Saturday, July 03, 1999
Basketball scandal hits ex-official
Former cabinet worker indicted
The Associated Press
MADISONVILLE, Ky. — A former Transportation Cabinet official whose son was a University of Kentucky basketball standout has been charged with planning youth basketball tournaments when he should have been working for the state.
Eddie Ford, father of Travis Ford, who played at Kentucky from 1991 to '94, was indicted by a Hopkins County grand jury. A summons was issued Thursday, Circuit Clerk Paul Summer said. Arraignment is July 19.
The misdemeanor charge of first-degree official misconduct is punishable by up to a year in jail and a $500 fine.
Mr. Ford resigned in April as administrative manager of the Madisonville District Office.
He is the director of two youth basketball tournaments: the Nike Bluegrass Classic that was held May 28-30 in Lexington and the Kentucky Prep Festival, July 8-11 in Louisville.
Capt. Mike Sapp said a Kentucky State Police investigation found that planning those tournaments might have gotten in the way of Mr. Ford's duties for the Transportation Cabinet.
A complaint from the cabinet led police to find “evidence he was using the office for private, unauthorized work,” Capt. Sapp said.
Basketball tournaments were “part of it,” Capt. Sapp said. He did not elaborate. He said evidence presented to the grand jury included interviews with co-workers and “mostly materials found in the office.”
Mr. Ford worked for the highway department for about 15 years. In April, he said he had retired from his job and that he didn't consider allegations against him at the time “anything to talk about.”
This was the first year the Nike Bluegrass Classic was held. Mr. Ford said in May he was hired by Nike as the on-site director of the event, which drew more than 800 14- to 17-year-old boys from around the country and was held at three sites on the University of Kentucky campus.
UK athletics director C.M. Newton said in May that his department was not involved in the tournament except for leasing school facilities to Nike. He said Mr. Ford had contacted him about the possibility of the tournament being at UK.
Nike spokesman Dean Stoyer issued this statement:
“While under contract as a consultant with Nike, Eddie Ford was expected to use his free time to work on any Nike-related activities or events as the on-site director for Nike's Bluegrass Classic. To our knowledge, Mr. Ford was no longer under full-time employment and had not been for some time and was therefore free to spend the necessary time on our event.”
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