A WHISTLEBLOWER PAYS THE PRICE: Undertow: Auburn alumnus'
decision to turn in Crimson Tide for NCAA violations results in
unparalleled ordeal

BYLINE: MIKE FISH STAFF WRITER
DATE: 09-28-1997
PUBLICATION: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution
EDITION:
SECTION: Newspapers_&_Newswires
PAGE: F06

John Thrower left Opelika, Ala., that day in a rush, bursting out the front door of his red-brick home on Bonita Avenue and driving off in his 1986 Chevy Impala. He was filled with guilt and embarrassment, and he was ready to end a life that had veered head-long toward pain and turmoil.

There were the drinking binges and the lonely depression. The law practice in shambles, damaged by his admitted co-mingling of funds in client trust accounts. The failed marriage and the pending separation from his two young daughters.

And the reaction of people when he entered a room, lowering their voice to a whisper as they talked about him.

Look, there's the Auburn guy who blew the whistle on Alabama football and got the mighty Crimson Tide in the middle of an NCAA investigation.

On that gray October morning two years ago, he had penned a suicide note ---"You're going to divorce me " ---to his estranged wife Lynne, then a municipal judge in Opelika.

"My intent was to go to Atlanta and do it," Thrower, 44, says now. "I felt like a complete and absolute failure ---loss of family, loss of profession, loss of friends."

So Thrower steered up I-85, swigging from a fifth of Early Times whiskey that sat open by his side. He wound up parked outside Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium the day after the Braves had clinched the World Series by beating the Cleveland Indians.

He sat in the car for three hours, thinking. He had intended to plug the exhaust, close the windows and let the motor run, but he couldn't bring himself to follow through. "Maybe it was the Lord's way of giving me another chance," he reasons. "Or maybe I didn't have the guts to do it." Dangerously unfit to drive, Thrower nonetheless weaved back down I-85, stopping first near Union City to replenish his alcohol supply, later pulling over more times than he can remember to vomit, before arriving at his doorstep in a drunken stupor. The police had already been called. At his wife's directive, he was taken to the local hospital's de-tox center for a few days before voluntarily entering a rehab facility for treatment of alcohol abuse and acute depression. Since that episode, there have been relapses, an eviction from his apartment and a few nights of restless sleep in his '84 Toyota Corolla (a hand-me-down from his mother) until friends helped him enroll in a three-month, five-nights-a-week drug/alcohol counseling program. His law license is suspended until at least June 2000 and he's on his third job in three years, supervisor for a parts distribution company in Birmingham.

Thrower is fighting his alcoholism, fighting his depression, fighting all of his inner demons. The toughest one to slay may be all about the game of football.

The Auburn-Alabama rivalry took root a couple of generations ago. It was fueled in 1958 by Bama coach Bear Bryant's heralded arrival in Tuscaloosa and his knee-to-the-groin reference to Auburn as the "cow college." As Thrower says, the ill will stretches beyond football to a tendency by Alabama supporters to peer down their nose at the Tigers.

With no major professional sports team in the state to distract attention, the meanness persists year-round. "It's about as bad as it gets, in an unhealthy, competitive way," said the NCAA's Dirt Taitt, who investigated Thrower's allegations.

Early this decade, it sunk to new lows.

Eric Ramsey left Auburn in 1991 after four years of football with some parting shots. His charges that the coaching staff provided him financial assistance landed the Tigers a two-year stay in NCAA jail, with a loss of scholarships plus TV and bowl bans, and forced beloved coach Pat Dye into early retirement. To this day, Auburn faithful are convinced that Alabama devotees influenced Ramsey. A year later, the NCAA was swooping down on Alabama after learning businessman Harold Simmons had written a half-dozen checks to co-captain Gene Jelks. The NCAA didn't penalize the program for the checks, but violations involving Jelks and Antonio Langham got the Tide ---who had never been sanctioned, compared to Auburn's five-time rap sheet ---tagged with a two-year sentence that included a postseason ban and loss of scholarships along with eight forfeited games. After Jelks relocated to Atlanta and leveled the charges, he was supported financially by an Auburn backer, and Jelks' attorney was the son-in-law of a prominent Tiger booster.

Thrower got involved because copies of the checks wound up in his hands. (He has sworn they were provided by a now-deceased Auburn fan, though Simmons accused his wife's first divorce attorney, Steve Brunson, of sharing the checks with his former Auburn classmate.)

There wasn't much doubt Thrower would show allegiance to the Loveliest Village on the Plain. His late father was an Auburn alum. So is his mother, Louise, who counts upwards of 200 family members to have graduated from the university. By the fifth grade, young John was selling Cokes and orange seat cushions at football games. A stocky man, now at 5-foot-9, 195 pounds, Thrower was not a recruited athlete, although he was a distance-runner as a freshman at Auburn. A leader who had been president of his high school class, he also served as president of his college fraternity.

After college, he became a season-ticket holder and scholarship donor. He published a recruiting newsletter and became tight with the coaching staff. He was the extreme fan, living vicariously through the Saturday afternoon heroics of the Tigers.

It goes without saying that he loathed Alabama. He was especially peeved Tuscaloosa had the state's most prestigious law school while Auburn had none at all ---he graduated near the top of his law school class from Samford University ---and that most of the state's judges and politicians had ties to the Crimson Tide. He refers to Bama's group of heavy-hitting financial supporters, known as the Red Elephant Club, as "the KKK in business suits."

So when he got his hands on copies of the checks written to Jelks, Thrower could barely hide his glee. He advised backers of both schools about his find, even bragging about it on radio call-in shows.

A series of articles about the Jelks case appeared in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in November 1992. A month later, Thrower had the first of five meetings with NCAA investigators. When Dirk Taitt came to Opelika, Thrower did not want the NCAA cop seen in his law office, so they drove around town for two hours. "I wanted to correct a wrong that was going on," Thrower said.

