Des Moines Register
05-04-06
Hotel executive loaned car to Hubalek
A Marshalltown family is identified as the focus of an ISU probe into possible
improper benefits.
RANDY PETERSON AND TOM WITOSKY
REGISTER STAFF WRITERS
Copyright 2006, Des Moines Register and Tribune Company
A Marshalltown businessman who once donated money to Iowa State is at the
center of a questioned relationship with Cyclone basketball player Jiri Hubalek.
Leon Schade, director of Inns of Iowa, which operates three Marshalltown hotels,
said Wednesday that he has been interviewed by independent university
investigators about the possibility of Hubalek receiving improper benefits from
Schade's family.
The relationship between the Schades and Hubalek, a 6-foot-11 junior-to-be,
started before the player from Prague, Czech Republic, transferred from
Marshalltown Community College to Iowa State last fall.
Schade, a University of Iowa football season ticket-holder, told The Des Moines
Register he loaned Hubalek the family's 1992 Chrysler car and purchased a pair
of pants before the Cyclones left for a trip to Hawaii last November. Schade said
he checked with former Iowa State assistant coach Damon Archibald before
continuing that relationship when Hubalek entered school last fall.
"I don't know how all this is going to end up, but I didn't intend to hurt anyone or
do anything illegal," Schade said. "My wife and I just got back from Prague,
where we visited with Jiri's parents. Jiri's like our adopted son. He considered us
to be his American parents.
". . . If we're trying to hide something with Jiri, do you for a second think that we'd
put a 6-11 basketball player in a car with Hawkeye license plates?"
A former university rules compliance officer said Wednesday that Iowa State's
investigators must establish whether the relationship began because Hubalek
was an athlete, and whether Schade or his family are Cyclone athletic boosters.
"The first question is whether the relationship between a family and a student is
athletically based," said B. David Ridpath, an associate professor of sports
management at Mississippi State and former compliance office at Marshall
University. "If it began that way, then the NCAA likely will look at any kind of
assistance provided by the family as a booster's assistance."
Schade said Wednesday that he donated money to Iowa State "in the 1980s
when we lived in Conrad and bought Iowa State football season tickets."
NCAA rules state that once an individual or company is identified as a
representative of athletic interests — commonly known as boosters — that
identification remains indefinitely.
Former NCAA investigator Rick Evrard said if the relationship began and
continued "to be athletically based," then an NCAA rule that prohibits athletes
from receiving benefits from boosters could apply.
NCAA rules forbid athletes from receiving clothing or other items for free or at a
discount from any institutional employee or booster. The rule book also bans
institutional employees or boosters from providing athletes with an automobile or
use of an automobile.
Rules permit athletes to accept meals from a booster on infrequent and special
occasions as long as the meal is provided in the booster's home, not a
restaurant.
"The question in cases like this is whether there was a violation of the
amateurism rules, or the rules governing representatives of athletic interests,"
said Evrard, a lawyer at a Kansas City law firm considered to be one of the
leading experts in NCAA compliance issues.
Iowa State coach Greg McDermott said he has talked with Hubalek about the
relationship.
"In my conversations with Jiri, whatever happened was innocent," McDermott
said Wednesday. "No one meant to do anything wrong deliberately."
Schade said he contacted Iowa State in an attempt to understand NCAA rules.
"Last August or September, I talked with coach Archibald," Schade said. "I said
we've been friends with Jiri ever since he came to Marshalltown, and I asked
(Archibald) what can we continue to do for Jiri?
"Coach Archibald asked if we were supporters or boosters of Iowa State, and I
told him . . . 'No, I'm a Hawkeye.' He asked if we'd given any money to Iowa
State, or if we had Iowa State season tickets, and I told him we didn't.
"He then said that if that's the situation, that we could do anything we wanted."
Archibald, who lost his job when coach Wayne Morgan was fired after last
season, said he vaguely remembers the conversation.
"I believe I talked to them on the phone, but I cannot recall the entire
conversation," Archibald said. "I will put my knowledge of NCAA rules and
compliance record against anyone in the country. I wouldn't jeopardize my family,
career, co-workers or reputation" by breaking a rule.
"I don't answer questions for everyone on an individual basis, but what I do is
refer them to the compliance office."
Schade said later, in a separate interview, that he forgot about the one year he
purchased season tickets and donated money to Iowa State.
"That was a long time ago," he said. "You'd be taxing my memory to come up
with how much we gave."
Iowa State's investigation started last week after Schade called the school's
compliance office with a question.
"Jiri came over to the house a week or so ago to eat, and my wife and I
mentioned to him that instead of driving that small car that we loaned him
around, why not see if we can buy him another car, this time a full-sized car,"
Schade said. "We looked at it, he said it was perfect, and I thought that I'd get it
for him, until one day I was at the doctor.
"I mentioned to Doc - he's a good ol' Iowa State fan - what I was thinking about
doing, and he said that I'd better check it out before I did anything.
"I called Iowa State, and I thought the gods were coming down out of the
heavens. We didn't buy him the car."
Schade said his relationship with Hubalek stemmed from a conversation with
former Marshalltown Community College coach Denny Aye.
"Coach Aye said he's got a ballplayer from Prague coming in," Schade said. "A
bonding took place, and that bonding remains today."
Their relationship consisted of meals at the Schade home, meals at the Schades'
Marshalltown hotels, and the use of the car.
"There's another 6-11 kid on the team, and it's Ross Marsden from Ames,"
Schade said. "If he wants a hot dog, he can go home and get a hot dog. What in
God's name can Jiri do? When he wanted a hot dog, we gave him a hot dog.
"I just hope and pray Jiri is on the court next year. If he isn't, I'm going to be
devastated, because I was just innocently trying to be a friend to a guy who's a
very long ways from home."