ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, March 25, 1996 TAG: 9603270099
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: DALLAS
SOURCE: BARRY HORN DALLAS MORNING NEWS
THE COWBOYS' STAR wide receiver doesn't seem to want to answer any, though, as his off-field problems attract the spotlight.
On the football field, with the spotlight shining, Michael Irvin shows all the right moves. Always has. A ferocious will ht-after spotlight that goes with Super Bowl victories has turned into the harsh glare of TV klieg lights and reporters' inquiries into legal problems.
While high-profile Cowboys such as Troy Aikman and Emmitt Smith have avoided any hint of impropriety, Irvin's name seems to consistently surface in connection with off-field problems.
Come Tuesday, Irvin is expected to testify before a Dallas County grand jury in connection with the arrest of a 22-year-old woman earlier this month. The grand jury began hearing testimony on felony drug possession charges against her Thursday. Irvin has not been charged in the case.
Police in suburban Irving, Texas, said Irvin was one of four people in a Residence Inn by Marriott hotel room March 4 when officers arrested Angela Renee Beck in connection with the seizure of almost three ounces of marijuana, more than two ounces of cocaine, and drug paraphernalia. Beck told officers that the drugs and paraphernalia belonged to her.
Since the incident came to light this week, Irvin has remained silent and far away from inquiring people with microphones and note pads. He could not be reached by The Dallas Morning News.
Those who know and have observed Irvin over the years said they cannot understand why he has had a laundry list of problems.
They described him as a generous, gregarious man who works as hard as any of his teammates toward the Cowboys' success. They also said that Dallas offers its football heroes too large a playing field. Too many believe they can get away with anything. Perhaps, they speculate when pressed on the subject, Irvin has become a true believer.
``From the first day I ever met him, he was the hardest-working kid I ever met,'' said Cowboys running backs coach Joe Brodsky, who in 1984 helped recruit Irvin to the University of Miami while serving as an assistant coach. ``He works hard. I guess maybe he runs hard.''
Business partner Craig James, who co-hosts a TV show with Irvin, said his friend is ``a big-hearted, loving human being'' who has been convicted of nothing.
``But I'm very glad I didn't have to play professionally in Dallas,'' said James, an All-American running back at Southern Methodist who played for the New England Patriots in the 1980s. ``Reality is so far-fetched from what Cowboys players believe. They believe players can get and do what they want. Most NFL players are put on a pedestal. Cowboys are put so high, it seems like they are on another planet.''
Dr. Don Beck, director of the National Values Center in nearby Denton, Texas, said he has observed Irvin since 1988.
Beck said that Irvin's personality is drawn to ``risk taking'' and ``thrill seeking.'' Irvin, who has the security of a five-year, $14.5 million contract signed before the 1995 season, increasingly has acted as if he has no constraints, Beck said.
``You reach the point where you feel you're invincible. There are no rules now,'' he said.
In 1991, Irvin was accused of punching a referee during a charity basketball game. In 1993, he was cited for disorderly conduct after a Florida convenience store refused to sell him a bottle of wine. In 1995, a Plano woman sued Irvin after she accused him of assaulting her in a nightclub parking lot. The status of these cases remains unclear.
In September, Irvin was one of several Cowboys identified as having received stolen airline tickets. There was no evidence ever presented that he was aware the tickets were stolen. Earlier last year, Irvin, never a suspect, was called to testify when teammate Erik Williams faced indictment for sexual assault. Williams was not indicted.
Beck said more alarms went off when Irvin used an obscenity on national television during an interview after the Cowboys' NFC Championship Game victory over the Green Bay Packers. Irvin's statement also was broadcast over the public address system at Texas Stadium. While controversy over his profanity raged in Dallas, Irvin refused to apologize.
Irvin, Beck said, was refusing to abide by ``accepted rules.''
``I felt then that the intoxication and feelings of invincibility would get him in serious trouble,'' Beck said.
Leon Simon, who co-hosts Irvin's radio show on KLIF (570 AM) during the football season, said he has gotten to know Irvin over the past year.