Later, they met for five hours in a two-room suite at the Atlanta Airport Marriott, surrounded by about eight boxes of materials.

His efforts to bring down Alabama caused a stir from Mobile to Huntsville, and rumors spread. A Birmingham sports-talk show host made the outrageous claim on the air that Thrower and friends paid Jelks $170,000 to squeal on the Tide.

Some influential Auburn fans offered him financial support when the time was right. The atta-boys had the same effect as alcohol would, making him drunk with attention.

His brother Fred, who broke ranks from the family to enroll at the University of Georgia, remembers tailgating before an Auburn game during the height of the NCAA investigation. He recalled, "People with a lot of clout within the university and the booster club, even politically, would say, `Yeah, John, we're behind you. Let us know what you need.' "

"The encouragement came from people who were aware I was meeting with the NCAA," John said. "I told some people I was. Then, it was `Go, Thrower, go.' "

Alabama backers reacted with equal passion. Thrower says he heard threats against him and his law practice, even disbarment if he cooperated with the NCAA. There was a vicious wisecrack within earshot of his daughters. The back window of his car was shot out.

"How grown men could become absolutely obsessed with something like that was just beyond me," said Lynne Riddle Thrower, now his ex-wife. "The men he was talking to, who I knew were calling our house, were all professionals, most attorneys or very successful businessmen."

Working as a lawyer for insurance companies, Thrower says adjustors began taking their business elsewhere. His income dropped from $110,000 in 1992 to $43,000 the following year.

Thrower says Lewis Hamner, a circuit court judge in Randolph County, told him not to bother bringing another case before him. Another, William Robertson of Barbour County, sarcastically greeted Thrower's appearance in court with: "Well, here comes Jelks' attorney. What information you got for us today?"

Both judges downplay the incidents. "If I did say it, it was certainly a joking matter," said Robertson, now in private practice. "I ain't gonna get that upset about a game played by children."

Brunson said he also lost clients as a result of his interviews with the NCAA and rarely attends Auburn games anymore.

"To me, it's like if you see a crime occur and you turned somebody in for that, then you're a hero," Brunson reflects. "But if you even think that Alabama did anything wrong and you say anything about it, it's almost like calling the Pope a name." Particularly dismaying to Thrower has been his perceived treatment from the Auburn family. When he had the NCAA's ear, he estimates fielding 30 to 40 calls of encouragement a day. Then Harold Simmons sued him and Brunson for publicizing the checks, and his so-called friends scrambled for shelter. Colleagues were too busy to take his case against Simmons. Some didn't take his phone calls.

His mother Louise asked him, "`Son, do you know what you're doing?' The people from Auburn that got him to do this, to push it, said they'd take care of him and all this stuff. Now they can't be hardly found. And he couldn't handle it by himself."

Thrower's life was crumbling all around him. His law practice began to slide, his work days were reduced to four hours and he went on drinking tears. He juggled funds within client accounts to make ends meet. He doesn't blame the behavior entirely on his entanglement in the NCAA case but is convinced that it was a factor.

To Louise, it's more than that. "Oh, I think it's all because of Alabama vs. Auburn," she said. "I really do."

Just before the '94 season, Thrower was in his favorite Auburn watering hole, Touchdown, with friends and his brother, discussing football on a Saturday afternoon, when first-year head coach Terry Bowden walked in with his wife. They had met before, and Thrower reintroduced himself.

"I said, `Coach, how you doing? John Thrower,"' he recalls. "He says, `Fine, John. I know who you are, but I can't talk to you.'

"I was mad, really mad. I'm starting to get a bad feeling. I hadn't gotten any word on how the NCAA was going to treat (Alabama). I had a law practice, struggling. I'm drinking heavier."

If only, Louise Thrower says, he had kept to business and let the kids play the games.

"I never thought I'd feel like this, but I don't even have tickets anymore to the ballgames," she said. "It's like Auburn people let me down. We ate and slept everything Auburn. Johnny may have been wrong, but they're not taking up for him. You think you're going to wake up and realize it's all been a bad dream." Her son won't let go.

For months, Thrower has been preparing lawsuits against the NCAA and SEC, to whom he also reported alleged violations, for failing to protect his confidentiality. They have not been filed, he said, because he is too strapped for cash to pay the fees.

He remains angry over Alabama's NCAA penalty, which he considers lenient. He has written and called NCAA hierarchy to complain that investigators neglected to follow up on all of his leads.

The NCAA's Taitt said the organization proved everything it could. "I feel sorry (for Thrower) on a personal level," he said.

His manic depression has been calmed by various drugs, and he's taking medicine to curb cravings for alcohol. He completes an intensive counseling program this week. In another three years, he plans to apply for restoration of his law license.

To pose for a photograph, Thrower pulls into a parking lot alongside Birmingham's Legion Field, viewed disdainfully by many Auburn fans as a modern-day shrine to Alabama football. The sticker on the back bumper of his mother's old car reads:

I brake for all animals

except

Dawgs and Gators

As for the Crimson Tide, Thrower would step on the gas. He professes no regrets for any efforts to get Alabama football punished.

"It was like kill the messenger," he said. "They almost destroyed me."

THE CONFERENCE: NCAA's secrecy promise is hollow

BYLINE: Mike Fish STAFF WRITER DATE: 09-28-1997
PUBLICATION: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution
EDITION:
SECTION: Newspapers_&_Newswires
PAGE: F07

Confidentiality for witnesses.

That's what NCAA investigators promise when they look into allegations of cheating in college sports. But it's a hollow vow.

