Posted on 12/30/2002 12:44:24 PM PST by willieroe
PHOENIX -- Ohio State tailback Maurice Clarett, upset over missing the funeral of a lifelong friend, said Monday that colleges care more about football than they do about life.
Speaking before the No. 2-ranked Buckeyes' showdown for the national title against Miami in the Fiesta Bowl on Friday, Clarett said Ohio State "gave him the runaround" and "told me it was a (NCAA) compliance issue" when he asked to fly home for the service Monday.
"They didn't really give me an answer to the question," he said of university officials. "I guess football's more important than a person's life to them. That's why I'm ready to get this game over and go back home."
Clarett set Ohio State freshman records this season with 1,190 yards rushing and 16 touchdowns.
Ohio State sports information director Steve Snapp said he was unaware of Clarett's request to fly home to Youngstown, Ohio. Snapp said he was aware only that Clarett's friend was killed.
Ohio State athletic director Andy Geiger was not immediately available to comment.
Clarett declined to give the name of his friend, who he said was shot last week.
He said he was affected not only by the death but by Ohio State's response.
"I'm kind of messed up now because they jerked me kind of," Clarett said. "I really wanted to go back. I'm not really supposed to be here. But it's cool. Things happen in life, there's bumps in the road like every thing else. But I'll be all right."
Earlier in the season, Clarett had talked about other friends who had not been able to escape the streets in the Rust Belt city. He said he had lost several friends and relatives and that he thought of them every day when he considered how fortunate he was to have a scholarship and the opportunity to better himself.
Clarett said it was difficult to keep a football game in perspective in light of what is going on back home.
"Life's a whole lot more important than football, you know what I mean? We hold the national championship but they won't talk about the homeless and the poor," he said. "We're sitting here in this old grand hotel, things like that, but we can't feed the homeless or poor. ... It's a game."
Clarett was a toddler when his father left home. His mother, Michelle, is the chief deputy clerk for the municipal court in Youngstown.
As he was growing up, he saw people killed in the streets. Once he was playing football in the street when a boy sitting nearby was killed in a drive-by shooting. Another time, Clarett was sitting on the front porch of the house he shared with his mother, grandmother, two brothers and 11 cousins. They saw a neighbor's friend be shot in the chest, crawl into Clarett's front yard and bleed to death.
Clarett said his goal was to funnel money back to people who need it the most.
"You go through downtown Columbus, you've got people sleeping on sidewalks. You know what I mean? And they're giving us scholarships and they're selling 100,000 tickets every game," he said.
"It's the richest part of Columbus, downtown, but you're walking past bums and homeless people. This is wintertime, it's like 19 degrees down there. They're sleeping in boxes and little covers. It don't make any sense to me."
AP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service
Copyright 2002, The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved
'Herky' gets $25,000 for banana attack
01/01/03
Associated Press
A lawyer says Ohio State University has agreed to pay $25,000 to a former University of Iowa mascot for injuries she suffered when she was struck by an Ohio State band member.
Angela Anderson, formerly of Council Bluffs and now of the District of Columbia, was performing as Herky the Hawk at Ohio State when she was hit from behind in October 1999 by a 3-foot foam banana wielded by a member of the Buckeye band sitting on the shoulders of another band member.
She suffered a fracture of a spinous process, the middle of the three bumps on the back of each vertebra.
Anderson sued Ohio State in November 2001.
Her attorney, Tom Riley of Cedar Rapids, said an Ohio court approved the settlement and that Ohio State also must pay court costs.
Riley said Anderson still suffers occasional pain in the back of her neck from the injury.
"Opposing football team mascots usually engage in playful touching but discuss what they are going to do in advance of the game," Riley said. "They never sneak up from behind and catch a mascot unaware. And the playful activities involve only the mascots and not members of the band or spectators."
Bill Livingston
Clarett disrupts OSU fiesta
01/01/03
Phoenix
- Maybe they all are just meat on the hoof. Maurice Clarett, his eyes far older than his 19 years, sees it that way.
"I'm not going to sit here and let them lie about it. I filled out the papers [a Free Application For Federal Student Aid form, or FAFSA] before we left Columbus Dec. 26. They didn't tell you that,' " Clarett said yesterday.
This has become a series of charges and counter-charges about paperwork that was or was not filed, which kept Ohio State's stellar freshman running back from attending the funeral two days ago of a high-school friend who was shot to death in Youngstown. Ohio State officials say whatever Clarett filled out, it wasn't the form the NCAA's rules mandarins require. Clarett said his family lacks the money to buy him a ticket home, for which OSU would have reimbursed him quickly.
Buckeye players Will Smith and Chris Vance returned to New York and Florida, respectively, for funerals during the season. OSU officials say their papers were in order.
Asked if the flap had changed the "affection" he felt for Ohio State, Clarett said: "I never had any affection for Ohio State. I went there to get an education and play football."
Education was not the focal point of Clarett's midseason interview with ESPN: The Magazine, though. In that cover story, he discussed a legal challenge to the NFL rule preventing collegians from turning pro until their admission class has reached junior-year status.
Clarett might be another Robert Smith, the Ohio State running back of the early 1990s from Euclid.
Smith quit the team for a season in a dispute with an assistant coach who, charged Smith, interfered with his right to become Doogie Howser, M.D., by making him douse the dorm lights rather than pour over weighty tomes as a pre-med major. But Smith turned pro as soon as he could and did not get his degree. He might have won a Heisman Trophy, had he stayed. A number of OSU officials were glad to be spared the headaches he caused them.
Many questions arise in the Clarett case, not the least of which is the lack of official concern that Juaquin "Juan" Bell, the murdered friend, was shot multiple times and drugs were found at the crime scene.
