"We're not going to compromise the integrity of our institution. It's going to be an interesting couple of weeks. Or months."
Questions have surrounded the Sidneys since the summer of 2006, when the family moved to Southern California from Jackson, Miss. The player's arrival here immediately raised eyebrows because basketball insiders knew the move was partially paid for and facilitated by shoe company executive Sonny Vaccaro.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Wednesday, May 06, 2009 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 4 National Desk 1 inches; 41 words Type of Material: Correction
Basketball star: A story in Monday's Section A about USC and UCLA withdrawing scholarship offers for Fairfax High basketball prodigy Renardo Sidney Jr. incorrectly identified Renardo Sidney Sr. as the player's stepfather. The family's attorney says he is the biological father.
Since then, the family has occupied at least three residences, and Sidney's parents have chosen not to answer questions pertaining to their sources of income or the moves, which allowed their son to transfer to powerhouse Lakewood Artesia High School and then to a perennially strong team at Fairfax. Renardo Sr.'s employer is Reebok, and his wife is his personal assistant, according to Jackson.
A UCLA source said one of the school's prime concerns was the family's residence until September of last year: a home rented when Sidney transferred from Artesia to Fairfax that, according to public land records, is valued at $1.2 million. Located near Hancock Park, the home is owned by Sherman Oaks lawyer Leslie Klein, who said Patricia Sidney paid him by personal check what was "fair market value" -- between $4,000 and $5,000 a month. (More recently, the family rented another home up the street, the owner of which has not returned several telephone messages left by The Times.)
Before the family's move from Mississippi, a former co-worker said Renardo Sr. was an assistant at a medical center, charged with such tasks as transporting patients by gurney. He was also "an assistant coach at a recreation center," according to Vaccaro, who for years has been at the forefront of shoe company involvement with youth basketball's best club teams and players.
Vaccaro, who at the time was working for Reebok, says he gave Renardo Sr. about $20,000 for the family's move west, where Sidney first played for one of the most well-known and controversial club coaches in the nation, Pat Barrett, who guides a program called the Southern California All-Stars.
Barrett has coached top-level Southern California-based club teams for years, and his role as a middleman between players and college teams and the professional ranks has been a focus of several investigative media reports. Most recently, Yahoo Sports reported that Barrett received $250,000 from a New York sports agency in exchange for his help in securing former UCLA star Kevin Love as a client.