A 1982 Kansas Supreme Court ruling (Berst vs. Chipman) concluded that under certain conditions ---namely, when witnesses are parties to an outside lawsuit and their statements to the NCAA may be relevant to the case ---the collegiate governing body must honor requests to turn over relevant information.

"The laws of the land and courts are more powerful than the NCAA," acknowledged David Berst, the NCAA's executive director of enforcement.

Yet rarely, if ever, do investigators advise witnesses that confidentiality is not guaranteed.

The NCAA cited the Kansas lawsuit when it turned over to the courts transcripts of interviews and related correspondence from its recent investigation of the Alabama football program.

Harold Simmons of Gadsden, Ala., had filed suit against two attorneys who cooperated with the NCAA in the probe.

The dispute involved allegations by the businessman that the attorneys had released copies of checks he'd written to cornerback

Gene Jelks while the player was at Alabama. One of the attorneys, John Thrower, has considered suing the NCAA for breaking its confidentiality pledge.

"If I knew the case existed, I never would have met with the NCAA," Thrower said. "People say, `Well, he's an attorney, he should have known.' But we're talking about a Kansas case. I wouldn't have known about that. "The reason they don't say anything (about the case) is because nobody would cooperate if they did."

Ann Hansbrough, an attorney who represents the NCAA, said the governing body vehemently opposed releasing documents from the Alabama investigation.

She said some names were blotted out before the documents were turned over.

Critics say that rather than be promised confidentiality, witnesses should at least be told the information they provide to the NCAA won't be released without a court order..

"I hear (NCAA) enforcement people say with some frequency that they won't release anything," said attorney Mike Glazier, a former NCAA investigator who now represents universities facing possible sanctions. "Perhaps they should be more specific and mention the possibility of a court ordering them to release the information."

Judge denies access to Jelks's recent financial records

BYLINE: By Mike Fish STAFF WRITER
DATE: 10-13-1993
PUBLICATION: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution
EDITION:
SECTION: Newspapers_&_Newswires
PAGE: B/08

Attorneys for former Alabama assistant coach Jerry Pullen were dealt a setback Tuesday when a DeKalb County judge ruled ex-Tide player Gene Jelks did not have to turn over recent financial records, but only those from 1984 through 1987.

Pullen, now employed as a medical supplies salesman in Tennessee, is suing Jelks for slander over allegations that the coach - while a member of the Alabama football staff - provided him money and assistance for the purchase of a car. The NCAA is investigating these and other allegations made against Alabama by Jelks.

Pullen's attorney, Tom Cauthorn, said he believes Jelks was paid to go public with the allegations in 1992, and had sought more current records that might help prove Jelks's motive - including bank and tax statements, along with receipts from the purchase of clothing, jewelry and entertainment.

"We are entitled to find out who that someone or someones might be," Cauthorn said.

Superior Court Judge Linda Warren Hunter described reports in Alabama newspapers that Jelks was "put up" to making the allegations by Auburn supporters as hearsay, and said the issue of whether Jelks received payment should be addressed when Jelks gives his deposition. Cauthorn said he plans to depose Jelks within two weeks.

Jelks's attorney, Stan Kreimer, submitted an affidavit from his client denying Jelks had been paid to make the allegations. Neither Pullen nor Jelks, who moved to Atlanta more than a year ago, attended the hearing.

Auburn-Bama still serious business: Bowden says state rivalry
needs more civil, less war

BYLINE: By J.C. Clemons STAFF WRITER
DATE: 11-15-1995
PUBLICATION: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution
EDITION:
SECTION: Newspapers_&_Newswires
PAGE: C/07

Auburn, Ala. - Terry Bowden wishes the Auburn-Alabama football series somehow would become more civil. Good luck. Even the Tigers' coach realizes his faith in mankind would be better served by envisioning worldpeace. "It's the very best and very worst of rivalries," Bowden said Tuesday. "Unfortunately at times, people take their reaction to the game too seriously . . . and respond in a negative way."

Three years ago, when Bowden signed on at Auburn, he knew he had stepped into one of the most intense college football rivalries, and easily the nastiest. It's not just that Auburn people hate to lose to Alabama - and vice versa - they truly despise each other's program.

Bowden, 1-1 in this series (in which Bama leads 34-24-1 but is 7-7 since 1981), acknowledges the Iron Bowl is far more than just a football game. "I hate to say it, but the meaningfulness of this game supersedes championships. It supersedes bowl games," Bowden says. "I'm glad people take it seriously. I want them to always take it seriously, and they always will. "I can't change that. But I wish when it's all said and done . . . I wish they could just enjoy it."

Yet, with a once promising season for No. 21 Auburn (7-3) now devoid of any title hopes, Bowden is all too aware there remains just one way for the Tigers to salvage a disappointing campaign: Beat Bama on Saturday. "So many people write to me," he says, "and tell me [even] in church, `You better win this game if you're going to keep your job.' People feel as if it's their life's mission to tell you that over and over." It's not necessary.

"Part of getting a great job like this means you must build a successful program and you must beat your rival," says Bowden. "And if you do it more than less, you're going to be famous. If you do it less than more, you may be around, [but] you may not."

Saturday, when No. 17 Alabama (8-2) visits Jordan-Hare Stadium for just the third time in the series, which began in 1893, it will enter under the cloud of an NCAA probe - one many Crimson Tide fans feel partly was instigated by Auburn backers of ex-Tide player Gene Jelks. Tiger fans know the feeling. Bowden spent his first two seasons righting an Auburn ship after the program was nearly sunk by NCAA probation. That sanction was sparked by Eric Ramsey, a former Tigers player who told of being paid to play for Auburn. Alabama supporters were known to be involved. Get the ugly picture? Bowden does, and wants to clear it up. "[Ideally] Auburn fans wouldn't scheme ways to get back at Alabama, and Alabama fans wouldn't scheme to get back at Auburn," Bowden says.

