Hobert Loans Questioned : College football: Washington quarterback suspended while $50,000 transactions investigated to see if NCAA rule is violated.

The No. 1-ranked University of Washington football team was rocked Thursday when a Seattle newspaper reported that quarterback Billy Joe Hobert has received $50,000 in loans that might be a violation of NCAA rules.

The loans, made by a prominent nuclear scientist who is the father-in-law of one of Hobert’s friends, have no payment schedule and were made even though Hobert has no assets to guarantee repayment, the Seattle Times reported.

“There is a possibility it would be an amateurism violation, not a violation that would necessarily indicate that Washington did anything wrong,” David Berst, the NCAA’s assistant executive director for enforcement, told the Los Angeles Times. “The issue would be whether the athlete has done something to jeopardize his own standing.”

Barbara Hedges, Washington athletic director, said Hobert, who was recently demoted to No. 2 quarterback behind Mark Brunell, was suspended for one game--Saturday’s Pacific 10 Conference showdown at Arizona.

“The university has taken this precautionary action while conducting a thorough review of this allegation,” Hedges said in a statement.

Hobert, a 6-foot-3, 225-pound junior from Puyallup, Wash., led the Huskies to a Rose Bowl victory and a share of the national championship last year.

Hobert told the Seattle Times that he spent the $50,000 during a three-month spree on cars, guns, expensive stereo equipment, golf clubs and wild weekends.

Dick Dunn, associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and Washington’s NCAA compliance officer, said: “The conditions of the loan is the issue. And the other is whether Billy Joe, as an athlete, was able to obtain a loan that other students couldn’t.”

Coach Don James told the newspaper he did not believe the arrangement violated NCAA rules because it was not made by anyone connected with the school or its football program.

“A player’s got every right, as every other human being’s got, to borrow money if he needs to go get it,” James said. “I thought it was an unusually large amount of money, but dollars have changed since I grew up.”

The loans were made in three installments to Hobert by Charles Rice, a nuclear engineer from Idaho Falls, Ida., the Seattle paper reported. Rice’s son-in-law is Rudy Finne, 43, a commercial fisherman who once invested in a restaurant that tried to get a gambling license.

Finne, a golfing friend of Hobert, met the quarterback when he was a sophomore in high school. Hobert told the Seattle Times that he wagered up to $100 on personal golf matches with Finne.

When asked why he made such large loans to a college student, Rice, who once managed the country’s nuclear rocket program and was president of a firm that operated a major nuclear research facility in Idaho Falls, said: “I thought he was a nice kid.”

Rice told the newspaper that he did not expect Hobert to repay the money until Hobert was out of school.

Rice, who said he is not a Washington alumnus or booster, said he gave Hobert the money when the quarterback was experiencing marital problems. At the time he obtained the loan, Hobert was separated from his wife, Heather. The couple are expecting their first child in February.

Hobert, 21, said the only way he could immediately pay the loan would be to declare himself eligible for the pro draft and forgo his final season at Washington.

“But if I don’t, I’m going to be working a long time to pay off that loan,” Hobart said.

“I’d have to say the money I borrowed wasn’t the smartest thing I’ve done because I ended up blowing it, and now I’ve got all these bills and nothing to show for it.”

Hobart told the Seattle Times he borrowed $25,000 last April, but spent it within a month. He said he bought a 1991 Chevrolet Camaro for about $9,000 and used $5,000 to pay off his wife’s Chevy Blazer and another $2,900 to pay off his Hyundai. He spent $1,200 for car insurance, about $1,000 on a semiautomatic pistol and hunting rifle and returned $2,500 to a woman he had lived with briefly during his separation.

Hobert said he then asked Rice for another $10,000 in May and $15,000 in June. He said he traded the 1991 Camaro for a 1992 model, added a $4,000 stereo system and spent much of the remaining money entertaining friends.

“I just pulled it out and paid cash wherever I went,” Hobert told the newspaper. “People must have thought I was the richest guy in town until I stopped showing up at places (where) I spent the money.”

Hobert said he would have to file for bankruptcy if Rice asked for full payment of the loan, which carried an annual interest rate of 10%.

Rob Moore, a Husky booster and friend of Hobert, told the newspaper: “He’s dumb for borrowing it, and the guy is probably dumber for loaning it to him.”