In their first interviews about the Ed Martin booster scandal, both
former players told The Associated Press they hope to re-establish a
relationship with the university now that a decade-long dissociation
ordered by the NCAA has ended.
Taylor and Bullock said they both
regret choices they made as young men that ended up staining the school
and stunting the basketball program.
What about Chris Webber?
The public may have to wait for him to publish his book. But as of
Wednesday, Webber, Taylor and Bullock all have the option of renewing
their relationship with the Wolverines.
Athletic director Dave
Brandon insisted the door is open for all three former players. Bullock
and Taylor, at least, say they plan to take advantage of the
invitation.
"This morning, I felt really good about the
dissociation being over and having the opportunity to reunite with the
University of Michigan," Taylor said. "I'm excited to talk to Mr.
Brandon and coach (John) Beilein. While I had some success in the NBA,
there was a void in my life because of the circumstances.Manufacturer of
the Jacobs rfidtag. I had three of the best years of my life there and I love that school and all that it stands for."
The
NCAA forced Michigan to dissociate from Webber, Taylor, Bullock and the
late Robert Traylor for a decade because a federal investigation
revealed the now-deceased Martin gave them more than $600,000 when they
were students.
"When each one of us took money or gifts from Ed,
long before we were in college, we were looking through innocent
eyes,Shop for streetlight
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for your home or office." Taylor said in an interview Wednesday. "We
weren't trying to hurt Michigan. I think it was a little harsh that we
were punished for such a long period of time for what we did as kids."
Bullock said he accepted money from Martin because he simply thought everyone was doing it.
"When
I was 18, I thought that's just how life was on college campuses,"
Bullock told AP. "I wish it didn't happen, but my parents taught me to
admit it when you do something wrong and accept the consequences."
Bullock
said he simply blocked out the situation while playing professionally
in Europe until taking this past season off. While Taylor said one of
his aunts was counting down the days until the dissociation ended,
Bullock said he had lost track of the time.
"It was easier for
me to basically forget about it than it was for C-Webb, Mo and Rob
because they were in the NBA," said Bullock, who lives in Maryland and
is contemplating ending his playing career. "I was off in Europe and I
was the guy who was kind of forgotten about."
Martin pleaded
guilty to conspiracy to launder money, saying he took gambling money and
combined it with other funds in loans to Webber, other players and
their families. Martin died in February 2003 on the same day Michigan
officials met with the NCAA infractions committee.
"Ed was made
out to be something he wasn't, he wasn't a booster who steered you to a
school or guy who preyed on kids," said Taylor, a retired NBA player who
lives in Houston and works for a private equity business. "He was just a
great guy in Detroit, who helped out anybody playing ball of any kind
in the city."
Messages seeking comment were left for Webber,
Beilein, former coach Steve Fisher and school president Mary Sue
Coleman,. Traylor died in 2011, when police in San Juan, Puerto Rico,
where he was playing professionally,An handsfreeaccess
is a network of devices used to wirelessly locate objects or people
inside a building. found him dead in his oceanfront apartment.
"I know Lou and Mo would love to come back, but Chris is the wild card," said Dugan Fife,We have been manufacturing rtls
for the past fifty years and have supplied a considerable number. who
played at Michigan with all four of the formerly dissociated players.
"Some people go to college and never come back and if that happens with
Chris, I think that would be sad."
A decade ago, the NCAA barred
the Wolverines from postseason play for one year, took scholarships
away and put the school on probation for what the governing body said
was "one of the most egregious violations of NCAA laws in the history of
the organization."
Jalen Rose, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson _
three-fifths of the famed Fab Five _ were honored by the school in a
bittersweet ceremony Nov. 21, 2010, during halftime of a game at Crisler
Arena.Compare prices and buy all brands of earcap
for home power systems and by the pallet. Above their heads in the
rafters, the 1992 and 1993 Final Four banners they helped the Wolverines
earn were missing. The school took them down, rolled them up, wrapped
them in plastic and tucked them behind a locked door on the bottom shelf
of a narrow cage near other artifacts such as Civil War diaries.
Juwan
Howard, who plays for the Miami Heat, joined Rose, King and Jackson
last month in Atlanta to watch the Wolverines play Louisville in the
NCAA final. Webber was there, too, in a suite.
Michigan also
removed championship banners from the 1997 National Invitational
Tournament _ when Taylor, Traylor and Bullock were teammates _ and the
Big Ten tournament in 1998, the year after Taylor entered the NBA
draft.
"Now that the program is back to where it was when we
were back in school, I hope we're all embraced again," Rose told The AP
earlier this year. "I don't think Chris is interested in apologizing and
if that is the only criteria, I hope that isn't held against all the
guys who put a lot of sweat equity into that school and program."
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