Tough chance. "It's like Iran and Iraq," Tigers senior center Shannon Roubique says. "They've been fighting for hundreds of years and probably don't even remember what they're fighting for. But they just know they're fighting and that they want to win."

Chart: Alabama vs. Auburn
-When: Saturday, 5:30 p.m.
-Where: Jordan-Hare Stadium, Auburn, Ala.
-TV/Radio: ESPN; 102.3 FM, 1230 AM.
-Series: Alabama leads,34-24-1.

Bama supporters should be angry, but not at NCAA

BYLINE: Terence Moore
DATE: 08-04-1995
PUBLICATION: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution
EDITION:
SECTION: Newspapers_&_Newswires
PAGE: E/01

You don't want to have the names of Gene Jelks or Antonio Langham these days inside the state of Alabama. To hear Crimson Tide fans tell it, those former Alabama football players are more despicable than anything that screams "War Eagle."

Tide fans are fuming at those who run the NCAA, too. After all, even though NCAA officials didn't give Alabama's football program the death penalty this week for rules violations involving Jelks and Langham, NCAA officials left Alabama's football program breathing heavily.

A three-year probation. No postseason play in '95. Tons of lost scholarships. Forfeiture of eight of the team's nine victories from the '93 season. Significant scolding from the NCAA's hierarchy.

So Tide fans are fuming, and they are justified. The problem is that they are directing their anger at the wrong people. Here are the true villains in this matter: Roger Sayers, Alabama's president; Cecil "Hootie" Ingram, Alabama's athletics director; Gene Stallings, Alabama's football coach; Thomas Jones, Alabama's faculty athletics director; and anybody else who bleeds crimson and white to the exclusion of playing fair.

We'll start with Stallings. Let's see, Stallings wants us to believe he ranks somewhere between Mr. Magoo and Mr. Ed when it comes to common sense. How else can you explain Stallings saying he failed to ask further questions of Langham when Stallings' all-everything defensive back told him in January of '93 that Langham had signed papers with somebody to forgo Langham's senior year of eligibility to join the NFL?

Oh, Stallings did say he asked Langham if that "somebody" was an agent, and when Langham said, "No," Stallings says he passed the information to Ingram and went about his business of searching for an offense.

So what did Ingram do? Nothing, not until he was forced to do something eight months later. That's when a sports agent surfaced with documents showing Langham's signature from January of '93. That's when Ingram decided to declare Langham ineligible. That's when Jones took over the matter and became the primary guy who should receive the wrath of ide fans. Jones submitted a written report of the Langham violation to the NCAA and an appeal for restoration, but here is what the NCAA said about the report: "[It] was based on an incomplete investigation and contained inadequate and inaccurate information."

In other words, Jones lied to the NCAA. For any self-respecting institution, especially one that once prided itself on never getting investigated by the NCAA, this is appalling. This is worse: "The penalties imposed by the [NCAA] Committee on Infractions," says Sayers, embarrassing himself and Alabama even more, "are excessive and inappropriate. In no way do those two isolated instances [Jelks and Langham] merit such a punitive response. Moreover, I categorically reject the one instance of unethical conduct [Jones' report] they allege. We will appeal."

They should shut up.

Bama lacked will to obey the rules

BYLINE: Tim Tucker
DATE: 08-03-1995
PUBLICATION: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution
EDITION:
SECTION: Newspapers_&_Newswires
PAGE: G/01; G/08

The Alabama football program didn't get tripped up by a technicality or two, didn't lose its way in the maze of NCAA regulations. If Alabama had wanted to do the right thing, to play by the rules, it easily could have done so.

When Antonio Langham told his coach in 1993 that he had applied for the NFL draft but had reconsidered, any casual follower of college football would have known an agent almost surely was involved. Aren't they always?

But Langham told his coach one wasn't, and that was what Alabama wanted to hear. If it'd heard more, it would have had no choice but to rule him ineligible. Furthermore, Alabama didn't even check to see if Langham's flirtation with the draft had cost him his eligibility. (It had.)

When another player, Gene Jelks, said he had purchased disability insurance, any curious person might have wondered where this college student got the money to pay the premiums, $9,075 over two years.

But Alabama didn't ask obvious questions or obtain required documents that would have made clear that Jelks got the money (and $15,325 more) through deferred-payment loans that violated NCAA rules.

In both cases, red flags were going up all over the place. But Alabama officials kept finding ways to ignore them, while continuing to play the players and win a lot of games.

The school's position essentially is that it just did a bad job, that it should have been more diligent, more probing, but that it wasn't trying to cover anything up. Even if you buy that, indifference to the rules isn't a mitigating factor, let alone a defense.

So the NCAA on Wednesday reached the only logical conclusion: "This case demonstrates . . . a distressing failure of institutional control." A 19-page report that served as verdict and sentence cast the vaunted, never-before-sanctioned Alabama football program as common NCAA criminal.

There used to be rumors that the school, because of the Bear Bryant influence and legacy, was a "sacred cow" within the NCAA, beyond the reach of the rules. If it was, it is no more.

The sentence was stiff: three years probation, one year (this one) without postseason play, loss of many scholarships, forfeiture of eight of the nine wins of '93. And the sentence was delivered with harsh rebukes.

Within the NCAA's written findings, there was this: "It is inexplicable that the university did not act on the information it possessed." And this: "The most significant violation [Langham playing in '93] involved a clear and understandable rule." And: "The faculty athletics representative [Thomas Jones] failed to deport himself . . . with the generally recognized high standards of honesty."

Alabama disputes the finding about Jones and plans to appeal the penalty. But, truth is, little about this case is in dispute.

And there is no disputing this: All it took to abide by the rules was the desire to do so. That, and a reasonable amount of effort.

