To Hilda Hankerson, Cecil Newton is a loving father who has shown up at Westlake High football games to support the Lions even though his sons no longer play there.
He is not a man who would have his hands out to college recruiters, the Westlake athletic director said Friday. In the wake of an espn.com report of a man allegedly attempting to secure a six-figure payment from Mississippi State during the recruitment of Auburn star quarterback and Westlake grad Cam Newton, Hankerson dismissed the possibility that Newton and his family were involved.
"That's not the kind of a man he is," Hankerson said of Cecil Newton. "He's the pastor of a church and has really worked in instilling godly principles in his kids."
Friday, Cecil Newton, his son and his Newnan church were the unlikely center of the college football story of the week, as news reports, radio talk shows and the blogosphere hashed out the details of an alleged pay-for-play scandal involving the leading candidate for the Heisman Trophy.
"When Cameron was here, we didn't have any kind of concerns or anything like that to deal with," said Westlake boys basketball coach Darron Rogers, for whom Newton played. "I just think it's not true."
Friday, Cecil Newton did not return messages left on his phone. Cam Newton's mother, Jackie, answered the door of the family's East Point home, but declined comment. She did say that they did not plan to attend Auburn's homecoming game Saturday against Chattanooga because of a previous church commitment in Savannah. Cam's brother, Cecil, planned to attend the game in support of his younger brother.
Friday, the Associated Press cited an anonymous source familiar with the situation who said that Auburn has had no contact with Kenny Rogers, the man who allegedly sought to solicit Mississippi State on the Newtons' behalf.
In Newnan, Cecil Newton's church, which news reports suggested were a possible beneficiary of the alleged payout, sat in disrepair. The Holy Zion Center of Deliverance, located in a heavily commercial area in Newnan, looks like a deserted building. A former car dealership, white curtains are drawn across the front windows, which appear to bear a couple of bullet holes. In fact, the church was dissolved in 2008 by the state after failing to file its annual registration.
"I've never seen anybody over there," said Jeff Scott, manager of a nearby used-car dealership.
According to reports in the Times-Herald newspaper in Newnan, Newton spent the past two years fighting to keep his church building from being condemned and subsequently demolished. The City of Newnan granted Newton at least three extensions to bring the building up to code before it was taken off the city’s condemned list in October.
City records show the church needed to make $50,000 in repairs to keep its building from being torn down.
Council member Rhodes Shell, who represents the district where the church is located, said Newton made gradual improvements on the property and updated the city on his progress, which is why they kept giving him more time.
“He was well-meaning and sincere about what he was trying to do,” Shell said. “If it had been a real business, we wouldn’t have given him as long as we did.”
Shell said Newton told the council he planned to get the money from his son who was a professional athlete. Shell said the council assumed he was talking about former Jacksonville Jaguars center Cecil Newton, who spent most of the 2009 season on the practice squad before being released from the team in August.
“That’s where his money came from, from what he was telling us,” Shell said. “No one knew Cecil Newton was the father of Cam Newton until less than a month ago.”
Shell said he does not believe Newton was involved in any recruitment scams.
“If he had that kind of money floating around, he would have fixed that church a long time ago,” he said.
Staff writer Steve Hummer contributed to this article.
About the Author
Keep Reading
The Latest
Featured
