Sports Agent, Target of FBI Probe, Denies Threats to Athletes

Norby Walters, under investigation by the FBI for his alleged connection to threats of violence in a battle of sports agents over college football players, denied any involvement Friday.

“It’s ludicrous, it’s sickening, it’s vile, it’s nauseating,” Walters said of published reports linking him to the threats.

“I do believe the (sports) agents who are my competitors will tell any of these young men to say anything to try to break a contract,” Walters said. “Anybody’s capable of saying anything.”

A federal law enforcement source, speaking on condition that he not be identified, said that the FBI’s Dallas office has begun an investigation of alleged threats by several sports agents.

The New York Times, quoting other sources in its Friday editions, reported that the Dallas FBI office had recorded a telephone conversation between player agent Lloyd Bloom and Ronald Morris, a former Southern Methodist University wide receiver, in which Bloom was alleged to have threatened to have Morris’ hands broken if he signed with another agent.

Bloom works for Walters’ firm, World Sports and Entertainment Inc.

The newspaper also quoted unnamed sources as saying the FBI was investigating alleged threats made against another former SMU player, Jeff Atkins. Both Atkins and Morris are under contract with another management firm, Athletic Associates of Dallas.

A source, who asked not to be identified, told the Associated Press that the Chicago office of the FBI had been brought into a police investigation in Skokie, Ill., where Kathe Clements, a vice president of the Zucker Sports Entertainment Group, was beaten unconscious and stabbed in the arm by a man wearing a ski mask. The attack occurred in the offices of Zucker Sports on March 16.

Clements is the wife of Tom Clements, a former Notre Dame quarterback who plays for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the Canadian Football League.

Walters said he has filed suit against five former college football players he said broke their contracts with him and signed with other agents: Rod Woodson of Purdue; Ronnie Harmon, formerly of Iowa and now with the Buffalo Bills; Brent Fullwood of Auburn; Terrence Flagler of Clemson, and Tony Woods of the University of Pittsburgh.

“All they did was sign contracts with the blessings of their parents and accept support (from me) during their senior year,” Walters said. “I’m the guy who has done right. They’re the ones who have done wrong. That’s why I’m suing everyone of them.

“There will be one more: Reggie Rogers of Washington. He’s being served the legal papers.”

Walters admitted that he signed players while they were still in school and, in some cases, gave them money.

The NCAA allows undergraduate athletes to consult agents but prohibits them from entering into an agreement or accepting cash or discussing financial arrangements before their eligibility expires.

“I feel the young men have been spoiled so badly they feel they don’t have any responsibility,” Walters said. “They seem to have no compunctions about signing and taking. They just assume that’s the American way.

“Don’t talk to me about morality. I’m the moral one. I’m the guy who supported the kids and their families. If it’s done with the blessing of the family and you’ve supported the family, then they say you’re fired, who used who?”