The Truth Comes Out

George O’Leary is latest sports figure to get caught in a fabrication. Some others :

JIM HARRICK

The UCLA basketball coach fiddled with an expense account at a recruiting dinner and it cost him his job in 1996, barely a year after he led the Bruins to their most recent NCAA title.

TIM JOHNSON

He was fired as manager of the Toronto Blue Jays in March 1999 after lying about his Marine service in Vietnam. He taught mortar training to recruits going to Vietnam, yet never served there. But he made up stories, including one about shooting a young girl, trying to inspire the club. Also, Johnson’s official Blue Jays bio said he was a high school All-American basketball player who turned down a chance to play for UCLA, but it was not true.

AL MARTIN

The Mariner outfielder told the Seattle Times a great story about the time he tried to tackle Michigan’s Leroy Hoard in 1986 while playing for USC. However, USC didn’t play Michigan in 1986, and Martin never played football at USC, despite what it says in the 2001 Mariner media guide. The team says the erroneous information will be removed.

DANNY ALMONTE

He pitched his Bronx, N.Y., team to a third-place finish in the Little League World Series in August. His manager insisted Almonte was 12 years old, the maximum age allowed, and produced a birth certificate and passport as proof. Later, a birth certificate was found showing Almonte was really 14--a document the Dominican Republic government later verified.