kudos to the poster on the M&W board who linked the stuff. Odd, look who's conspicuously absent from this booster's payroll (believed by some to be coach meyer when he was with the pats)

I assume you mean Mr. James. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised that he didn't take any money. I hung out at the time with some of the guys who went to Stratford High School with him. I don't know what it's like now, but it was home to upper middle-class neighborhoods so I don't think he needed money to be enticed. I seem to recall a reporter asking Ray Childress if he was paid to play for the Aggies and his response was something like, "No, I wouldn't need it. My family has money."

I'm not necessarily defending Mr. James, but I'm inclined to believe that he personally didn't take money. Whether he knew about others who did or not, I don't see how one couldn't know.

This list is only for one booster. Other boosters had other players they were responsible for.

where did James get drafted?

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This list is only for one booster. Other boosters had other players they were responsible for.

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That may be, but I stand by my opinion barring any physical evidence to the contrary. Just because a player was on a team that paid doesn't mean said player was on the payroll. Lance McIlhenny (sp?) was on that team too and he needed money like he needed a hole in his head.

I won't say James was squeaky clean on getting $$$ himself, but I do think the odds with him are better that maybe he didn't get paid. As mentioned already, I would think the need wasn't really there - especially compared to other guys on the payroll. Also, based on interviews he gave back then, he struck me as having a pretty sharp and mature head on his shoulders for an 18-19 year old kid. As opposed to a lot of dumbass recruits, he may have realized that losing his college eligibility and risking an eventual pro career due to taking a relatively small amount of cash would be a dumbass thing to do.

[This message has been edited by Danny Duberstein (edited 12/14/2010 4:39p).]

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where did James get drafted?

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7th round by the patriots in 83

He was actually the 4th overall pick by the USFL and signed with the USFL several months before the NFL draft. Kind of like how Dallas nabbed Herschel Walker in the 5th round, I'm pretty sure that's why James fell so far in the NFL draft - you knew he wouldn't play for you now but you spend a later pick to get his rights with hopes that things with the USFL fizzle.

[This message has been edited by Danny Duberstein (edited 12/14/2010 6:07p).]

hmmm

ACtually, since the USFL's season started in the spring, I think he'd already played half a season in the USFL before the NFL draft occurred.

Per the documentary, he was following his girlfriend more than anything. Combine that and his family not needing money and it's possible he wasn't on the payroll. Although we will never really know.

great documentary!

There would be no way someone who thought highly of himself and was competitive like James would have seen all his teammates getting all this money and not get some himself.
Its not a question of need its a question of, in a weird way, fairness.


[This message has been edited by BaronVonAggie (edited 12/14/2010 7:53p).]

(First time poster, so please go easy on me.)

if you watched Pony Exce$$, then you know the name Sherwood Blount. I found a few fun facts and quotes on the internets...

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1135953/2/index.htm

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"We deserve everything that's being said and written about us because we were guilty of those accusations," Patriot and ex-SMU running back Craig James, who works in Blount's Dallas real-estate office in the off-season, told The Boston Globe.

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http://books.google.com/books?id=RZawAAAAIAAJ&q=%22sherwood+blount%22+%22craig+james%22&dq=%22sherwood+blount%22+%22craig+james%22&hl=en&ei=vIcHTYOVKIP48Ab2_qXXCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCgQ6AEwAA

From "A Payroll to Meet"

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page 46...the player was a star, chances were he had a special relationship with a particular booster: Eric Dickerson with Buddecke; Craig James with Sherwood Blount; Mike Ford and Harvey Armstrong with George Owen; Michael Carter and Ricky Bolden with Ronnie Horowitz...

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pg 111...CRAIG JAMES HAD first met Sherwood Blount while he was being recruited by SMU in the fall of 1978. "I really looked up to him and admired him for his personal accomplishments in the business world," James says. "I had always heard about the guys that had gone out and made a million bucks but I never really knew one."

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http://books.google.com/books?id=YPWmur8pM8QC&pg=PA160&dq=%22craig+james%22++recruiting+smu&hl=en&ei=YY0HTf6sBIP68Aa-pIGPCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22craig%20james%22%20%20recruiting%20smu&f=false

from Craig James' own book:

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pg160...And for the record, I did not go to SMU because of any monetary inducements! I was following my girldfriend and that is it - period! Now, I'm not going to sit here and tell you I never received a nickel during my playing days. But I can say with certainty that no benefits were ever extended to me from anyone associated with the SMU administration. I also want to say that the few men who took the heat for the downfall of SMU are not bad men! They loved SMU! And for many years their involvement made almost all SMU alums beam with pride and happiness. I'm not defending their actions, but I am defending their hearts."

