After leaving the campus of the Virginia Military Institute in late 2014 to care for an ill grandparent, Ot and Jon Elmore, who both received basketball scholarships from VMI, find themselves in a new struggle — paying off a transfer release of $110,000 that the athletic department slammed on the brothers, according to NBC Sports.
Neither Jon nor Ot – named after his grandfather, Otmer – returned to VMI and never even stepped onto the court.
But with Jon now at Marshall and Ot at Texas Rio Grande Valley, the two are now financially responsible for one semester during the 2014-15 academic year and another semester approaching soon.
What @VMIAthletics is doing to the Elmore brothers is ridiculous. https://t.co/UHKAUx6vcM
— Rob Dauster (@RobDauster) September 8, 2015
Tom DiPiero, the lawyer representing the Elmore Brothers, held several talks with VMI’s athletic director Dave Diles in which Diles reassured that Ot and Jon would be released if a payment of $50,000 was received.
Changing his mind faster than a girl changes clothes, Diles later commented to DiPiero that a transfer release would only be granted if paid in full, readdressing the fee of $110,000.
Jon and Ot aren’t the only Elmores to be associated with VMI.
Their father, Gay, led in the institution’s scoring category for over 20 years.
Despite the onset of bitterness VMI’s Diles is experiencing after the two ditched their scholarships for a family emergency, the athletic director is certainly blind to the concepts of sympathy and understanding.
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*Featured Photo (above) credit to USA TODAY Sports
