It was more than luck that allowed UCLA football booster Angelo Michael Mazzone III and his partner to reap a $400,000 profit as the middlemen for a large block of tickets to this year's Rose Bowl game, a contest that drew some of the most intense fan interest in recent history.
Mazzone cashed in on his unusually rich connections to the Westwood school and its athletic program--connections that have allowed him for years to operate as the consummate insider, mixing a passion for UCLA sports with personal business, according to interviews and public records.
For years, his extensive network of contacts has been common knowledge in the circle of administrators, former jocks and hangers-on who thrive in the rah-rah culture of the Bruin athletic department, where Mazzone rose from football team equipment manager to second-in-command before going into private business.
At one point, Mazzone used those contacts to promote the idea of a privately sponsored national college championship game, on the order of the Super Bowl. Although that brash idea fizzled, he has invested in a pension management firm with former football players, started a computer venture with a UCLA vice chancellor, bought property with the athletic department's publicity director and drilled oil wells with head football Coach Terry Donahue.
UCLA Chancellor Charles E. Young said this week that he has investigated Mazzone's dealings with university officials and found no conflicts of interest. The chancellor said he considers it proper for boosters to have close associations--helping recruit coaches and finding jobs for players--"as long as what a person is doing is not immoral, illegal and is not in any way compromising the university's position."
It took Mazzone's behind-the-scenes role in the 1994 Rose Bowl game--remembered as much for its box office intrigue as its cardiac finish in which the University of Wisconsin defeated UCLA 21-16--to propel the booster and his special clout into the public spotlight, creating embarrassment and legal troubles for his beloved alma mater.
Young publicly apologized after angry alumni who were denied additional Rose Bowl tickets learned that he personally approved selling Mazzone 4,000 of UCLA's allotted end-zone and goal-line seats before they were offered to the public. Young explained that he approved the unprecedented sale because Mazzone offered a $100,000 donation--in addition to paying the $184,000 face value of the seats--and Young's subordinates feared being stuck with unsold tickets.
In the Midwest, the Mazzone deal enraged Wisconsin fans--whose team had qualified for the Rose Bowl for the first time in 31 years--because thousands paid scalpers up to 10 times the $46 face value for tickets to watch their Badgers beat UCLA. A Wisconsin attorney general's investigation fingered the Mazzone transaction for much of the blame for the inflated prices, and a Madison, Wis., attorney has named UCLA in a pending class-action lawsuit.
Young subsequently disclosed that Mazzone and a Los Angeles ticket broker, Al Brooks Tours, made at least $400,000 reselling the tickets as tour packages to Wisconsin fans. Other records show that a small number of Mazzone's tickets eventually changed hands for up to $485.
This is not the first time that questions have been raised about Mazzone's role in the UCLA athletic program.
In 1977, he was the athletic department administrator in charge of athlete eligibility when 10 football players got credit for summer extension classes they did not take. After an investigation, the Pac-10 conference banned UCLA from the 1981 Rose Bowl and made it forfeit all 1977 victories. Mazzone was not sanctioned, and Young said this week that another UCLA official would have been responsible for verifying academic eligibility.
In 1978, Pac-10 officials also investigated allegations by basketball and football players that Mazzone bought complimentary tickets from them for triple the face value, at a time when National Collegiate Athletic Assn. rules said this was improper. Improprieties were found but no charges were filed against Mazzone, who the players said had brokered tickets since 1973.
Mazzone, 44, has repeatedly declined telephone and fax requests for interviews on the Rose Bowl flap and his UCLA years.
His friends, family and business partners say the publicity about the Rose Bowl tickets has besmirched the reputation of a die-hard Bruins fan who is likable, ethical and loyal--to the point of being devastated over how the controversy has hurt his UCLA "family."
"The Angelo I know is not what (news reports) make him out to be . . . a greedy-type, unscrupulous villain," said Gregory D. Taylor, one of Mazzone's business partners, who played offensive line in UCLA's 1976 Rose Bowl upset of top-ranked Ohio State. "This is not Angelo."
Added UCLA Athletic Director Peter T. Dalis: "He's very distraught. He loves UCLA and he's obviously concerned about the outcome of this."
