Post by Banana Cat on Jun 1, 2011 1:42:21 GMT -5
www.lagniappemobile.com/article.asp?articleID=4563&SID=29
Tarpon debacle part deux
By Johnny Davis
MAY 31, 2011
In the last issue, I discussed the downfall of the Southern Indoor Football League (SIFL) team, the Mobile Bay Tarpons. I detailed some of the allegations against team owner Ray Ward, and I included comments from a former player and a businessman caught up in the mess.
If you don’t know what happened, a quote from Tarpons head coach Willie Gaston can sum it up pretty well: "The owner left town, didn’t pay anybody, and that was the end of it. Nobody has seen hide nor hair of him.” Gaston expanded on this thought: "He screwed a lot of people. Then he left town, and nobody could find him. That left me, the head coach, as the next person in line that everybody came after to blame. That’s not right. He knew nobody would be able to find him, but he knew they’d be able to find me, even though I had nothing to do with all these people getting screwed.”
Gaston said they actually had a pretty good football team that would have been competitive in the league, as was seen in the Tarpons’ first two wins. However, the next couple of games didn’t go quite as well. "How can I keep the team together and get guys to be disciplined when they haven’t been paid and all this mess is going on?”
Gaston said. "What can I do? It goes from the top down. I listened to the guy that wrote my checks ... or was supposed to write my checks. He never wrote a one.”
Gaston said Ward claimed to be financially stable. "Come to find out,” Gaston said.
"Ray Ward had no money.” Gaston said Ward’s beat-up car and taped-together cell phone sent up red flags, but "Ray was a smooth talker. He made us believe we didn’t have anything to worry about.” Gaston said one of Ward’s favorite sayings was "Be professional.” "But how are you going to tell everybody, ‘Be professional,’” Gaston said, "when you’re not running the organization in a professional manner?”
Gaston said Ward would have been much better off shutting down operations once it was clear there was not enough money to do it properly, but, as Gaston put it, "instead of being man enough to say he didn’t have the money to pay anybody, he decided to lie to everybody.”
When asked what he would say if he could speak to Ward, Gaston said most of it would not be fit to print, but it would boil down to this: "You don’t let someone pour their heart and soul into something and then just drive it into the ground and skip town. When you have a group of guys with a dream, and you let your actions kill that dream, there’s something severely wrong with you.”
Gaston said the SIFL was unwilling to step in and right the wrongs that Ward left behind, but the SIFL did step in to admonish Gaston for going to the media and even threatened him with a lawsuit if he spoke negatively about the league. Gaston said he’s not worried about himself, though. "It’s the players that concern me,” Gaston said.
"They tried to represent the city of Mobile to the best of their abilities. They worked their behinds off to try to reach their dream, but Ray Ward took it away from them. I’d like to commend all the players for the effort they gave.”
Despite the debacle he witnessed, Gaston still believes indoor football could succeed in Mobile. "If done the right way, it can succeed,” Gaston said. "I hope the people of Mobile don’t hold this against the next guy that comes in with a team. Because if they do it right, this city can support a team. We had a group of people who knew what it would take to make a team work in Mobile. We just didn’t have the proper ownership.
With the right owner, we could have made it work. I’d like to apologize to the city of Mobile for the way it happened. If I could have controlled it, I wouldn’t have allowed it to happen the way it did.”
Ray Ward’s last day in Mobile
To really get a feel for the depth of Ward’s sleaze, take in local businessman Roland Turner’s account of the day Ward left: "Ray kept calling my phone, but I didn’t answer because I was on a conference call. Then I look in my rearview mirror, and Ray is behind me flashing his lights. So I pull over, and Ray is uncontrollably crying. He claimed to have heart problems, so I was worried he was having a heart attack. I tried to make sure he was OK, but he was just saying, ‘Man, I have to go. I have to get to New York today, but I don’t have any money to get up there.’ So I gave him $1,500 and sent him on his way. He called me a little later saying he had a flat tire, so I sent a mechanic and a tire out there to him. And I haven’t heard from him since ... yep, he got me.”
Some fans’ perspectives
Ronald Broughton bought season tickets, and he said he knew something was strange when the credit card transaction appeared on his statement as a purchase at a pizza restaurant. He was told the Tarpons’ credit machine was down, so they processed the transaction through Ward’s New York restaurant.
"I feel like criminal charges should be brought against [Ward],” Broughton said. "I really wish someone with some authority would look into this, like the district attorney’s office. There has to be a law he has broken.”
As far as the ordeal’s effect on Mobile, Broughton said, "We have a lot of history involving sports in our town. This is another event that has given Mobile a black eye. It’s no wonder there is no support in our town when you have crooked people and criminals that take advantage of the supporters.”
