Pro Football : The Case of Cris Carter’s Eligibility Might Be Decided by the Courts

The training camps are well under way and a new season is fast approaching, but the National Football League hasn’t moved to establish a supplemental draft for Cris Carter, the former All-American wide receiver from Ohio State.

The school has declared Carter ineligible this year because he hired an agent, a National Collegiate Athletic Assn. violation. He did not, however, break any state, federal or municipal law.

Thus, there may be cause for Carter to sue somebody--the school, the NCAA or the NFL. If he doesn’t bring an action soon, he may be deprived of his right to play football this year.

“Carter definitely has a cause of action,” Los Angeles attorney-agent Ed Hookstratten said this week. “They’re making an example of him for getting caught in the middle of this.

“It’s a distasteful practice when agents loan money to college kids, but it’s been going on for a long, long time, and it’s widespread. And it’s no felony.”

Attorney Ed Garvey of Madison, Wis., former executive director of the National Football League Players Assn., said that Carter’s fastest recourse would be a temporary restraining order.

“The NFL is a monopoly agreeing among themselves not to draft him,” Garvey said. “His lawyer would have no trouble getting a (restraining order) on that.”

Taking the other side, Michigan Coach Bo Schembechler said: “We hope the NFL won’t open a can of worms by allowing a special draft (for Carter and any other players involved).”

Still, it was the college people themselves who built this can.

“The underlying problem is that the universities have 70,000-seat stadiums to fill,” said Hookstratten, who represents such clients as Tom Brokaw, Vin Scully and John Robinson, among others.

“The schools have to win--but they don’t have the resources to pay good athletes. Although scholarships cover minimum expenses, loans are forbidden to college players, and so are school-year jobs.

“This puts the low-income student in a bind, and most football players are from low-income homes. They’re thrown onto a major university campus with upper- and middle-class kids, and they’re asked to be competitive with them in the way they dress, the places they go to eat, the college women they date, and so on.

“It’s no wonder that some can’t resist the temptation to take loans from agents--which would be lawful and perfectly proper for anybody else in this country.

“The NCAA code doesn’t have the force of law. It’s there to protect the university and the system--not the individual.”

As the NFL opens its exhibition season at Canton, Ohio, Saturday, 13 first-round draft choices remain unsigned.

And of those in the top half of the draft, only Reggie Rogers, D.J. Dozier and Brent Fullwood have come to terms since Tampa Bay signed Vinny Testaverde.

Rogers has gone from the University of Washington to Detroit, Dozier from Penn State to Minnesota, Fullwood from Auburn to Green Bay.

Still unsigned are, among others, Alabama’s Cornelius Bennett, Miami’s Alonzo Highsmith, Purdue’s Rod Woodson and quarterbacks Kelly Stouffer and Chris Miller--all high first-rounders drafted by, respectively, Indianapolis, Houston, Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Atlanta.

“I’ve signed 8 of my 10 (clients),” said Beverly Hills attorney Leigh Steinberg. “Everybody but the first rounders--(BYU linemen) Shawn Knight (drafted by New Orleans) and Jason Buck (drafted by Cincinnati). The top of the board has been tough.’

Before his team won the Super Bowl in Pasadena last season, Bill Parcells, coach of the New York Giants, was asked to name the best athlete he has seen in pro football.

“I’d have to say Russ Francis,” Parcells replied promptly. “He’s the one player you like to watch, even if it’s just in practice.”

Unhappily for San Francisco fans, Francis, the 49ers’ veteran tight end, has announced his retirement as of the end of this year.

“When you’re (33), it’s time to concentrate on something besides football,” said Francis, who has logged some time with ABC and plans a broadcasting career.

He said he will continue his many pastimes, flying among them. Francis, who lives in Livermore, owns two planes, and commutes to 49er practice in either.

“On a nice day, I take the Stearman,” he said, referring to his open cockpit biplane. “In the rain, I go in the Beechcraft.”

Bo Jackson, who said he will join the Raiders as a hobby this year, has done more for American hobbyists than anyone since Lionel, in the view of NFL spokesman Joe Browne.

But Jackson and Francis aren’t the only football-playing hobby enthusiasts, Browne said, identifying some others.

Kansas City kicker Nick Lowery and New York Jet receiver Al Toon are ballet dancers. Chicago receiver Willie Gault was on the U.S. World Cup bobsled team.

Chicago tackle Steve McMichael hunts rattlesnakes. Cincinnati linebacker Reggie Williams raises Great Danes. Indianapolis running back Albert Bentley breeds Rottweiler dogs. Indianapolis safety Tate Randle raises Rambouillet sheep.

And in the town where he plays football, Redskin linebacker Rich Milot is a Washington lobbyist.

Can Jackson or anyone play two major professional sports?

“If anyone can, Bo can,” said the Raiders’ chief scout, Ron Wolf. “Football and baseball take different muscles, but at 24, any athlete can cope physically if he has the talent. And this fellow is a young, fantastic athlete.”

For any player, the mental problem--learning the team’s system--is more difficult than playing the game, coaches say.

So Jackson might be well advised to study a Raider playbook instead of going to the movies in his spare time as a Kansas City Royal outfielder this summer.

Though running back is more intuitive than many other positions in football, the most effective running backs are those who know what their 10 teammates are supposed to be doing at all times.

The answers are all in the playbook.

Herschel Walker of the Dallas Cowboys will start the season as only the NFL’s fourth fastest player this year.

Ron Brown of the Rams won the 60-yard races in 6.095 at Palm Desert this summer.

He was followed by Green Bay’s Phillip Epps in 6.149, Chicago’s Willie Gault in 6.159 and Walker in 6.272.

Bo Jackson and Houston’s Ernie Givins are also believed to be in that company, but only the Cowboys will have a fast-man pair. They are Walker and Rod Barksdale, formerly the fastest Raider.

Former Alabama quarterback Mike Shula, Miami Coach Don Shula’s son, is still on the squad at 1 Buccaneer Place, Tampa Bay’s home office and training camp.

Moreover, Shula, who was drafted by Tampa Bay last spring, is the club’s most experienced training camp prospect.

This time, though, there’s a difference. “I’ve always seen it from the other side--as a person who’s been a ballboy or doing the laundry,” he said.