Twelve Northwestern football players had taken NCAA-banned supplements before a 2001 preseason drill at which their teammate Rashidi Wheeler collapsed and died, NU’s lawyers disclosed in court this week for the first time.
NU filed the brief Wednesday as part of a wrongful death lawsuit brought against the university more than a year ago by Wheeler’s family. But Thursday a football player named in the brief disputed part of the university’s claim.
According to the document, running back Kevin Lawrence told head athletic trainer Tory Aggeler that he knew of banned-substance use by nine players, including himself and Wheeler.
But Lawrence told The Daily the 12 players had never been gathered and reprimanded — and that he had never even heard their names mentioned together before.
“No one addressed that issue that I remember,” he said. “I don’t recall that.”
NU’s lawyers will be asked to give more information about the supplement use at a court hearing Monday.
None of the players named were suspended from the team after admitting to supplement use. Sam Simmons and Billy Silva, who were named, joined National Football League teams the following year, and seven of the other players remain eligible to play next year — including 2002 team MVP Jason Wright.
Aggeler and Director of Athletics Rick Taylor declined comment, citing involvement in the suit.
The other players named in the court documents were Jarvis Adams, Marvin Ward, Brandon Evans, Chasda Martin, Raheem Covington, Ike Ndukwe and Ryan Peterson.
Al Cubbage, NU’s vice president for university relations, said he was unsure if the 12 players’ supplement use had been previously disclosed to the NCAA. He also said he didn’t think the players were notified that their names would be included in the court filing.
Laronica Conway, the NCAA’s interim associate director of media relations, said she couldn’t comment on the NU case specifically, but stressed the difference between a university admitting a banned substance was taken and actually providing the substance to the players. Providing a banned substance is a violation of NCAA bylaws.
Lawrence, who was drafted by the Canadian Football League’s Ottawa Renegades, said he wasn’t concerned with NU connecting his name to banned substances. “It doesn’t bother me,” he said. “They gotta do what they gotta do.”
NU’s lawyers released the information in response to questions from Phoenix Laboratories, one of five supplement companies NU has brought into the lawsuit over Wheeler’s Aug. 3, 2001, death. Depositions began in November and will continue next week with NU head football coach Randy Walker. Los Angeles-based lawyer Johnnie Cochran, whose firm is representing Wheeler’s family, will be in Chicago next week to conduct some of the depositions.
Wheeler’s mother, Linda Will, contends in the lawsuit that NU was negligent in failing to prevent her son’s death. The university, in turn, has blamed the supplement companies. The Cook County medical examiner found ephedrine — an NCAA-banned substance — in Wheeler’s system but said it didn’t contribute to his death. His official cause of death, which the university disputes, is bronchial asthma.
Circuit Judge Kathy Flanagan said Wednesday she was surprised NU waited 17 months after Wheeler’s death to reveal the team’s widespread supplement use. But Clarke Caywood, an NU associate professor who teaches a course in crisis communication, said university officials had no reason to release their findings until they were asked to do so.
“In legal proceedings, being forthcoming is not always the strategy of the day, ” Caywood said. “Each party is only going to tell what they feel is advantageous to their case.”
James Montgomery, one of Will’s attorneys, called NU’s disclosure a diversionary tactic.
“These tests only would be relevant if they could establish that Rashidi ingested something that led to his death,” Montgomery said. “I look at the whole focus on this as an effort to deflect liability from Northwestern to someone else. The issue of how many members of the team were taking supplements is not vital to this case.”
The court filings say that Aggeler, who no longer works at NU, first became aware of possible supplement use on the team while en route to Evanston Hospital after Wheeler collapsed. According to the documents, assistant trainer Scott Barthlama informed Aggeler that several players may have taken substances before the drill.
When Barthlama returned to the training room and questioned the players, tight end Eric Worley produced a can of Ultimate Punch and safety Brandon Evans gave the trainer a bottle of Xenadrine. Later, Kevin Bentley, who now plays for the Cleveland Browns, brought a can of Ultimate Punch to Evanston Hospital.
Aggeler and Barthlama continued to investigate supplement use on the team in the following days, eventually coming up with the list of 12 players, the documents report.
Wednesday’s court filing also alleges that during the Aug. 3 practice, eight players besides Wheeler were keeled over on the ground with symptoms similar to Wheeler’s, including “vomiting orange and red fluids.” Seven of those eight also were named as using banned substances.
Senior wide receiver Jon Schweighardt said supplement use was not uncomMonday, both at NU and other schools nationwide.
“Everyone takes some type of supplement,” he said. “At the time, they were just supplements, and now everyone views them as steroids.”
Will said she believed the training and coaching staff had prior knowledge of the team’s supplement use.
“They were well aware of what was going on,” she said. “From my understanding, it’s been there for years, and now they want to cry ignorance. They are doing everything except taking responsibility for themselves.”
Will plans to petition the NCAA to levy sanctions against NU.
“They better pull the carpet out from under the feet of their enforcement department and get them activated,” Will said.
