By Robbie Neiswanger
Arkansas News Bureau • rneiswanger@arkansasnews.com
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas has self-reported a secondary NCAA rules violation stemming from the appearance of three Arkansas basketball players in a fashion photo spread for a local magazine.
However, the school said the violation will not affect the eligibility of players involved.
Arkansas issued a statement describing its report to the Southeastern Conference on Tuesday. The NCAA violation occurred when guards Rotnei Clarke, Courtney Fortson and Jeff Peterson were featured in the December issue of “Celebrate Arkansas” magazine.
The players — along with Arkansas coach John Pelphrey — took part in a question-and-answer session for the magazine and donned clothes from local stores for a nine-page spread. The problem? The names of the retailers who provided the clothing for the shoot were included at the bottom of each photo.
The fashion spread raised questions about whether it was the impermissible use of athletes in advertising.
But Arkansas said the violation outlined in its report was based on the photo taglines only. The self-report did not “allege or include any impermissible activity” by athletes, coaches or staff members.
“No Razorback coach, student-athlete or other athletic department official approved or had prior knowledge of any non-editorial use of the student-athletes’ images as part of the article,” the athletic department statement read. “No compensation was provided by the media outlet for the article or the accompanying photos. This matter does not affect the eligibility of student-athletes.”
Arkansas said the photo shoot was set up after a request was made by the magazine to the athletic department’s media relations department. The program did not know the spread would include advertisements for where the players “looks” could be found.
Mari Taylor, the publisher of “Celebrate Arkansas,” told television station KNWA on Monday night the matter was nothing more than an “innocent and minor mistake” and that “advertising was never the intention.” She reaffirmed it Tuesday and added that “the only possible minor violation is the very small captions on the photos which gives a courtesy credit of the clothes worn. There is no other possible infraction, as Celebrate Arkansas Magazine was told directly by the Arkansas athletic department.”
Secondary violations are common in collegiate athletics. Arkansas has run across its share, including a 2003 Playboy All-American photo shoot in which offensive tackle Shawn Andrews unknowingly committed an infraction by taking items from an unauthorized gift bag left in his room.
Arkansas has forwarded the recent violation on to the NCAA and considers the matter closed.
The NCAA can look into the situation more if it chooses, but further action is not expected.