COLLEGES: Ex-Tide assistant's suit against Jelks dismissed

BYLINE: By Mike Fish STAFF WRITER
DATE: 06-06-1995
PUBLICATION: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution
EDITION:
SECTION: Newspapers_&_Newswires
PAGE: C/03

Though the college football season is months away, Auburn supporters enjoyed a legal victory Monday over arch-rival Alabama in a fifth-floor DeKalb County courtroom.

Two years after former Alabama assistant coach Jerry Pullen brought a defamation suit against ex-Crimson Tide captain Gene Jelks, Superior Court Judge Linda Warren Hunter granted a summary judgment dismissing the case. Pullen's attorney had argued that Auburn loyalists "put Jelks up to" publicly alleging that he received improper payments from Pullen and others while at Alabama.

Jelks' attorney, Jonathan Peters, argued that there couldn't be defamation if the allegations were true. Judge Hunter agreed, saying, "Motive is not really an issue."

Attorney Thomas Cauthorn, who represents Pullen, said he plans to ask the Georgia Court of Appeals to overturn the decision. Cauthorn had hoped the court would require Jelks and his former attorney, Stan Kreimer, son-in-law of a prominent Auburn booster, to reveal the source of their funding.

"If they're smart, they won't appeal," said Kreimer, dismissed from the case after he was ruled to be a material witness. "The dog had fleas, anyway."

In interviews and a statement Jelks signed for the Atlanta Journal- Constitution in November 1992, he alleged the former assistant coach funneled money to his mother before he signed with Alabama in 1985. Jelks produced a taped conversation with Pullen to help substantiate his claims, including that Alabama coaches provided money to him and his family that was used to make payments on a 1984 Ford Escort.

The tape came into the case when Pullen was questioned about his responses during deposition. He appeared to support several of Jelks' allegations on the tape.

"Is it reasonable after a 45-minute conversation that you never come out and deny something that might be illegal or improper?" Judge Hunter asked during the hearing. "Someone is accusing him of dastardly deeds, and [Pullen] never once denied it."

Pullen's attorneys have sought to connect Jelks with Auburn by filing court documents that, among other things, show a relationship between Jelks and William "Corky" Frost, a Lilburn general contractor and Auburn supporter. Records also show Kreimer wrote 28 checks totaling almost $37,000 to Jelks since his client first made his allegations.

Feudin': DeKalb defamation suit heats up ancient Alabama-Auburn rivalry

BYLINE: By Mike Fish STAFF WRITER
DATE: 11-18-1994
PUBLICATION: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution
EDITION:
SECTION: Newspapers_&_Newswires
PAGE: E/10

Far from the green turf of Legion Field in Birmingham, the Alabama- Auburn rivalry plays itself out in a sterile DeKalb County courtroom. Attorneys, in three-piece suits, have replaced players. Briefs and depositions have replaced game plans.

Case No. 5922-8 in Superior Court: Jerry Pullen vs. Gene Jelks.

At issue in the courtroom is whether Gene Jelks, a former Alabama football player, defamed Jerry Pullen, an ex-Alabama assistant coach. Jelks publicly alleged nearly two years ago that Pullen and others gave him improper payments to play at Alabama. The NCAA is formally investigating the football program.

At issue in Alabama, however, is proving that Auburn supporters are paying Jelks to turn turncoat on Alabama.

"[Auburn boosters] have been trying to do something like this for years," said long-time Alabama supporter, Logan Young Jr., a Memphis investor, who has "loaned" $4,000 to help pay Pullen's legal fees. "They've been sore since [former Alabama coach Bear] Bryant beat them nine straight. They've just been festering down there. If it hadn't been Jelks, it would have been somebody else."

Judge Linda Warren Hunter refuses to discuss the case with reporters, but is fully aware that this is a football rivalry gone amuck.

Jelks is represented by Decatur attorney Stan Kreimer, son-in-law of a prominent Auburn booster.

Arguing on Pullen's behalf is Marietta attorney Randy Edwards, a former Alabama defensive tackle (1980-83).

Court documents reveal further school ties:

William D. "Corky" Frost, a Lilburn general contractor banned by the NCAA from associating with Auburn because of his role in the case that landed the school on probation, acknowledges ties to Jelks - among them providing $1,500 cash to purchase some clothing shortly after he moved to the Atlanta area in 1992.

Kreimer has written 28 checks totaling almost $37,000 to Jelks since his client first made his allegations. An appeals court is weighing Kreimer's possible removal from the case because he may now be a witness.

Kreimer estimates the paperwork on the case is five times the normal amount. His file is two feet thick.

"It's the University of Alabama sending a message to all the world, `You mess with us and we're going to sue you,' " Kreimer said.

"School spirit is a great thing, but that point stops when it affects your whole life and everything you do in life. That is what happened here."

Supporters for both football programs argue loudly, often armed with rumors and innuendo, that the other has conspired to bring down its rival.

Auburn faithful believe Alabama supporters influenced ex-Auburn player Eric Ramsey to level charges that eventually put the Tigers on NCAA probation. Likewise, Auburn supporters are thought to be behind Jelks.

Young, whose family made its fortune in the margarine business and a soft-drink distributorship, said he helped fund Pullen's legal team because it was the right thing to do.

He is not a Alabama alumnus, but a Vanderbilt graduate. Young said his father, Logan Young Sr., and later himself became close friends of the late Paul "Bear" Bryant, an assistant at Vandy in the early 1940s.

"Some of them [Auburn] people actually think Alabama got them put on probation," he says. "That and the fact Alabama won 12 national championships and 20 SEC championships, it's hard for them to take."

The heralded arrival of Bryant in Tuscaloosa fueled the rivalry. Early on, Bryant caustically referred to Auburn as the "cow college."

