CHICAGO — Three Northwestern football players on Tuesday asked that the names of team members no longer be included in the Rashidi Wheeler wrongful-death lawsuit.
In a motion filed by lawyer Peter Rush, seniors Torri Stuckey and Jason Wright and former running back Kevin Lawrence asked Circuit Court Judge Kathy Flanagan to bar all sides in the case from including the names of Wheeler’s former teammates in future court filings and statements to the media.
If the motion is approved, the players would all be referred to by random numbers instead of by their names.
Rush, who is being paid by Northwestern, said hiding the players’ identities from now on is necessary because their reputations are at stake. In the motion, he cited the example of an NU football player who lost a potential teaching job because of reports that supplements were found in his locker.
“They are very scared about what they have to say,” Rush said. “I don’t see how anyone can object to protecting these kids’ reputations.”
But Gary Moore, a lawyer for the supplement manufacturer Next Proteins, Inc., argued that the motion was unnecessary because much of the information on supplement use by NU players already has been reported.
“The cat is already out of the bag,” Moore said.
Moore said that the motion is more about protecting the university than its athletes.
“(NU’s) fingerprints are all over this,” he said.
University lawyer Eric Quandt said he was unprepared to take a stand on the motion because he had not asked his clients about it. Flanagan gave all sides until Monday at 4 p.m. to submit arguments for or against the motion.
Wheeler’s mother, Linda Will, said she did not want to see her son’s former teammates hurt by the lawsuit.
“I’m not opposing anything,” said Will, who did not attend Tuesday’s hearing. “I just always try and think, ‘What would Rashidi do?'”
Lawrence, Wright and Stuckey could not be reached for comment.
Rush said he has been contacted by three other NU football players who are interested in hiring him as their lawyer. Depositions of current and former players could start soon, since Lawrence must report to a training camp for the Ottawa Renegades of the Canadian Football League on May 24, Rush said.
The Wheeler lawsuit began in August 2001, just weeks after the former NU defensive back collapsed and died during a preseason conditioning drill.
In another development in the case, University President Henry Bienen’s deposition was set for July 2. Lawyers for Will have argued that Bienen can provide valuable information about an internal investigation NU conducted in the fall of 2001. The investigation led to the team admitting to an NCAA rules violation and forfeiting six practices.
All sides also agreed to hold Dr. Mark Gardner’s deposition before the end of July. Gardner performed a physical on Wheeler three weeks before his death, but records of the physical no longer exist, according to court papers filed by the university in March.
University lawyers said they would provide a blank copy of the form Gardner filled out when he performed the physical.
The next hearing in the case is scheduled for June 10.
