OHIO STATE BASKETBALL Wendy's founder is brought into scandal

Kathleen Salyers says Dave Thomas offered cash to a Buckeye player.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- A woman who says she fed, housed and gave money to an Ohio State basketball player claims the founder of the Wendy's restaurant chain offered the player an envelope full of cash.
Kathleen Salyers alleges that Dave Thomas, the Wendy's founder and television pitchman, came to her house in 1999 around the time of Ohio State's trip to the Final Four.
An Ohio State booster who Salyers claims accompanied Thomas to her house denies the meeting ever took place.
Salyers said Thomas offered Ohio State player Boban Savovic an envelope "filled with a thick pile of money."
"I took it out of Boban's hand, looked inside and saw what it was," Salyers told The Plain Dealer. "I immediately handed it back to Dave Thomas and said, 'He can't accept this.' I was very protective of Boban, and I knew that was against the rules. Dave Thomas was very polite about it. He said, 'I didn't know it was against the rules."'
Never revealed name
Salyers told The Associated Press she made a point of not revealing the Thomas allegation in depositions because no money was accepted by Savovic and there was no need to sully Thomas' name. She said she and her attorney met with representatives from Wendy's to assure them that they would not disclose Thomas' name, but sworn testimony by a friend of Salyers mentioned Thomas' visit to the Salyers home.
A spokesman for Wendy's declined to comment on Salyers' allegation.
Salyers sued Dan and Kim Roslovic in 2004 seeking approximately $350,000 for expenses and damages she said she incurred while housing Savovic during much of his Ohio State career.
Got Jim O'Brien fired
Her lawsuit led to the firing of Savovic's coach at Ohio State, Jim O'Brien, after she alleged -- and O'Brien later confirmed -- that he had given $6,000 to a recruit in 1999. O'Brien has since filed suit against Ohio State saying the school should not have fired him.
Salyers said Thomas was accompanied to her house by Columbus insurance agent Samuel Farb, a longtime Ohio State basketball booster who told The Plain Dealer he has contributed about $150,000 to Ohio State's athletic programs.
Farb called Salyers' allegation against Thomas a lie.
"Not one bit of it is true," he said. "To use Mr. Thomas' name, and to say she met him with me, is an absolute lie."
Farb said Thomas was not an Ohio State fan, although Ohio State records show that he purchased as many as six club seats and 18 season tickets to Buckeyes football games from 1998 until he died in 2002.
Farb said he had contact with Savovic only once -- when he gave the player a ride from Value City Arena to Gahanna. Salyers lived in Gahanna at the time Savovic lived with her.
NCAA investigates
Salyers' lawsuit also prompted a lengthy, ongoing NCAA investigation into the program.
Salyers charges that Savovic moved into her home after Ohio State and NCAA officials told the Roslovics they could not house Savovic because they were Ohio State boosters. In her lawsuit, Salyers alleged that the Savovics promised to pay her $1,000 per month plus expenses to take care of Savovic.
Her lawsuit against the Roslovics -- who employed her as a babysitter and housekeeper -- was dismissed on a technicality earlier this week by a judge who said state law requires any contract that extends beyond one year to be in writing. Salyers had contended the Roslovics violated an oral agreement.
Salyers said she hasn't decided whether to refile the lawsuit.
"So many things have happened in the last couple of days," she said. "Our initial response is, that's what we want to do."