Adidas America Dir of Basketball Promotions Sonny Vaccaro
has accused Nike of helping to initiate an investigation of him
by St. John's Univ. and the Big East as to whether two St. John's
players violated rules when they accepted airline tickets from
Vaccaro, according to Jeff Manning in the Portland OREGONIAN.
Earlier, Vaccaro had "railed against" Nike for paying thousands
of dollars to outfit New York high school basketball teams,
adding that Nike was "buying" the New York area schools because
too many of the top prep athletes were wearing adidas products.
Days later, Vaccaro was the subject of the St. John's probe.
Vaccaro not only "denies wrongdoing," but also accuses Nike, his
former employer, of initiating the action. Vaccaro: "There's no
question, my God. They rule the whole (basketball) category, but
they want to run Sonny out." Nike "disavows" any role in the
matter. Nike Spokesperson Erin Patton: "What Sonny has tried to
do is create a halo over adidas and himself. You can't have a
halo over your head and a pitchfork in your hand. His current
problems are evidence of that." Manning says this "provides
another illustration of the hostility between Nike and Adidas
America," and the "feud" has put some Nike coaches and players
"in an uneasy position" as they fear damaging their relationship
with Nike, but "refuse to turn their back on Vaccaro" (Portland
OREGONIAN, 10/24).