By Johnny Davis
MAY 31, 2011
In the last issue, I discussed the downfall of the Southern Indoor Football League (SIFL) team, the Mobile Bay Tarpons. I detailed some of the allegations against team owner Ray Ward, and I included comments from a former player and a businessman caught up in the mess.
If you don’t know what happened, a quote from Tarpons head coach Willie Gaston can sum it up pretty well: "The owner left town, didn’t pay anybody, and that was the end of it. Nobody has seen hide nor hair of him.” Gaston expanded on this thought: "He screwed a lot of people. Then he left town, and nobody could find him. That left me, the head coach, as the next person in line that everybody came after to blame. That’s not right. He knew nobody would be able to find him, but he knew they’d be able to find me, even though I had nothing to do with all these people getting screwed.”
Gaston said they actually had a pretty good football team that would have been competitive in the league, as was seen in the Tarpons’ first two wins. However, the next couple of games didn’t go quite as well. "How can I keep the team together and get guys to be disciplined when they haven’t been paid and all this mess is going on?”
Gaston said. "What can I do? It goes from the top down. I listened to the guy that wrote my checks ... or was supposed to write my checks. He never wrote a one.”
Gaston said Ward claimed to be financially stable. "Come to find out,” Gaston said.
"Ray Ward had no money.” Gaston said Ward’s beat-up car and taped-together cell phone sent up red flags, but "Ray was a smooth talker. He made us believe we didn’t have anything to worry about.” Gaston said one of Ward’s favorite sayings was "Be professional.” "But how are you going to tell everybody, ‘Be professional,’” Gaston said, "when you’re not running the organization in a professional manner?”
Gaston said Ward would have been much better off shutting down operations once it was clear there was not enough money to do it properly, but, as Gaston put it, "instead of being man enough to say he didn’t have the money to pay anybody, he decided to lie to everybody.”
When asked what he would say if he could speak to Ward, Gaston said most of it would not be fit to print, but it would boil down to this: "You don’t let someone pour their heart and soul into something and then just drive it into the ground and skip town. When you have a group of guys with a dream, and you let your actions kill that dream, there’s something severely wrong with you.”
Gaston said the SIFL was unwilling to step in and right the wrongs that Ward left behind, but the SIFL did step in to admonish Gaston for going to the media and even threatened him with a lawsuit if he spoke negatively about the league. Gaston said he’s not worried about himself, though. "It’s the players that concern me,” Gaston said.
"They tried to represent the city of Mobile to the best of their abilities. They worked their behinds off to try to reach their dream, but Ray Ward took it away from them. I’d like to commend all the players for the effort they gave.”
Despite the debacle he witnessed, Gaston still believes indoor football could succeed in Mobile. "If done the right way, it can succeed,” Gaston said. "I hope the people of Mobile don’t hold this against the next guy that comes in with a team. Because if they do it right, this city can support a team. We had a group of people who knew what it would take to make a team work in Mobile. We just didn’t have the proper ownership.
With the right owner, we could have made it work. I’d like to apologize to the city of Mobile for the way it happened. If I could have controlled it, I wouldn’t have allowed it to happen the way it did.”
Ray Ward’s last day in Mobile
To really get a feel for the depth of Ward’s sleaze, take in local businessman Roland Turner’s account of the day Ward left: "Ray kept calling my phone, but I didn’t answer because I was on a conference call. Then I look in my rearview mirror, and Ray is behind me flashing his lights. So I pull over, and Ray is uncontrollably crying. He claimed to have heart problems, so I was worried he was having a heart attack. I tried to make sure he was OK, but he was just saying, ‘Man, I have to go. I have to get to New York today, but I don’t have any money to get up there.’ So I gave him $1,500 and sent him on his way. He called me a little later saying he had a flat tire, so I sent a mechanic and a tire out there to him. And I haven’t heard from him since ... yep, he got me.”
Some fans’ perspectives
Ronald Broughton bought season tickets, and he said he knew something was strange when the credit card transaction appeared on his statement as a purchase at a pizza restaurant. He was told the Tarpons’ credit machine was down, so they processed the transaction through Ward’s New York restaurant.
"I feel like criminal charges should be brought against [Ward],” Broughton said. "I really wish someone with some authority would look into this, like the district attorney’s office. There has to be a law he has broken.”
As far as the ordeal’s effect on Mobile, Broughton said, "We have a lot of history involving sports in our town. This is another event that has given Mobile a black eye. It’s no wonder there is no support in our town when you have crooked people and criminals that take advantage of the supporters.”