Two weeks ago, Georgia Tech lost its 2009 ACC Conference Championship, was told that it has to pay a $100,000 fine, and is on 4-years of probation all because the NCAA found out that a friend of an employee of an Atlanta, Georgia sports agency provided impermissible benefits to a football player on that 2009 football team. Actually, it is more than that. The NCAA was upset that Georgia Tech failed to cooperate and interfered with the NCAA’s investigation of the impermissible benefits.
Georgia Tech Athletics Director Dan Radakovich confirmed that the employee of the Atlanta, Georgia sports agency is former Georgia Tech quarterback Calvin Booker. The NCAA infractions report points Booker to being with Demaryius Thomas and Morgan Burnett when the impermissible benefits were passed out. The impermissible benefits were $312 worth of clothing.
Georgia Tech believes that the NCAA has information that proves Booker was affiliated with is RFL Sports. Booker was once an RFL Sports client when he had dreams of playing professional ball. I have not heard much about RFL Sports in the past other than it being a small start-up football agency operated by Richard Kopelman and Terry Bolar, which hired NFLPA certified contract advisor Sean Stellato in the past. Kopelman left RFL Sports and started KLASS Sports. My notes indicate that Stellato went with Kopelman.
Demaryius Thomas has stated that he was offered a lot of things while in college, but did not take anything. He also made sure to say that his current agent (Todd France) never offered him anything, which is one of the reasons why he chose to sign with France.
Kopelman told a reporter that he has no knowledge of Calvin Booker “providing anything to anybody,” and that he was not involved in anything nor does he even know that anything even occurred. He also has stated that Booker never worked for him or RFL Sports in any capacity.
I see no reason not to believe Kopelman. Yet, Josina Anderson (who has done an absolutely tremendous job getting in touch with the parties surrounding this event), Tweeted the following on July 14 ago: When questioned by the NCAA, Thomas says it seemed investigators tried to confirm, “if Calvin Booker was a runner for Richard Kopelman.”
I assume that eventually Calvin Booker will have to speak up about who he was working for. Until then, the agent industry remains shady and clouded as usual.
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This article was written by Darren A Heitner on July 19, 2011. Mr. Heitner is the Founder/CEO of Dynasty Athlete Representation, a sports agency based in the Florida. He is also the Founder/Chief Editor of SportsAgentBlog.com and EntertainmentAgentBlog.com. Mr. Heitner has been interviewed on numerous occasions by sports radio and television shows including CNN, and has written for sports publications such as ESPN.com. He received his Juris Doctor from the University of Florida. He practices law with firm of Koch Parafinczuk & Wolf, P.A., with offices throughout Florida. This Article is being used by permission of the Author.
