'Big hair and a big personality,' said classmate William Goren.В He remembers a stocky, perhaps insecureВ kid in junior high who went through a transformation by the time he got to high school: more athletic, more confident, more outgoing.ДЄt Niles WestВ in neighboring Skokie, Singer lettered in football and baseball. and a guy you'd much rather have on your team than have to bat against,' said teammate Paul Sucherman, now a pianist and college music teacher in Wisconsin. 'He was a great teammate, a dependable friendВ . As a hard-throwing pitcher, he led the league in hit batsmen. As a batter, he led the league in home runs. Niles West High School yearbook from 1978 featuring Rick Singer.Д®ven in Little League, Ricky was known for his competitiveness. вЂњItвЂ™s just a question of whether you get caught at it.вЂќ 'Big hair and a big personality' 'Everybody has a con,вЂќ said Joel Margulies, SingerвЂ™s business associate and a friend of 25 years.

Through dozens of interviews over three months, newspaper clippings andВ hundreds of pages of court documents and public records, USA TODAY has assembled the most complete portrait of a hard-charging and charismatic coach and counselor turned convicted felon.ДЇriends, classmates, relatives, co-workers and students all said they had no idea what he was doing.В But in retrospect, they say, the charges against Singer help fill in the missing piece.В 'So that's what he was up to,' Rebekah Hendershot, co-author of his two books on getting into college, told USA TODAY the day he pleaded guilty.ДЇraud examiners say there are often three factors that lead to fraud: pressure, opportunity and rationalization.

Everyone'sВ doing it, he told parents and coaches as he recruited them into his schemes. And he saw that processВ as corrupt.ДЄs wealthy parents of students were donating millions to ensure college admissions through the back door, he said his вЂњside doorвЂќ process was no worse and much cheaper. He had studied the college admissions process for two decades, and saw how it could be exploited. It may be, as he has said, that he felt tremendous pressure from 'absolutely crazed' parents. Only Rick Singer knows exactlyВ when and why he decided to take his college counseling business and turn it into a criminal enterprise.Д«y the time he began bribing college coaches and test proctors to falsify athletic credentials and inflate test scores, Singer had been lying about his own resume and business dealingsВ for years. Rick Singer would be remembered for neither.ДЇour decades later, the big-haired kid would make national headlines as the ringleader of the largest college admissions cheating and bribery scandal in American history вЂ“ pleading guilty to charges of racketeering, money laundering, fraud and obstruction. 'SINGER, RICK W.: Football 1, 2, 3, 4 Baseball 1 Letters.В I would most like to be remembered for the outstanding personality I have been given, and being able to get along with others,' wrote the senior from Lincolnwood, Illinois. William 'Rick' Singer, founder of the Edge College & Career Network, departs federal court in Boston after pleading guilty to charges in a nationwide college admissions bribery scandal on March 12.ДЄs they were about to headВ off to college, the Niles West High School Class of 1978 listed their accomplishments, goals and aspirations in the yearbook.

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