Clarett has changed the discourse at the Fiesta Bowl. Before, the Buckeyes were lying in the tumbleweeds, a 13-point underdog against Miami, feeding off the nation's disrespect for them. But now, OSU is the unfeeling football factory, trampling on a kid from the hardscrabble streets of Youngstown.
When Clarett mentioned the $14 million payout at the Fiesta Bowl, it was in implicit contrast to the $1,000 or so it would have cost to fly him back for the funeral. But that's a curious argument, because Clarett hates to fly. It was an issue with him repeatedly during the season.
Also, Bell was killed on Dec. 21, but Clarett said he only found out about the funeral arrangements on Dec. 26. Again, for such close friends, it's curious.
Clarett's charges strike at the core of the "22 Musketeers" attitude coach Jim Tressel has fostered. "Coach Tressel and my teammates care about me. As for the university, I don't know," Clarett said.
Clarett would do well to have a good game Friday. The fan backlash to the ESPN: The Magazine story made him stop reading e-mails. OSU fans just wanted to have a healthy Clarett, recovered from his shoulder injury, here to test the Hurricanes. They have him now, and that's the problem.
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:
blivingston@plaind.com, 216-999-5754
Once again - the reference to Trent Lott is completely incoherent. I don't see a reference to Lott in the article - so if you're trying to insinuate something, you'll need to say it out loud instead of being a pussy about it.
How is he going to pay for the ticket home? That may be the NCAA violation.
More Like GIVE me some respect.
It's symantics, but it sure lets you know what the return on your investment will be,
nil!
02 January 2003
Clarett's words hit home for homeless
Akron reverend praises Ohio State running back for his awareness of what is truly important in life
By Terry Pluto
PHOENIX - Rev. Curt Thomas was on the road to Iowa when he heard Maurice Clarett talk about the plight of the homeless.
``I was so impressed by that young man,'' he said. ``I don't know the details, but I appreciate what he said.''
Thomas is the director of the Haven of Rest, which is Akron's City Mission. Along with his wife Eileen, Thomas spent New Year's Day driving Jason Hubbard to Emmaus Bible College, where he will begin school.
Hubbard is a graduate of the Haven's drug and alcohol program. He was one of those whom Clarett talked about, those who sleep on the streets and live in poverty.
Now, he has a new life.
Thomas talked about the Haven's budget of about $5 million. None of it comes from government sources. And there are so many like Jason Hubbard, who need help.
``From that $5 million, we have 90 employees,'' he said. ``Out of that, we served about 300,000 meals and had 51,000 nights of lodging. We ran our drug program. What's $5 million? Something like the average salary for these pros.''
Thomas paused.
``I believe that young man (Clarett) said our priorities are out of whack, and he's right.''
Clarett didn't mean to become a spokesman for the homeless. He was just upset because he couldn't attend a funeral for a murdered friend. He didn't have the money to leave the Buckeyes in Tempe, Ariz., and fly back to Youngstown.
He thought Ohio State, the NCAA or someone should help. OSU officials said they would have, but NCAA rules demanded that Clarett fill out certain forms.
Clarett said he did.
The Buckeyes said he may have completed some of the paperwork, but not all of it. The result was the NCAA wouldn't allow the school to pay for the travel. NCAA rules prohibit boosters or anyone even remotely connected with the university to pay for the plane ticket, because it would be considered an ``extra benefit'' not available to other students.
But a nonathlete could have a professor buy him or her a ticket home for a funeral, and it would be OK because the NCAA has no jurisdiction in that case. That is just one issue, and it again highlights some of the rigid and ridiculous rules of the NCAA.
Unneeded extravagance
It's also why Clarett discussed the hypocrisy of college sports, the huge money spent on stadiums and bowl games.
``We play for a national championship and we stay in this grand hotel, but we won't talk about the homeless and poor,'' he said. ``In downtown Columbus, you have people sleeping on sidewalks... They're selling 100,000 tickets to every game. And people are sleeping in boxes with little covers. It doesn't make sense.''
Exactly what, if anything, Clarett proposed to do about it is unclear. But in an age when so many young athletes are so stuck on themselves, those in the trenches such as Rev. Thomas were just happy that someone such as the 19-year-old Clarett noticed.
For New Year's Eve, there was a full house at the Haven's Harvest Home for women and children, a total of 52 spending the night. On the men's side, 130 came off the street. They had bunk beds for 100, and added 30 cots and mats on the floor to help the rest.
``It seems the demand is getting greater all the time,'' Thomas said.
A bigger battle
It makes you wonder what would happen if athletes decided to partner with men like Thomas. Suppose some of the megamillionaires adopted a city mission. Not only would they have money to donate, but their name would attract others to give.
``(Rams quarterback) Kurt Warner has done that in St. Louis,'' Thomas said. ``When he played for the Cavs, Mark Price made sizeable contributions. Craig Ehlo's wife was a volunteer. But when I think how hard we have to work to raise money... ''
Thomas' voice trailed off.
It is much harder for people such as Thomas to defeat the homeless blight than it is for Clarett and the Buckeyes to upset Miami in the Fiesta Bowl.
``About 80 percent of the people coming to us are addicted, mostly to crack cocaine,'' he said.
So it's not just a matter of providing food and a place to sleep, but dealing with the devils that drove them into the streets.
``I'm a sports fan,'' Thomas said. ``I watch the Browns and Indians. But I think what we're doing here is pretty important.''
Hopefully, Clarett will remember that when he's in the NFL. And maybe others will pay enough attention to open their hearts -- and their wallets.
Messages for Terry Pluto can be left at 330-996-3816 or bjsports@thebeaconjournal.com Sign up for Terry's free weekly e-mail newsletter at www.thebeaconjournal.com/newsletter/
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