Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 29, 1993 TAG: 9306290004
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Wilkins signed a pro baseball contract with the Seattle Mariners last Monday, agreeing to give up his football scholarship to Virginia Tech. On Thursday he flew to Arizona to join the Mariners' rookie league team. Apparently after talking by telephone with Tech assistant coach Todd Grantham, the quarterback from Boynton Beach, Fla., told the Peoria Mariners' manager that he wanted out of his baseball contract so he could go to Tech.
Sunday night, he told Tech coach Frank Beamer the same thing.
And, at the moment, that's where things stand.
Predictably, the Mariners are steamed. But Florida scout John Ramey, who signed Wilkins, said the team will release him - if it is convinced his decision is firm. Ramey hopes to talk to Wilkins sometime this week.
"If he doesn't want to play baseball, we don't want him," Ramey said. "The thing that really upsets me is . . . he gets off the plane, he's in a motel room, and they hammer on the son of a gun until they won't let him up, and the kid's scared . . . .
"I didn't coerce the youngster to sign. He understood exactly what he was giving up. That doesn't change in 24 hours. That's what we've got to find out."
Wilkins' home phone has been disconnected and neither he nor his mother could be reached for comment. Beamer, who said he talked to Wilkins on Sunday night, said Monday he believes Wilkins had a change of heart when he reached Arizona.
"Willie really made up his own mind," Beamer said. "He made a decision, and then realized he made the wrong decision."
Grantham, who recruited Wilkins, could not be reached for comment.
Ramey said Wilkins flew home the morning after telling the Peoria club he was leaving. Ramey said neither he, the Mariners nor Wilkins' mother bought the plane ticket, and Ramey questioned Tech's role in the matter. Ramey said he had written Wilkins a personal check for some of the player's signing bonus, but that it was "about half" the cost of a plane ticket.
NCAA rules would prohibit Tech from paying Wilkins' way home.
"I know we didn't have anything to do with how he got home," Beamer said. "I can assure you we haven't done anything wrong."
Wilkins, an outfielder who was a 36th-round pick by the Mariners, is a quarterback prospect for Tech. Under NCAA rules, Wilkins can get financial aid if Seattle releases him from his contract.
However, because Wilkins accepted part of his signing bonus from Ramey, he has lost his eligibility to play college baseball and is technically ineligible to get financial aid. Tech assistant athletic director Steve Horton said the school would have to appeal to the NCAA's eligibility committee, which Horton said likely would allow Wilkins to accept a scholarship if he repaid the money he received.
by CNB