.

In an earlier investigation, OU had looked into the circumstances by which tailback Adrian Peterson bought a car and then returned it to the dealership several weeks later. The university determined the arrangement did not violate NCAA regulations.

OU athletic department spokesman Kenny Mossman said the university had no comment on the documents released Friday.

Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops kicked two players, starting quarterback Rhett Bomar and offensive lineman J.D. Quinn, off the team on August 2nd after an investigation revealed the two broke NCAA rules through their employment at Big Red. Hudiburg bought the dealership in April, after the alleged violations occurred, and Atkins has said that no Oklahoma players have worked at the dealership since Hudiburg became its owner.

Bomar has transferred to Sam Houston State and Quinn has transferred to Montana. The NCAA has ruled they must sit out one season and lose a season of eligibility.

The NCAA told the university in October that it had officially begun an investigation into the alleged violations by Bomar and Quinn. The NCAA had told the university that it hoped to finish its work by November 1st.