And Bryant's teams usually backed up his jabs on the field.

"In 1949, I was nine years old, and I remember the fight [fans] had in downtown Birmingham," recalled Frost, who attended Auburn on a track scholarship. "They had a war, a riot, after the game. That's happened several times over there."

The bad blood reached a point in 1907 that the two schools stopped meeting on the football field until 1948. Only threats from the state legislature to cut off funding brought about resumption of the series.

But as ugly as the rivalry has been, and few equal the year-round intensity, it perhaps has never sunken to recent levels.

"That [the Jelks allegations] is where the rivalry got bitter," said Don Valeska, an Alabama assistant attorney general and a Crimson Tide alumnus. "[Auburn] people were convinced that Alabama was behind Eric Ramsey. So their thinking was `[Alabama] tried to sink our program, we're going to sink theirs even if it means setting them up."

This is the dark underbelly of sports in Alabama, where college football is king. There is no professional sport, only Auburn versus Alabama.

A recent Mobile Register/University of South Alabama poll revealed that 69 percent of Alabamians were more interested in football than this month's state elections. The sampling found 59 percent identified themselves as Crimson Tide fans, while 24 percent indicated that their devotion was to Auburn.

"When I got there, people said `You're not going to believe this,' " said ex-Alabama coach Bill Curry. "I just know at birth, that child looks up from the crib and sees crimson and white [Alabama's school colors] or orange and blue [Auburn's school colors] and it's set for life. And if you move in from Detroit in the fourth grade, you've got to make a choice [Auburn fan or Alabama fan] the first day of school.

"I've spoken to grammar schools, and seen one kid sitting in the corner crying. I'll say, `What's wrong?' `Oh, that's Jason, he's an Auburn fan.' I've had to put the kid on my knee and say it's OK to root for your team.

"I had a guy tell me his sister was considering going to Auburn. He said, `If she does, I'll never talk to her again.' I laughed. He said, `I'm serious.' "

Ex-Tide coach reveals booster's $4,000 loan

BYLINE: By Mike Fish STAFF WRITER
DATE: 11-12-1994
PUBLICATION: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution
EDITION:
SECTION: Newspapers_&_Newswires
PAGE: D/10

Jerry Pullen, an ex-Alabama football coach who has brought a defamation suit against a former player, has acknowledged an Alabama booster helped pay some of his own legal fees.

In a sworn statement filed recently in DeKalb County Superior Court, Pullen said his attorneys advised him of having "borrowed $4,000 from Logan Young." Pullen previously denied receiving money from Young, a long- time Alabama fan, when his deposition was taken Sept. 9.

Pullen filed a defamation suit last year, claiming that ex-Alabama player Gene Jelks was "put up to" making allegations against the Crimson Tide program by supporters of Auburn University. Jelks alleged that Pullen and others made improper payments - including a $2,100 "signing bonus" after he enrolled at Alabama in 1985 - and cash to help him make payments on a car.

The case took a twist last month when Pullen's attorneys countered with the revelation that Jelks' attorney, Stan Kreimer, had written 28 checks totaling almost $37,000 to his client since taking the case in 1992. Judge Linda Warren Hunter agreed with their request for Kreimer's dismissal, and the Decatur attorney has sought to appeal the decision.

Young described himself Friday as a personal friend of the late Alabama coach Paul "Bear" Bryant, saying he agreed to lend the money after being contacted by Pullen's attorney, Randy Edwards.

"I just thought the thing with Jelks was so outrageous and ridiculous," said Young, a Memphis investor who formerly owned the Memphis Showboats of the now-defunct USFL. "I thought something ought be done about it. I'm glad Pullen sued him and I wish more of that happened. Kids come in talking about how somebody paid them and they can't prove it."

COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Jelks' lawyer dismissed from defamation suit

BYLINE: By Mike Fish STAFF WRITER
DATE: 10-14-1994
PUBLICATION: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution
EDITION:
SECTION: Newspapers_&_Newswires
PAGE: E/07

The attorney representing former Alabama football captain Gene Jelks in a defamation suit brought by an ex-Crimson Tide assistant coach has been dismissed from the case.

DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Linda Warren Hunter signed an order Wednesday saying attorney Stan Kreimer is a "material witness in the case" and as such cannot represent his client. Kreimer also was ordered to produce his checking account and bank records relating to payments he made to Jelks.

Hunter acted following revelations that over an 18-month period Kreimer had been writing checks to his client. Attorneys for the ex- coach, Jerry Pullen, charged that Kreimer had written 28 checks totaling almost $37,000 to Jelks between Nov. 24, 1992, and April 21, 1994.

The attorneys have sought to establish whether Kreimer or other parties paid Jelks to make allegations about the Alabama football program.

Kreimer, who could not be reached for comment Thursday, is likely to appeal.

In 1992, Jelks played for the Journal-Constitution taped conversations with Pullen and others he made to document the history of improper payments - including a $2,100 "signing bonus" after he enrolled at Alabama in '85 - and cash to help him make payments on a car.

In 1993, Pullen filed a defamation suit, which in part charges that Jelks was "put up to" his allegations by supporters of Auburn University. The allegation that Kreimer has been writing checks to Jelks emerged during discovery responses sought by Pullen's attorneys from First Union National Bank of Georgia. The checks were written out of his escrow and regular operating accounts.

In a separate issue, Judge Hunter said Jelks has also failed to "identify the [persons who are] paying his attorney's fee." Jelks declined to answer the question during his deposition.

Jelks and Kreimer, a DeKalb County attorney, have been ordered to respond within 20 days. They also must respond to the source of financial assistance Jelks received during the time he lived in DeKalb County, which was during and after he went public with allegations about the Alabama football program.

