Curator supplements Alden’s salary

A member of the University of Missouri Board of Curators is financing a $50,000 annual salary supplement for Athletic Director Mike Alden.

Don Walsworth, whose company prints sports programs and media guides for the University of Missouri-Columbia, has made a contribution each year since 2003 to help boost Alden’s $225,000 base annual salary at MU by another $50,000.

An amendment to Alden’s contract drafted in 2002 provides that, in addition to his base salary, a supplemental $50,000 payment will be paid each July for five years as long as there are private donations to the university for that purpose.

Records the Tribune obtained through a Sunshine Law request show that in July 2003, Walsworth pledged $100,000 a year for five years "to be used if necessary for compensatory matters relative to Mike Alden, director of athletics and/or Gary Pinkel, head football coach."

Walsworth is president and chief executive officer of Walsworth Publishing Co. of Marceline. The company specializes in printing yearbooks and ranked ninth nationally in book printing in 2004 with $110 million in revenue. The company also prints sports publications directly for MU’s Athletic Department and separately through a contract with Mizzou Sports Properties, which owns the media rights for MU sports.

Walsworth did not respond to requests for an interview.

Alden said he believes Walsworth makes the contribution "because he cares about the Tigers and he cares about Mizzou. He’s a very generous donor to our program."

Using external funds to supplement athletic department salaries is common at other universities, Alden added.

Asked what kind of profit Walsworth makes by printing athletic department materials, Alden said, "I don’t know how you could when you’re contributing everything for free."

Mario Moccia, senior associate athletic director, said most of the printing Walsworth’s company did directly for the Athletic Department was without charge. He said a small percentage, which went through a bidding process, amounted to about $122,000. He said the company’s free printing services for the department amounted to "well over 20 times that amount."

Records show Walsworth has promised $500,000 a year over five years in "in-kind" contributions - an amount that reflects the free printing of sports publications.

Mizzou Sports Properties General Manager Laird Veatch said Walsworth Publishing has been printing programs for football and men’s basketball for a number of years. He said he would not discuss the financial arrangement between the two companies. Veatch said the printing business was obtained through a competitive process and that the athletic director has no role in it.

Walsworth’s company has purchased box suites at MU’s Memorial Stadium and Mizzou Arena. Because of his generosity to the university, the plaza outside the arena bears his family’s name.

When then-Gov. Bob Holden appointed Walsworth to the Board of Curators in January 2003, Walsworth said there was no conflict of interest between his board position and his business relationship with the university. He said that was because his company’s contract was with Learfield Communications Inc., the parent of Mizzou Sports Properties.

Last July, the board adopted a policy prohibiting board members from working for the university except in cases where the jobs were assigned through bids.

Under a resolution adopted by the curators last month, all members must file annual reports with the board secretary describing their direct and indirect financial and business arrangements with the university and its affiliates.

The reports are due by the time of the board’s May meeting.

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Reach Terry Ganey at (573) 815-1708 or tganey@tribmail.com.

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SECOND THOUGHTS: Monday, February 27, 2006

A story yesterday about contributions to the University of Missouri-Columbia Athletic Department should have said the $122,000 that Walsworth Publishing Co. received for printing services took place over an eight-year period.