Will He Report to Camp on Time? : Tax Debt Could Lead Dorsett to Hold Out for New Contract

Reports that the Internal Revenue Service has seized two houses owned by Dallas Cowboy running back Tony Dorsett for non-payment of more than $400,000 in taxes fueled speculation that the star player might try to renegotiate his contract.

Dorsett, 31, who won the Heisman Trophy at Pittsburgh in 1976, is in the fourth year of a six-year contract with the Cowboys. He is to earn $400,000 from the Cowboys’ this year and has borrowed $200,000 from the club to help pay the debts, the Dallas Times Herald reported Wednesday.

Dorsett is required by contract to be in camp tonight, team spokesman Greg Aiello said. But running back Ron Springs, who often blocks for Dorsett, said Dorsett was unhappy with his contract and probably would not report on time.

“Tony and I have had several conversations the last two weeks,” Springs told the Times Herald. “Right now he is very upset because he doesn’t feel his contract measures up to that of Gary Hogeboom and Randy White. As his close friend, I just don’t think he will be here.”

Aiello said Dorsett and his agent both are thought to be in Southern California, although Dorsett has not yet reported to the Cowboy training camp at Thousand Oaks, Calif.

Aiello said Dorsett telephoned Coach Tom Landry earlier this week to tell him he and his agent were “working to take care of some business” in Los Angeles and that he would report to camp “in a couple of days.”

Aiello said Dorsett had told Landry about the tax liens, and the coach expected him to report to camp on time.

“My bet is that Tony will be here Thursday night when everyone else is reporting,” Landry said. “If he’s not, he’ll be fined $1,000 a day.”

Marlene Gaysek of the IRS confirmed the tax agency’s action Tuesday, saying “about 10 liens” had been filed since November against Dorsett in Dallas and Collin counties.

The IRS would not say just how much Dorsett owes, but liens filed against him in Collin County, just north of Dallas, totaled more than $414,000.

“We do have tax liens against liabilities owed” for 1979, 1980 and 1983, Gaysek said.

In Collin County, liens filed totaled $74,143.09 for 1979, $172,656.54 for 1980 and $167,448.28 for 1983, she said.

She would not say whether Dorsett had paid off any of the liability or if any penalties or interest had accrued.

“We cannot say anything beyond that this delinquency does exist,” she said.

In a related matter, Dorsett, who has reportedly lost $600,000 on recent oil investments and $250,000 in a divorce settlement, also has been named in a suit filed by First City Bank of Richardson in suburban Dallas for allegedly failing to repay a $175,000 unsecured loan taken out in March.