The Chapel Hill-Carrboro (NC) School Board rejected a
"gift" from adidas of warm-up suits, shoes and other items,
valued at $2,319, according to Deborah Robiglio of the
Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER. The board said that "they were
concerned about an appearance of an endorsement or
relationship between a high school athletic team and a shoe
company" and that "they were drawing a line against creeping
commercialism." Board members were also concerned about
"the ways that the companies attract players to their
camps." The fear that the school "could become vulnerable
to the influence of agents" was also expressed by the board.
Adidas offered the gift after East Chapel Hill High School
junior basketball player Chris Hobbs attended its basketball
camp last summer (Deborah Robiglio, NEWS & OBSERVER, 10/16).
VOLUNTEER ARMY: In Nashville, David Climer writes,
"Word has it that adidas [PR reps] went ballistic and placed
phone calls to USA Today," over it publishing a photo of
Univ. of TN football coach Philip Fulmer wearing a Nike hat.
Univ. of TN was "under contract with Nike until" its deal
with adidas in '97. The picture, however, was taken from a
game prior to the '97 season (Nashville TENNESSEAN, 10/16).