Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 1, 1991 TAG: 9102010249
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SAMANTHA STEVENSON
DATELINE: SAN DIEGO LENGTH: Long
"All indications are that he is leaving school, according to the people in the know, including his uncle, Craig Fertig," McGee said Wednesday.
Marinovich, who must announce his intention to enter the draft by today, has not been available to the news media since he left school, but his father, Marvin, denied the report.
IMG declined any comment, but if Marinovich had retained the firm, he would lose his remaining two years of collegiate eligibility.
Larry Bryan, a scout for the Washington Redskins and a family friend, said Marinovich, 21, should stay in school. "It's ridiculous to think he would come out now," Bryan said. "He needs another year."
McGee's statement capped a series of events in the last two weeks that have brought confusion about the status of Marinovich and his state of mind.
On Jan. 11, Marinovich was suspended indefinitely by coach Larry Smith for missing a mandatory meeting and not registering for classes.
On Jan. 18, Marinovich met with Smith about his status. While Smith never released details, a person close to his office said that Smith told Marinovich he would be allowed to rejoin the team on Aug. 1 if his academic status were in order.
That same day, Marinovich registered late for the spring semester and, according to the USC student-athlete services, he had not appeared in any classes.
Early on the morning of Jan. 20, he was arrested by the Newport Beach police and subsequently charged with misdemeanor possession of cocaine and marijuana.
The confusion extended to the quarterback's family.
"My wishes were [to stay in] school and honor your scholarship," said Henry Fertig, Marinovich's grandfather, with whom Todd and his mother, Trudi, live in Newport Beach, Calif. "And if you want to forget about football, forget about it. But his father has a lot of power over him."
Marinovich first came to national attention as a high school player who almost literally had been programmed by his father to become a star quarterback.
According to many published reports, Todd spent most of his youth throwing a football and following a diet designed by his father to develop his athletic skills.
The senior Marinovich was captain of the USC team in 1962 and played briefly with the Oakland Raiders. Todd's uncle, Craig Fertig, was a star quarterback at USC, and his mother also attended USC.
Todd was recruited by more than 100 colleges, but not surprisingly ended up at USC where he became the starter as a freshman. This fall, however, Smith felt that Marinovich no longer seemed to pay attention to details and lacked emotional fire.
This view was shared by some members of his family as well.
"Let me give you an idea," his grandfather said. "When this bust came on Sunday morning at 4:15, the wheels started into motion.
"This boy never got to spend weekends like a normal boy. Like Sunday School. Got to work out. Got to work out."
Fertig, a former chief of police of Huntington Beach, Calif., said there was no question that Marinovich's arrest stemmed from a rebellion against the pressure placed on him.
"Trying to get away from it, trying to get away from it," Fertig said. "In the past, he has told his mother, `I don't want to be Todd Marinovich.'
"That morning of the bust when I came upstairs to tell my wife and my daughter, they grabbed each other, crying and weeping and what have you. I said, `Trudi, you call Marv.' Before I left the house to go over to the city jail, she had called him.
"Well, he didn't go. I went. I'm not his father. I'm his grandfather."
Fertig said he called his attorney, who worked out an agreement with the Orange County Police Department, which held jurisdiction, to secure a release without bail, which had been set at $10,000.
"When he [Marinovich] came out he was as white as a sheet," Fertig said. "He didn't cry until he went down the stairs of the Newport Beach police station. He got in the car and looked at his mother, and said, `I have just blown my life away.' And he wept all the way home.
"Before I left, I asked the watch commander, `Did you put him in a cell by himself?' He said, `We're full.' I said, `Did you put him in the tank?' `Yeah.' I said, `Good.' My thinking was, destroying himself. It has happened to so many people. I've seen many, many suicides."
Fertig said Marinovich spent most of that Sunday alone. The first conversation they had was on the conditions of the jail.
" `Where'd they put you?' I asked," Fertig said. " `Papa, that's the worst thing I saw in my life. I never want to be in jail.' I said, `Well, wait until I take you to the county jail in Los Angeles. The morgue is in the basement. I will show you people who have overdosed and people who have committed suicide. I'll get a visitor's pass to go in the coroner's office and we'll look over these bodies.'
" `Oh no, Papa,' he said."
Marinovich's father asked his mother to take him to the doctor to get a blood and urine test.
"My daughter asked the attorney about doing this," Fertig said, adding that the attorney told him there was no need for tests since the charge involved drug possession.
Fertig said he asked the father why he wanted the tests and was told "for the NFL and the media."
Fertig said he believes Marinovich's father will never "meet reality" and is only concerned about dollar signs.
"Todd just blew $100,000 on the bust," Fertig said. "I'm sure that somebody will take him, but he won't go in the first round. I should say not. Even down further.
"I talked to Larry Smith, I talked to Mike McGee, I talked to my son and my daughter, we all agree, this is where he should go. These agents were calling here. The one that Marv wanted, my daughter and Todd, neither one wanted any part of it."
Because of his problems on and off the field, Marinovich probably won't be picked in the first two rounds if he decides to enter.
"His problems are well chronicled," draft expert Mel Kiper said. "He's a real question mark."
Smith, through a USC spokesman, said, "I've said everything I can say on Todd."
McGee added, "We're disappointed. And that disappointment relates to Todd and his interest more than the university's interest. Whether he plays football or not is secondary. He's going to drop out of school and not continue on with an education program and get the kind of requisite assistance he needs to get a degree."
AUTHOR NOTE: Samantha Stevenson is a free-lance writer from San Diego who filed this story with The New York Times News Service.
by CNB