Sept. 12, 1999
SportsLine wire reports

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio State athletics director Andy Geiger made it clear Saturday night that the school's marketing department did not violate NCAA rules when it allowed the image of running back Michael Wiley to be put on a bank check.

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"There's no violation," Geiger said before the kickoff of Ohio State's home opener against UCLA.

Starting running back Michael Wiley's image is printed on a new check issued by Huntington National Bank, said Mark Krumel, a graphic designer with Columbus-based Rickabaugh Graphics.

Krumel said he was asked to blur the photos and to alter the picture of Wiley. On the check, Wiley's No. 5 was replaced with a zero to make the image appear generic, he said.

A commercial entity is not permitted to use a student-athlete's name or picture to endorse a product or service, said Athena Yiamouyiannis, director of membership services for the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

But Geiger said the university contacted the NCAA and was granted permission. From his jacket pocket, he pulled an "NCAA Interpretation Request" mailed back from the NCAA on July 22. It permits Ohio State to use Wiley's image.

"It is permissible to use a current athlete if he or she is not identifiable and their current number has been changed or altered," Geiger said.

He added that the Wiley picture would not be used now, since he had been identified in an article in The Columbus Dispatch on Saturday.

"So there's no issue involving Michael," Geiger said. "His eligibility was never in jeopardy. We'll talk with the NCAA person on Monday, but I'm sure there's no problem because we did everything we were supposed to do."

An athlete and university usually can clear themselves in such cases if neither had knowledge of the photo's use. But if Ohio State provided the photograph, the university "would definitely need to report it to the NCAA as a rules violation," Yiamouyiannis said.

She did not indicate what the penalties could be for the use of Wiley's image.

Maria Koob, director of advertising for Huntington, said Ohio State provided the photo, but she did not know whether the photo was of Wiley.

Ohio State spokesman Gerry Emig said in a statement Saturday that the Big Ten conference allowed use of the image, as long as the athlete was not identifiable.

But now that he has been identified, it will not be used on the check series, he said.

It was unclear whether Wiley was aware his image was used on the Huntington checks, the newspaper said. He could not be reached for comment Saturday because his home telephone number could not be found.

A similar incident happened in June 1983, when former Ohio State quarterback Mike Tomczak appeared in a Lazarus print ad. The university declared him ineligible, but the NCAA reinstated him a month later because Tomczak donated the $40 modeling fee to charity.

The Ohio State men's basketball team, including a large photo of guard Scoonie Penn, appears on the cover of the Ameritech Yellow Pages. Smith said the cover was approved by the Big Ten and the NCAA, which demonstrates that there are gray areas in the rules regarding player promotion.

Huntington started on Friday what it calls Buckeye Banking -- a checking account that includes pictures of Ohio State sports figures on its checks and debit cards.

Huntington's checks feature four photographic images: the marching band's Script Ohio formation and action shots from football, men's basketball and women's basketball. There is an OSU logo on the checkbook cover, and the debit card features a picture of a former Ohio State running back in action.