Pullen, who last worked as an assistant at Clemson in 1992, is no longer in coaching. Jelks now lives in Gadsden, Ala., his hometown.

Pullen-Jelks suit records to be opened

BYLINE: By Mike Fish STAFF WRITER
DATE: 10-11-1994
PUBLICATION: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution
EDITION:
SECTION: Newspapers_&_Newswires
PAGE: B/05

A DeKalb County judge ruled Monday that all records should be open in the defamation suit filed by ex-Alabama assistant coach Jerry Pullen against former Tide player Gene Jelks, whose allegations of payoffs by coaches and supporters sparked an NCAA investigation of the university's football program.

Superior Court Judge Linda Warren Hunter agreed with a motion filed by attorneys for the Journal-Constitution to open the records, adding that only a misinterpretation of a confidentiality order in the court clerk's office had kept the records sealed.

In arguing to keep them sealed, Stan Kreimer submitted an affidavit Monday from his client, Jelks, claiming the public nature of the case had placed him in danger. After attending his brother's junior varsity football game last month in his hometown of Gadsden, Ala., Jelks said someone in a car drove by and "fired four gunshots at me."

Neither Jelks or Kreimer could be reached for comment Monday.

Two years ago, Jelks told the Journal-Constitution that Pullen made improper payments to him while he was in high school and college. The NCAA began an investigation and last month charged Alabama with two major violations, but nothing related to Jelks' previous charges because they were apparently outside the organization's four-year statute of limitations.

In court documents, Pullen has charged in previous motions that Jelks was "put up to" his allegations by supporters of Auburn, Alabama's arch-rival.

Attorneys for Pullen allege in court records that Jelks received $36,946.01 from the escrow and regular accounts that his attorney, Kreimer, uses in his law practice. The 28 checks, 26 from an escrow account, were allegedly written between Nov. 24, 1992, and April 21, 1994.

In an Aug. 24 deposition, William D. "Corky" Frost, a Lilburn general contractor who was banned by the NCAA from associating with Auburn because of his role in the case that landed the school on probation, acknowledged several ties to Jelks - including providing him $1,500 cash to purchase some clothing shortly after he moved to the Atlanta area in 1992. Frost said Kreimer later repaid him the money.

Frost said he also loaned Jelks $50 when he showed up at his office this summer. Jelks promised to pay him back the next day, but Frost said, "I haven't seen him since then."

In his 122-page deposition, Frost detailed how he drove to Gadsden in October of 1992 to bring Jelks to Atlanta. The next day, Frost took him to Kreimer's office.

Several weeks earlier, Frost said he received an anonymous call inviting him to meet with Kreimer at his law office. At the meeting, he said Kreimer asked him to transport Jelks to Atlanta.

He also acknowledged that Jelks had taped from his office a telephone conversation with Pullen, though saying he was unaware he was doing it at the time.

NCAA checks `credibility' of charges made by Jelks

BYLINE: By J.C. Clemons STAFF WRITER
DATE: 09-02-1994
PUBLICATION: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution
EDITION:
SECTION: Newspapers_&_Newswires
PAGE: E/09

Though court documents filed Monday raised the question that former Alabama football player Gene Jelks is being paid to make allegations against the university, an NCAA official said Thursday that "any information, regardless of the source of the information, is evaluated and [we] determine its credibility."

NCAA Director of Enforcement Chuck Smrt refused to comment specifically on the preliminary investigation on Alabama, but said the NCAA's aim, in all cases, is to determine the truthfulness of conflicting allegations.

"One thing you look at is the source of the information, and reasons that somebody is coming forth with information. That may or may not factor on [an informant's] credibility," Smrt said. "You could obviously have a situation where the information is truthful, but the person came forth for the wrong reasons. That may not effect the validity of the information at all."

In interviews and a statement Jelks signed for the Atlanta Journal- Constitution in November 1992, he alleged that former Alabama assistant coach Jerry Pullen funneled money to his mother before he signed with Alabama in 1985. Jelks, a cornerback and a captain on the 1989 SEC championship squad, also said he was paid thousands of dollars by coaches and fans during his career at Alabama.

The NCAA announced the start of a preliminary investigation last year and is expected to notify the school by Sept. 23 on whether it plans to conduct a formal investigation.

Meanwhile, Pullen has waged a defamation lawsuit against Jelks in DeKalb County, where Jelks now lives. Pullen, who was working at Clemson when the Jelks made the charges, has been unable to get a job in coaching since then.

The latest motion filed in Pullen's case included 200 pages of supporting documents and financial records that outline Jelks' spending habits over the past 18 months. The documents show that Jelks received $36,946.01 from the escrow and regular accounts that his attorney, Stan Kreimer of Atlanta, uses in his law practice. Other than the reference to a "third party," it does not address the source of those funds, but accuses Kreimer of being involved in a "possible conspiracy" with Jelks. The motion calls for Kreimer to be removed as counsel.

Pullen has charged in previous motions that Jelks was "put up to" his allegations by supporters of Auburn University, Alabama's arch-rival.

Jelks has indicated in earlier court documents that he was referred to Kreimer by William D. "Corky" Frost, a Lilburn businessman who was ordered to sever relationships with Auburn University after its football program was placed on NCAA probation.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL PREVIEW: Documents allege Jelks received $37,000 from lawyer

BYLINE: By J.C. Clemons STAFF WRITER
DATE: 09-01-1994
PUBLICATION: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution
EDITION:
SECTION: Newspapers_&_Newswires
PAGE: D/05

Former Alabama football player Gene Jelks - whose accusations of payoffs by coaches and supporters sparked an NCAA investigation of the school - has received almost $37,000 in living expenses from the escrow account of his lawyer, the Tuscaloosa (Ala.) News reported Tuesday.

