The article is by Greg Stewart from the Peoria Journal-Star and is about a minor league basketball team. At least, that is the jumping off point for a story about shady dealings and -- as the title of this post says -- the seemy underbelly of minor league sports.
Abdicated Kings were a royal pain
The first warning came Oct. 30, an e-mail from a person involved with the Rochester Fire and concerned about the future of his team's first year in the American Basketball Association."Based on what I know and have been told, our season will end tomorrow," the man wrote.
Several more soon followed, from him and others in the Rochester, Minn., area. By the time the Peoria Kings hosted Media Night on Nov. 1, my guard was up. A man named Steve Rodriguez, also known as Tony or Anthony Rodriguez, had apparently worn out his welcome in Rochester and was headed our way. So was Cynthia Hawkins, a business associate of Rodriguez and the Kings' new owner.
From there, the story goes into the background of Steve Rodriguez. That background includes "diploma mills" and "basketball factories" for foreign athletes. These boarding schools were in Florida and -- strangely -- Ladysmith, Wisconsin.
The PJ Star uses a report from a January 31, 2007 edition of the Chetek Alert about the Ladysmith school that went under. Just a quick taste that article:
Rodriguez was the third man in the ring. He, [Dean] Keagy, and [Christian] Pate formed the Florida-based DCS Management Group that started Concordia Prep. Rodriguez was a coach for the Miami Tropics, but was better known in southwest Florida as the founder of Florida Prep, a school that hosted several blue-chip basketball players during its five years of operation on five sites in four Florida cities.
Say that again? That's right, Florida Prep got around, literally. I did some digging and found several stories written by Chris Anderson and Paul Gilbert for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. It seems as though Rodriguez has had some issues in the past. The signature of a dead man on a corporate merger, the signature of a high-school dropout listed as a high school principal, and violations of immigration rules involving foreign students. Just enough to get Florida Prep kicked out of the Florida High School Athletic Association.
You should really click on that link to read the whole article about the short-lived Concordia Prep.
Okay, back to the original PJ Star story. The school in Ladysmith closed in January. By March, Rodriguez was in Rochester, Minnesota. What follows is a story about getting ready for the first season. I thought that the countdown to opening day was hectic for the baseball season. But, that is nothing compared to what the Rochester Fire and Peoria Kings countdown was like:
But Hawkins said she didn't have control over funds she raised. Hawkins said she sold 67 sponsorships to Rochester-area businesses and individuals, a claim verified by Post-Bulletin business reporter Jeff Kiger. Most of the sponsorships were in the $1,000 range, although five prominent businessmen kicked in $5,000 each.
"I thought (Rodriguez) was legit because the guys he got to buy in are the top guys in town," she said. "Everybody trusted Steve."
As the inaugural season approached, however, Rodriguez was conspicuously absent from every team function. On a day he was supposed to meet with several investors, he conducted a conference call. Unpaid bills were piling up, and Rodriguez was nowhere around, the Rochester newspaper reported.
Hawkins, who said she hadn't seen Rodriguez in person since July, called him to ask about the money. She said he e-mailed her a statement from a Bank of America account that showed a balance of $53,000.
"We're finding out there is no money," Hawkins told the Journal Star on Tuesday, the same day she folded the Kings.
As Keanu Reeves might say, "Whoa."
Now, here is the most interesting part in an interesting article. The American Basketball Association is -- to put it politely -- chaotic.
The ABA had about as much stability as a house of cards. At the start of the 2006-07 season, the organization's Web site (www.abalive.com) listed 53 current teams. Thirty-four of those were first-year operations, and at least 16 of them never started or folded before the season was over. Twice last season, divisions were realigned.
The Kings' schedule was changed a number of times as opponents folded (Anderson, Ind.) or moved (Aurora to Sauk Valley). Midway through last season, the CEO of the league, Joe Newman, was being sued by a minority interest of owners for control of the league.
Wednesday, the Web site listed 37 teams (including Peoria) in operation for 2007-08. The only standings listed were for the Blue Conference, which contained four divisions of four teams each based on the East coast.
It was hard to treat the ABA with a professional level of respect when constantly presented with such bush-league developments. Peoria already had strong relationships with two minor-league franchises - hockey's Rivermen and baseball's Chiefs - with direct ties to major-league parent clubs. It was soon apparent the town had little time or support for a rogue operation.
You very rarely see two articles in different newspapers about the same topic end with "Good riddance." This is one of those times.
This is also one of those stories that makes you appreciate what you have.
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