“May I ask in general what it’s about?” Coach Styles asked.
Thank goodness I remembered I was wired.
“I’ll tell you when I’m not wired for sound,” I said, pointing to the microphone attached to my Kentucky t-shirt.
◊◊◊
Dad and I grabbed Brook and huddled with Tim, Wolf, and their parents. I let them talk first, and they both felt the love from Kentucky. I told them about the compromise we’d come up with.
“That makes perfect sense. I don’t want you to rush this,” Wendy, Tim’s mom, said.
Tim and Wolf shared their conversations with the coaches who sat at their tables. It sounded like the coaches had done an excellent job explaining how the two of them would fit in and make significant contributions to the team.
◊◊◊
Tracy, Tami, and Pam all made a point to thank me for inviting them. They understood I couldn’t do this for future in-home visits. They now understood what happened at them and felt more plugged-in.
Brook rode home with my parents and me. She wanted to hear what I had to say to the coaches.
Everyone met at my house. Mary had sent home cinnamon rolls, and Mom made coffee. I didn’t want to share, but Mom gave me a look. I figured it was probably better in the long run because that many cinnamon rolls surely had about ten million calories. If I ate them all, Halle would be pointing at my butt.
“Oh my! They sell these at your place?” Coach Mason asked.
“Take David when you go; he has a talent for getting them for free,” Dad said.
“I’m sure it has nothing to do with him owning the place,” Brook observed.
“This was before he owned it. If you haven’t noticed, he can be handy to have around,” Dad added.
“Like Greg isn’t? He always gets us free appetizers at Monical’s,” I said to defend myself.
“What does Phil get you?” Brook asked.
“He gets Cassidy off our back.”
“I think that’s better than food,” Brook said with a grin.
“You sure you want to go there?” Mom asked.
That brought Brook up short. She hadn’t yet realized that my mom would talk about anything in front of anyone.
“Why did you want everyone to come over?” Brook asked to change the topic.
“Rob and I have been talking since I received a visit from a representative from Southwest Central State,” Mom said, taking the lead.
“He showed up at her work to try to convince her to have David make a visit to their campus,” Dad said. “She felt that it was implied they would make it worth her while to arrange it. This was the first time we’ve been approached by someone who seemed to be offering him cash to play.”
“We talked to Bo Harrington, who is both a friend and mentor of David’s. He’s also a coach at Alabama. We sought him out for advice, and he shared the economics of big-time football and the impact someone like David could have on a program,” Mom said.
“I was worried this might happen,” Mr. Morris stepped in. “College athletics is a business that has found a way to simply offer free room, board, and an education to their workforce in lieu of paying them a salary. There have been rumors for years that under-the-table money has been paid to top prospects like David.
“In some ways, it reminds me of prohibition. Despite the law, people found a way to drink. I suspect there’s an underground economy at work to compensate players for picking a particular program to play ball. The NCAA is at a severe disadvantage. They don’t have subpoena power to compel anyone to testify, so if no one talks, there’s nothing they can do.
“If I were a college and wanted to cheat, I would make sure it couldn’t be traced back to me. I’d have a third-party step in and make the payment,” Mr. Morris said.
“Shoe companies,” I guessed.
“Think about the money they’re pouring into colleges to wear their gear. They use the colleges to groom top athletes so that when they graduate, they swoop in with endorsement deals,” Mr. Morris said.
“David, you need to be very careful to not say anything negative about shoe companies. I’ve seen where schools have pulled offers, and I would bet it was because a shoe company put the word out. I was surprised that you visited Wisconsin. They’re an Under Armour school,” Coach Styles said.
Bo had warned me about the power of the shoe companies. Still, I was staggered that Coach Styles would say something. He went up another notch in my estimation.
“I wonder why they would even approach you. If they’d done their homework, they would realize that David isn’t going to be swayed by money or even women,” Coach Hope said.
“Hey,” Brook warned.
“I meant that he already had the perfect woman at home,” Coach Hope said to make the save. “If it were me, I would make the offer to Wolf and Tim.”
We all looked at him thoughtfully.
“I’ll find out,” Dad offered.
“What should we do?” I asked.
“Let me ponder it. My concern is that if money doesn’t work, they’ll try other approaches that might not be as pleasant,” Mr. Morris said.
◊◊◊
After the coaches left, Brook joined my parents and me to figure out what else we should do.
“I’d talk to your security people. That last statement makes me wonder what they might pull,” Brook suggested.
“Great minds think alike. I’ll call Fritz and get him up to speed,” I said.
Mom didn’t seem too happy, but Dad gave her a look, and she nodded.
◊◊◊ Tuesday September 13
Today was Tracy’s birthday. Her mom had told me that she didn’t want a party this year, she just wanted to have dinner with her parents. Of course, I wasn’t having that. If I had to pick a best friend, she just might be it.
I reserved the outside area where we’d put the picnic tables for our junior class project. Mary planned to cater the event and would get some of our employees to help decorate. I’d had Lily send out invitations. Because Tracy was graduating at the end of the semester, we suggested that people bring gifts she could use when she went away to college. Caryn and Megan made a gift registry so that we could prevent duplicate gifts.
When it was time, I hurried to beat Tracy to lunch. Pam was tasked with making the birthday girl late. I found the cheerleaders helping organize the details. I didn’t even ask how Brook managed to get them out of class early.
The place looked great. They’d put light pink tablecloths on all the picnic tables with a ‘Happy Birthday’ runner down the center of each table. There were potted mums as centerpieces. The school had provided two long tables, and Mary had put out a buffet of salad, pizza, and cookies on one. The other table was for gifts and was already full. People must have slipped out between classes to put them out.
Our friends began to arrive, and we soon had a crowd of about fifty people. There was an exit door right before the cafeteria. Through its window, I could see Pam and Tracy in deep conversation. Tracy looked confused when Pam opened the door instead of going into the lunchroom. Then she saw us. You could see we’d accomplished our goal.
“Looks like we pulled it off,” Gina said as she gave Tracy a hug.
“I had no idea. I planned to just have a casual dinner with my parents to celebrate.”
“Seriously? You always have the best birthday party,” I reminded her.
She just shook her head, then saw her mom and gave her a hug. Since we only had an hour, everyone grabbed some food to eat. Tracy opened gifts and got into the spirit of being the birthday girl. She quickly figured out the theme when she saw she’d received school supplies. I was impressed that the cheerleaders had pooled their money and bought her a laptop. The football players got her a mini-fridge and microwave for her dorm room. I’d found her a bike and five free massages from my brother’s business. I’d had to trade free babysitting services in exchange.
◊◊◊