The News attributed its reports to documents filed Monday in DeKalb Superior Court by attorneys for ex-Tide coach Gene Pullen, who has filed a defamation suit against Jelks. In November, 1992, Jelks told the Journal-Constitution that Pullen made improper payments to him while he was in high school and college.

The motion seeks Stan Kreimer's removal as Jelks' attorney, and requests a default judgement against the former player.

On Wednesday, Kreimer filed an emergency motion seeking sanctions against attorneys for Pullen, who was represented Wednesday by Tom Cauthorn.

Kreimer's motion alleges Pullen's attorneys violated a confidentiality order entered into as part of the defamation lawsuit.

Judge Linda Warren Hunter set a Sept. 15 hearing date on Kreimer's emergency motion, and an Oct. 10 hearing on the recusal motion by Pullen's attorneys.

The News reported that over a 17-month period, dispersals from the escrow account controlled by Kreimer ranged from $303 to $5,413. Corky Frost, a Lilburn businessman who was banned by the NCAA from associating with Auburn because of his role in the case which landed that school on probation, allegedly paid Jelks $1,500 and was reimbursed by Kreimer from the escrow account, according to The News.

COLLEGES: Mother now supports allegations made by ex-Alabama player Jelks

BYLINE: By Mike Fish STAFF WRITER
DATE: 01-28-1994
PUBLICATION: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution
EDITION:
SECTION: Newspapers_&_Newswires
PAGE: C/06

The saga of Gene Jelks, the former Alabama football player who leveled allegations of athletics abuses at the school, has another interesting chapter with the filing of court documents in DeKalb County alleging his mother, Doris Jelks, gave a deposition last Saturday corroborating his claims. The deposition became public Wednesday.

In interviews and a statement Jelks signed for the Atlanta Journal- Constitution in November 1992, he alleged that former Alabama assistant coach Jerry Pullen funneled money to his mother before he signed with Alabama in 1985. Doris Jelks initially denied the allegation, saying "What would I look like selling one of my kids?"

Jelks, a cornerback and a captain on the 1989 SEC championship squad, has said he was paid thousands of dollars by coaches and fans during his career at Alabama. The NCAA announced the start of a formal investigation in September, and has closely followed the documents filed in court.

The change in tune by Jelks's mother was revealed in documents filed Wednesday by her son's attorney, Stan Kreimer, in a defamation of character suit brought by Pullen last year. Discovery in the case is to extend through March 15, after which a trial will follow if the suit isn't dismissed.

Mrs. Jelks's deposition has been sealed by Superior Court Judge Linda Warren Hunter, yet documents filed by Kreimer revealed, among other things: "Ms. Jelks confirmed that Mr. Pullen orchestrated the purchase of the Ford Escort for her son; was familiar with the financial arrangements, and, more importantly, delivered cash payments to her, on a monthly basis, to pay off the loan."

Documents also stated Mrs. Jelks testified that her husband, Dan, was present when the cash was delivered, usually in a plain white envelope.

Contacted at their home in Gadsden, Ala., neither Doris or Dan Jelks would comment on the deposition, specifically the drastic change in comments by Mrs. Jelks.

"I don't have anything to say to you about that deposition," Doris Jelks said. "Really, it was supposed to be confidential in that room."

Attempts to reach Pullen's attorney, Randy Edwards, were unsuccessful.

In recent weeks, Pullen's attorneys have filed motions in an attempt to force Jelks to reveal information concerning his financial arrangements for living expenses in Atlanta and legal fees. The attorneys accused Jelks of changing his story in regard to which assistant coach was making illegal payoffs, along with revealing that tape-recorded telephone calls Jelks had with Pullen were made from the office of Auburn booster Corky Frost.

"I think it's stupid of Pullen to file suit," Kreimer said. "I can only guess he thought he could intimidate our witnesses or help [Alabama] recruiting, or both . . . By filing suit he has given us subpoena power, and the end result has been to strengthen and corroborate Gene's statements, which will ultimately demonstrate, in my opinion, that an NCAA violation has occurred."

BYLINE: STAFF REPORTS AND NEWS SERVICES
DATE: 05-02-1996
PUBLICATION: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution
EDITION:
SECTION: Newspapers_&_Newswires
PAGE: E10

SPORTS AND THE LAW

The Georgia Supreme Court has rejected the appeal of a former Alabama assistant football coach Jerry Pullen accusing ex-player Gene Jelks of slander. Pullen has no more appeals under Georgia law, said his attorney, Randy Edwards of Atlanta. Jelks' pay-for-play allegations against Alabama, appearing in the Journal-Constitution, spawned the NCAA investigation that landed the Crimson Tide on probation for the first time when violations turned up involving another former player, Antonio Langham.

COLLEGE ROUNDUP: Jelks admits Auburn booster referred lawyer

BYLINE: FROM OUR NEWS SERVICES
DATE: 07-28-1994
PUBLICATION: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution
EDITION:
SECTION: Newspapers_&_Newswires
PAGE: E/03

Tuscaloosa, Ala. - Former Alabama football player Gene Jelks, who accused the school of rules violations, admitted in court documents that he was referred to his lawyer by an Auburn booster.

The documents were filed in DeKalb County, Ga., Superior Court as part of the slander suit that former Alabama assistant coach Jerry Pullen filed against Jelks. The Tuscaloosa News reported on the documents Wednesday.

At the request of the court, Jelks identified William D. "Corky" Frost of Lilburn, Ga., as the person who referred him to attorney Stan Kreimer.

Frost was the Auburn booster accused of giving cash and other improper benefits to Eric Ramsey when Ramsey played football at Auburn. After investigating the claims, the NCAA placed the Auburn football program on two years' probation last year and ordered the school to sever its relationship with Frost.