Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, July 8, 1995                   TAG: 9507110007
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MIAMI                                 LENGTH: Medium

FIU PLAYER SAYS HE WAS PAID

A former Florida International player has told the NCAA that former coach Bob Weltlich paid him nearly $5,000, a charge Weltlich dismissed as ``ludicrous.''

The state school acknowledged mistakenly issuing checks to 12 to 15 athletes in 1993, but former guard Joe Leake of Virginia Beach, Va., said he received three checks totaling nearly $2,600 plus $2,278 in cash.

Leake moved to Florida International after playing two years at Old Dominion and is transferring to Hampton even though he had been recruited by FIU.

``In my two years at Old Dominion, I had never received a cash award like that,'' Leake said. ``I knew it was a violation. I don't know all the rules, but I know we're not supposed to receive money of that type.''

Weltlich characterized Leake, who left the school last year after one season, as a ``disgruntled player who had a stormy career'' who ``is trying to make FIU suffer.''

The NCAA enforcement department is obligated to investigate and ``will handle any potential violations of NCAA legislation,'' Stephen Mallonee, NCAA director of legislative services, told The Miami Herald for Friday's editions. He wrote a two-page acknowledgement letter to Leake on June 15.

Of the checks, FIU controller Jim Ketzle said the school issued funds from the meal-money portion of its athletic scholarship fund in the spring of 1993 and realized the error that fall. Athletic director Ted Aceto said the players were told to return the money.

But Leake, a 6-foot-3 guard, said Weltlich also handed him $2,000 in an unmarked envelope at their initial meeting in January 1993 after the player agreed to transfer to FIU. Leake said he and Weltlich never talked about the money.

Leake's parents, Joe Leake Sr. and Margaret, said their son told them of the $2,000 in January 1993. Their advice was to keep it and keep quiet.

``I told him not to ask questions and don't be stupid with the money,'' Leake's father said. ``I said, `Just don't throw it away on junk food.' If there was drugs or guns, I wouldn't support it.''

He also said Weltlich reimbursed him $278 for travel and lodging expenses to a University of Florida game in 1993 when Leake was ineligible for play.

Weltlich rejected the charges out of hand.

``That's totally absurd. That's so preposterous,'' he said. ``You're talking 25 years of coaching, and there's never been so much as an accusation against me. It sounds ludicrous.''

Leake said Chuck Stuart, FIU's leading scorer in 1993-94, cashed an FIU check for nearly $3,000 the same day Leake cashed his for $1,531. Stuart has never been asked to repay, Leake said.

Former starting point guard Matt Tchir told the newspaper Thursday that he received an FIU check for ``a couple of hundred dollars'' and has not been told to pay it back.