Tito Maddox sees himself in O.J. Mayo saga

"Same story, same guy," Maddox, 26, said Monday in front of his Carson home.

Maddox was talking about Los Angeles events promoter Rodney Guillory, whom Maddox said he was befriended by in the summer of 1998, just before his senior year at Compton High.

Guillory faces allegations that he provided Mayo cash, meals, clothes, a flat-screen television, cellphone service and other services on behalf of Bill Duffy Associates Sports Management, the agency the top guard prospect recently announced would represent him as he turned pro.

The allegations were made by former associate Louis Johnson on a segment of ESPN's "Outside the Lines" broadcast Sunday. Johnson said Guillory received about $200,000 and a sports utility vehicle from BDA, sharing an estimated $30,000 of what he received with Mayo.

For Maddox, it was a story that rang all too familiar.

"He was working for some agents, talking about what they can do for me and what I need," Maddox recalled of his first meetings with Guillory.

"I was just trying to help my family."

Maddox added, "He seemed cool, he seemed like he had my best interests at heart. We'd go out to eat around some games, he'd be at my practices, he'd come over to my house. . . . Just being around him, spending time with him, he won my trust."

Maddox went on to play at Fresno State, and his relationship with Guillory forced his college team to suffer through a self-imposed two-year probation and lose three scholarships in December 2002 after Maddox revealed to the Fresno Bee that he had accepted illegal benefits.

Elaborating Monday, Maddox, who along with his wife and two children resides in a modest single-story home, said his involvement with Guillory serves as a cautionary tale to young athletes whose families are struggling financially.

"You've got to watch out for snakes, the people who try to steer you toward others so they can make money. Watch the fast-talkers," he said.

Maddox said his paths crossed with Guillory at a time when his mother, Gloria, was raising him and his three younger siblings in a single-parent Compton home.

"She was struggling to make ends meet," he said.