Karp thought about it for a moment, then shook his head. "Obviously, a gross miscarriage of justice," he said. "But there's nothing we can do about that case. The question for us is how does it tie into your problem?"
"As I said, Rufus was suspended from the team," O'Toole replied. "After the charges were dropped, I got a lot of pressure from the university president, Huttington, and the attorney Barnhill to reinstate him. I still refused."
"On what grounds?" Karp asked.
"On the grounds the asshole raped a girl," Marlene bristled.
"Come on, Marlene," Karp responded, "the complainant took off, the evidence was stolen, the corroborating witness flipped. End of case. We know there was factual guilt, but no legally admissible evidence in the offing. Legally, Zook was left with the presumption of innocence unrebutted."
Marlene growled something inaudible as Karp continued. "I'm asking what grounds you gave to the powers that be to keep the asshole off the team after the criminal charges that got him suspended were dropped. I'm assuming this has to do with why you're in hot water now."
"I understand," O'Toole said, "and you're right. If Huttington and Barnhill had their way, which was to cave in to Big John, Rufus would be back and probably in the starting lineup. However, I was able to keep him off for 'conduct detrimental to the team' because there was plenty of evidence that he set up the party, picked up the booze that was served to guys he knew were underage, and arranged for the strippers. Plus, he knew the recruits were to be in bed in the dormitory by ten."
"Can they make the claim that this refusal to reinstate him was personal?" Karp asked.
"I suppose they can say that," O'Toole agreed. "And I'll admit that I wasn't unhappy to have a reason to remove him from the team. The guy's a racist and a real cancer in the locker room. The only two recruits-and there were six-invited to this party were the two white kids. All the others were black and Hispanic. I think Rufus intended a different kind of recruiting for his friends with the Aryan church down the road."
"A racist, huh?" Marlene said. "I'm sure his attitude didn't go over too well with the brothers on the team."
"No, it didn't, nor with me, or for that matter with the other white players, who get along with all the guys," O'Toole responded. "But Rufus knew better than to say anything out loud; otherwise, he might have had a 'slipped-and-fell' accident in the showers. But his attitude made it obvious. He got the locker as far from the other players as possible. Came in early to dress. Showered after they left. Rarely said a word to anybody but me and never attended team functions. Then he started openly hanging out with the neo-Nazi/Aryan types."
"Sounds like you have a pretty tight case for 'conduct detrimental to the team' even without the recruiting party," Karp conceded.
"Yeah, I tried to nail him a couple of times even before all of this went down," O'Toole said. "But Huttington and Barnhill wouldn't go up against Big John."
"Can he play baseball?" Karp asked.
"What's that got to do with anything?" Marlene said. "The guy's a Nazi rapist lunatic."
"Because they might try to claim that Rufus was an all-star player but was being unfairly held to a higher standard than black players. If the guy can't play ball, all the more reason it's up to a coach's discretion whether to keep him on the bench, or get rid of him, especially if he's disruptive."
"Very mediocre-slow, average arm, can't hit a changeup, and wouldn't have made this team if I'd been coaching when he started," O'Toole said. "I inherited him from the coach before me, and I think the old coach pretty much had to take him on because of Big John."
"Who is this Big John character? He sounds like something out of a redneck comic book," Marlene said.
O'Toole chuckled. "You're not too far off. As the name implies, he's a big fella…six foot five maybe, maybe three hundred pounds. Was a Division II all-American right guard for the University of Northwest Idaho, a regular hometown hero. He even got drafted by the Oakland Raiders but got cut in preseason and never played another down. He's done all right for himself, though, and every year he writes a fifty-thousand-dollar check to the university sports department and that much again to the university's general kitty."
"What's he like?" Marlene said.
"Sort of what you'd expect," O'Toole said. "Gone to seed a bit. Hair is thinning. Big paunch and lots of spider veins in his face from all the drinking. On wife number three. Number one was Rufus's mom, a cheerleader he met during that one season in Oakland. She was dumb as a stick, I hear, but smart enough to abandon them both when Rufus was a couple of years old. Number two just disappeared one night; he claimed she ran off with an old boyfriend, but no one has heard from her since. As for Big John, he wears size sixteen anaconda-skin cowboy boots and a big black Stetson that makes him seem even larger than he already is. Comes off in his car commercials like a loud buffoon. You know the type, 'Come on down to good ol' Big John's car lot and he'll make you a SUPER I'VE GOT TO BE CRAZY deal!' And his face is on most of the real estate signs in the area. He even sold the land that had been in his family for a couple of generations to the Unified Church of Racists and Morons I told you about-claimed he didn't know who the buyer was until it was too late. The place even came with an operating gravel pit that sells sand and gravel to the state highway department, which is apparently how our favorite Nazis make a living."
"I take it he couldn't be overtly racist and stay in business," Marlene said. "What's he say about his son's associations?"
"Not much," O'Toole said. "Calls it 'a stage' his boy is going through…sort of like puberty, only nastier. His little Rufus is just reacting, he says, to the perception that I was prejudiced in favor of black players. Rufus is the victim of discrimination, wouldn't you know. He'll tell you he doesn't agree with his son's 'politics,' which is what he calls racism. But by God, he stands by the boy's right to say and do as he pleases…as long as he isn't breaking the law."
"So you booted his kid off the team," Karp said, "and Daddy's putting pressure on the administration to get him back on. How does that boil down to you getting suspended by the university and then kicked out of coaching by the American Collegiate Athletic Association?"
"When it became obvious that I wasn't going to let Rufus back on the team, the university attorney, Barnhill, came to talk to me 'as a friend,'" O'Toole replied. "He said that the Porters were going to sue the school and the university. He said that Rufus had also filed a complaint with the university and the ACAA saying that I was the one who encouraged him to take the recruits to the party. I was the one, according to Rufus, who actually sponsored the party, paid for the booze and the strippers. Barnhill said he thought he could make the lawsuit and the complaint go away if I would let Rufus back on the team. 'It's only for his last season,' he said. 'Then he'll be gone.' But I refused. A week later, Barnhill arrived with campus security and told me I had to report to Huttington's office. They escorted me from the floor in front of all of my players, who didn't know what was going on or there would have been a riot. When I got to Huttington's office, it was me, him, and Barnhill, a really slimy character, even for a lawyer…just kidding…"
Karp smiled and held up a hand. "No offense taken. Sometimes stereotypes are stereotypes for a reason."
"Thanks. Anyway, Barnhill is a golfing buddy and hunting partner with Big John, so I knew that this wasn't going to be pleasant. And it wasn't. They said I was suspended while the ACAA investigated Rufus's allegations and pending any disciplinary action. Barnhill suggested that I find a lawyer. Needless to say, I was struck dumber than a post. They were throwing me under the bus."