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[This message has been edited by savvy (edited 12/14/2010 9:14p).]

heck of a first post

James followed his gf because SMU paid for her to to go school

Smoke... fire...

This was the payroll for ONE, yes ONE booster!

James has been thinking about politics for a long time. No way he admits to taking bribes that would immediately put a cloud over him for public office. Which it absolutely should!

So much speculation...

James has admitted several times on radio that he took money at SMU. He said it was a different time, or something to that effect. He also makes the obvious joke about taking a pay cut to go to the pros.

I'm amazed this isn't widely known.

I believe the James quote from his book. He went to SMU because he followed poon and not due to a cash payment for his commitment. Once he was there, he probably took some cash from the booster he is associated with, like he hinted at in the book.

I agree with above - he didn't get a ton of cash, but I am pretty sure his wife got a free ride at SMU because of him.

Booster Who Killed SMU Was Craig James Agent

After it airs the Heisman Trophy ceremony on Saturday night, ESPN plans to broadcast a documentary about the SMU football program that received the NCAA death penalty in 1987.

(James’ dirty little secret is now out)

ESPN analyst Craig James was a key member of the SMU football team in the early ’80s but has long attempted to separate himself from the dirty dealings of college football’s most notorious program.

The story of why SMU football was canceled, if you don’t know it, is actually pretty simple.

Craig James worked for Sherwood Blount

(James “worked” for Blount, who fired the final shot into SMU football)

SMU linebacker David Stanley admitted to WFAA-TV in Dallas - on-camera - in 1987 that he received $25,000 from school athletic officials to sign with SMU in 1983. Stanley then was paid more money as a player by SMU employees during the 1983 and 1984 seasons.

The Stanley story led to another NCAA investigation that uncovered what the DALLAS MORNING NEWS characterized as a “slush fund” established by a single SMU booster to pay players. The NCAA and the DALLAS TIMES-HERALD documented that from 1985 to 1986, $61,000 was paid to 13 players.

So who was the booster the NCAA confirmed was behind that fund to pay SMU players?

The ASSOCIATED PRESS reported on Feb. 27, 1987:

Sherwood Blount Jr., a developer and sports agent who was banned from booster activity at SMU two years ago, was the unidentified source of payments for student athletes cited in the National Collegiate Athletic Assn.’s probation report this week, the Dallas Times Herald reported.

The newspaper quoted persons close to the SMU athletic department as saying that Blount provided $61,000 in cash payments.

Blount was one of nine boosters barred from SMU athletics in August 1985, when the NCAA put the school on three years’ probation.

That’s right, Blount set up the slush fund to pay SMU players after the NCAA had already “barred” him “from SMU athletics” for previous misdeeds.

So it should come as no surprise that the DALLAS MORNING NEWS in 1987 also reported that the slush fund, which SMU athletic director Bob Hitch admitted knowing about all along, was actually originally established in 1981.

Craig James’ career at SMU spanned 1980 to 1983. When James moved on to pro football, one guess who is agent was?

The same Sherwood Blount who set up the slush fund that pounded the final nail into the SMU football program.

In his book Game Day, A Rollicking Journey to the Heart of College Football, James gave this carefully parsed account of his days SMU:

Craig James

Now, I’m not going to sit here and tell you I never received a nickel during my playing days. But I can say with certainty that no benefits were ever extended to me from anyone associated with the SMU administration.

Not coincidentally, there’s not a single mention of Sherwood Blount in the book.

Is it unreasonable to think that with James’ agent found to be behind the slush fund that led to the death of the SMU program, James took money from that agent during his playing days at SMU? Especially considering Blount was already barred from the program by the NCAA when he set up the ‘85 slush fund?

What would happen today if James was currently playing for SMU and it was found he was taking money from an agent?

Whether that agent was associated or not with the SMU administration, James’ college football career would be over and the SMU program would have some explaining to do to the NCAA.

Knowing what we know now, is it unreasonable to think that James actively participated in the same dirty system at SMU that eventually led to the football program’s demise?

UPDATE (Dec. 11, 2010): The only man who refused to appear in ESPN’s documentary about SMU’s Death Penalty was Sherwood Blount.

i dont think he took money from SMU admin like other players, but he knows he took money from outside sources

Years ago I was at a wedding and met a guy who played at SMU during that time. He told me a story that I found interesting. The coaches kept an envelope full of cash that they would dole out to the players. Apparently two players broke into the office and took the money which was like $10,000. The coaches demanded the money back, and threatened the players involved with turning them in. The players responded to them by saying, you tell on us, well go to the NCAA. The patients were running the asylum

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Also, based on interviews he gave back then, he struck me as having a pretty sharp and mature head on his shoulders for an 18-19 year old kid

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18 year old James seemed more mature than current day Eric Dickerson...