Track / Randy Harvey : This Old Moses Dispute Won’t Go Away

Swiss promoter Andreas Brueger, whose World Class meet in Zurich is to the European track and field circuit what the Masters is to the golf tour, said Edwin Moses is not telling the whole truth when the two-time gold medalist explains his decision not to compete last summer in Switzerland.

At the time, Moses said he withdrew from the meet because he was ill.

Brueger responded that he withdrew an invitation to Moses because the hurdler was demanding $25,000 in appearance fees to compete in Zurich, thus reneging on an earlier commitment to run for less. In other words, Brueger said Moses couldn’t quit because he had been fired.

Moses then admitted he had difficulty reaching a financial arrangement with Brueger but denied they had a previous agreement. Besides, he said, the point was moot because he was ill and couldn’t compete anyway.

It probably should have been put to rest there, but Moses and Brueger have carried on the dispute through the media in both the United States and Switzerland.

As Moses served last, it is now Brueger’s turn.

In a recent letter to the Times, Brueger said he and the Berlin promoter, Rudolf Thiel, reached verbal agreements with Moses’ contract negotiator, Gordon Baskin, at a meeting in Los Angeles during the Olympic track and field trials. Brueger said Baskin committed two of Moses’ sponsors, Kodak and Kappa, to pay part of the appearance fee.

According to Brueger’s letter, Baskin later recanted, telling Thiel during the Olympics that Moses had changed his mind and would not compete in Berlin unless his fee was increased to $25,000. Brueger said Thiel would not agree to the increase. But on the day of the Berlin meet, faced with a depleted field, Thiel relented, Brueger said, even though Baskin failed to produce the promised payments from the two sponsors. Moses ran, winning easily.

Two days later, Brueger said, Baskin called him and said he wanted $25,000 for Moses’ appearance in Zurich. Brueger said he declined, then called Moses the next morning to ask whether he was aware of Baskin’s demands. Brueger said Moses told him he was ill but confirmed he would not run in Zurich for less than $25,000.

“I regretted this development as Ed Moses was always a first-class performer in Zurich, and I also considered him as a personal friend,” Brueger said. “Giving way to such excessive demands would not only endanger our meeting but would also be highly unfair towards the other athletes of the same caliber who seem to be more realistic as regards what is possible and what not in track and field.”

Brueger said nothing about the demands of Carl Lewis and Sebastian Coe, both of whom reportedly were paid more in Zurich than Moses demanded.

Baskin acknowledged he met with Brueger and Thiel during the Olympic trials but said no agreement, verbal or otherwise, was reached.

Subsequently, he said, Thiel agreed to pay Moses $25,000, but Baskin said no deal was ever completed with Brueger. They were still negotiating when Moses became ill.

“We still have a very good relationship with Mr. Thiel,” said Baskin. “We met in New York in December, and he assured us that Brueger does not speak for him.”

Efforts to reach Thiel in Berlin were unsuccessful.

This, of course, has not been the most pressing matter on Moses’ agenda in recent weeks. His trial for solicitation of prostitution is scheduled for Friday.

Even if he is found innocent, which he insists he is, other track and field athletes fear he will be less effective as a spokesman for them because of the damage done to his reputation. At The Athletics Congress convention in December, he became the first athlete ever elected as a delegate to the International Amateur Athletic Federation Council. The IAAF governs track and field.

“This is our guy,” said high jumper Dwight Stones, speaking for athletes who want more control over the direction of the sport. “He has a very high political standing in track and field. But this might destroy any kind of power we had. People might not take him as seriously now. He needs to exonerate himself completely.”

ABC-TV’s Superstars competition had a rule that the champion would automatically be invited to defend the title unless he or she had won it three consecutive times. But when NBC bought the rights to Superstars this year, it was not bound by ABC’s rules. As a result, the 1984 men’s champion, javelin thrower Tom Petranoff, was not asked to return.

Considering that he earned $25,000 from the competition last year and that the first-place prize money has been increased to $50,000 this year, Petranoff naturally feels as if he has been kicked in the wallet.

But Petranoff said he understands NBC’s position.

“I’m not the kind of guy who’s going to help their ratings,” he said. “I’m well known in track and field, but they probably took into consideration that I lost my world record last year and that I didn’t win the gold medal at the Olympics. I’m sure if it came down between me and somebody like Marcus Allen, they wanted Marcus Allen.”

One track and field athlete invited to compete in Superstars was hurdler Greg Foster, who finished second last year to Petranoff.

Notes

Evelyn Ashford is expecting her first child in June and will not compete this year, but she is keeping busy as one of the regulars on ESPN’s weekly “World Class Women.” She will interview the college athlete of the week. Her first segment is with Florida swimmer Tracy Caulkins, the second with UCLA basketball player and track athlete Jackie Joyner . . . Ashford also is one of 10 Olympic athletes appearing on a Family Feud Special. Prize money won by the women’s team will be donated to Special Olympics, while the men will donate their earnings to the Ethopian Relief Fund.

The rematch between Mary Decker Slaney and Romania’s Maricica Puica, who easily won the women’s 3,000 at the Olympics after Slaney fell, was announced for next Saturday night at the Meadowlands but probably will not occur. If her contract is renegotiated, Slaney will agree to run against Puica, but the Romanian apparently wants no part of the race. Slaney now is scheduled to run the 1,500, Puica the 3,000. . . . The American records in the 800 set by Johnny Gray of the Santa Monica Track Club haven’t been ratified by The Athletics Congress. But Gray said there are no irregularities. He said his coach, Merle McGee, left the ratification papers at an airport in Europe last summer. When replacement papers are completed, Gray said they will be submitted to TAC.