Recently, former Ohio State football standout and NFL prospect Maurice Clarett spoke at the NFL rookie symposium on bad choices and consequences – sports ethics so to speak. Mr. Clarett is attempting to redeem his life after throwing away virtually everything a person on the verge of greatness can throw away.
While I am not a sports geek (I cannot tell you Dexter Fowler’s batting average or how many 3-point attempts the Seattle Seahawks made last season), I am passionate about sports ethics. I am saddened by men and women in the world of sports who make bad decisions; not just athletes, mind you, but at all levels of sport and in all ways.
Maurice Clarett by his own admission lived the life of an NFL player while in college (Sporting News, December 13, 2012). To see Clarett run was to see a living miracle; to see him self-destruct was a stupid and senseless nightmare. He had a troubled life as a teenager. College did nothing to straighten him out. The more he helped Ohio State win, the more he was showered with cars, gifts, money, drugs and women. Clarett attracted followers, hangers-on and the status of a king.
Despite his continuing run-ins with the law, he “made” Ohio State football and they made him. As a freshman in 2002, he led Ohio State to a national championship. He disrespected his coaches, he filed false police reports as to stolen property and he continued his drinking and drugs. Still, the money kept pouring into his pockets. No one cared enough to teach him right from wrong.
Finally, his antics landed him in court where he faced a 7-1/2 year prison term but through the skill of his lawyers, he pled to a lesser charge. He was dismissed from Ohio State. The NCAA would not reinstate him in college football.
Through a series of breaks he was able to prepare himself for the NFL draft in 2005. He reported to the combine in poor condition, and even though overweight and out of shape, the Denver Broncos drafted him. He again did not appreciate the gift, argued with his coaches, the NCAA, the NFL and anyone else he could use to make himself into a victim. Clarett never played a single down in the NFL. He threw everything away.
I think he has seen where the free money, alcohol, drugs and very bad decisions took him. I believe he is trying to make amends. Virtually everything he ever had is gone, and though he is trying to lead a good life it is apparently not enough for many people. Most of the comments I have read about him on-line are smug and arrogant.
Meet “JG”
Let us leave Mr. Clarett for a minute and talk about “JG” instead. Using his full name makes no sense anymore as he is a man of 85 who fell from grace in the early 1990s. Instead, I will call him by his then popular nickname, the “King of Wall Street.”
The man had everything we could possibly dream of having. If we can’t relate to Clarett, perhaps we would want to relate to “JG.” Even in the excesses of the 1980s, his base salary was about $3 million a year (more than $6 million a year in 2013 dollars), in addition to all of the benefits and rewards we might imagine and, of course, his gains from stocks and bonds and who knows what else? He became a director of a now defunct firm called Salomon Brothers in 1978 and rose to its CEO. He navigated Wall Street like a…running back.
The organization developed new and innovative ways of packaging and marketing bonds, such as mortgage-backed securities. “JG” was a man full of bravado and arguably a man without peer. He lived life to the excess, smoking thick cigars and wore expensive suits. The 16 room home on Fifth Avenue, the parties for hundreds of guests, the vacations where he would rent an entire castle and the like were only the start of the excesses. People bowed at his feet; people hung on his words. His friends were the rich and powerful.
What no one knew was that “JG” and his bond traders were committing illegal trades. While they made millions, hundreds and hundreds of millions, they were making it by cashing in on bonds they were not permitted to own. They didn’t even tell their board. They were bigger and more powerful than the firm itself and I suppose many were eager to look the other way because so much money was being made. He was much like a football player, perhaps, who received gifts and cars he shouldn’t have owned, and was praised for winning, but not necessarily for being a good human being.
By 1991, “JG’s” world crashed. He was effectively fired, never permitted to head a Wall Street firm again. He was sued for millions of dollars. His wealth was greatly reduced. It would mark the beginning of a decade long fall for Salomon Brothers.
Though “JG” was contrite, and would apologize, sort of –, he maintained he did what he did for the sake of his company. It is much like an athlete who might say he did bad things for the good of his team. “JG” would go on to other ventures much like Mr. Clarett would go on to other sports and try his hand at public speaking.
My point comes down to this: we must never be smug. It is not a matter of athletes versus business people, rich versus poor or similar comparisons.
Deep down, “JG” and Maurice Clarett were lured by identical prizes. They will ultimately be measured by how much they were willing to lead ethical lives after catastrophic falls. In that sense, they have everything in common.
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