``There's so much going in the life of someone who lives his lifestyle that it's not disappointing or surprising,'' he said. ``Michael is still a young man. He makes a lot of money, and he works only six months a year. He has an awful lot of free time on his hands.''
Perhaps the best insight into The Playmaker comes from Irvin himself. In a 1993 interview with a national sports magazine, Irvin talked about his ability to get away with things while growing up one of 17 children in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
``I had problems, but not with the law,'' Irvin told Inside Sports. ``You only get into trouble with them if you aren't good at what you are doing. If you don't get caught, they can't call you a criminal.
``I wasn't the kind to go around shooting people or anything, but I had my problems early on, which is the best time to have them. I don't know what might have happened ... I think about that a lot now.''
Asked in the same interview if he was ever lured by drugs, Irvin replied: ``I was never big into drugs. I was the hyper type. It was the fighting, the hanging out. There were some things I vowed never to tell, especially now.''
Whatever it was, it was not an issue when the Cowboys used a first-round pick on Irvin in the 1988 draft.
``We drafted what we considered `a clean guy,''' said Gil Brandt, then the Cowboys' personnel director. ``I looked up his grades the other day, and we gave him an eight in character. He graduated from college in four years. A lot of guys never graduate at all, let alone in four years. An eight was a very good grade. Roger Staubach was a nine.''
Some blame the present Cowboys regime for fostering an atmosphere that says rules are made for others. They cite how the franchise has taken on the league in a battle for merchandising and marketing revenues.
Dale Hansen, the WFAA-TV (Channel 8 in Dallas) sports anchor who doubles as the Cowboys' game analyst on KVIL (103.7 FM) said he thinks that the coaching change from a stern Jimmy Johnson to the more easygoing Barry Switzer has had a negative effect on Irvin and the Cowboys.
``There is no question this type of thing has been going on since 1960, but at least there appeared concern from management in the past,'' Hansen said. ``We all have governors. I have a governor on me at Channel 8. I am just concerned that there is no governor at Valley Ranch. Someone has to exercise some kind of control.
``Players tell me that Michael does what he wants when he wants. We have to quit being surprised when he does what he wants away from the field. At some point, somebody has to put a governor on his accelerator.''
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has been unavailable for comment all week. Vice president Stephen Jones refused to comment on Irvin, as did several of the receiver's teammates. Jones did say Friday that the Cowboys want to do everything they can to help the players on and off the field.
Miami Dolphins coach Jimmy Johnson and Washington Redskins coach Norv Turner, staunch supporters of Irvin in the past, did not return telephone calls.
Steve Endicott, Irvin's agent, said he has been instructed by his client not to speak to the news media. He did say, however, that Irvin has never failed an NFL-administered drug test.
At Mitchell's Beauty & Barber Salon in Irving, where Irvin and many of the Cowboys' black players get their hair cut, barber Kenn Agnew said he thinks that much of Irvin's problems have to do with the news media.
``A lot of times, the media builds you up, and then as soon as something happens, they try to tear you down,'' he said. ``If the police felt that there was some wrongdoing, I don't think it would've gone on this long without someone finding out.''
To be sure, Irvin is not the first Dallas Cowboy to run into problems off the field. This past season, Cowboys defensive players Leon Lett and Clayton Holmes were suspended by the NFL for violating the league's substance-abuse policy.
No matter the outcome of the grand jury investigation, Tex Schramm, the former president of the Cowboys, said irreparable harm already has been done to Irvin's image.
Irvin's status as a Pro Football Hall of Fame candidate is damaged. Even his place in the Cowboys' Ring of Honor inside Texas Stadium could be in question. Bob Hayes, a star wide receiver for the Cowboys from 1965 to 1974, never received the acclaim some felt he deserved because of his drug-related conviction.
``Men do a lot of things, and people remember them,'' said Schramm, himself a member of the Hall of Fame. ``This is a sad, sad thing. Whether you want it or not, a successful athlete is an image maker who sets certain standards for other people ...
``Bob Hayes would have been in the Hall of Fame and, very well, maybe the Ring of Honor. But when he should have gone in, he was in jail, and that just doesn't work. To this day, I feel he was entrapped and treated unfairly, but the damage is done.''
Brandt said he talked to a representative of a well-known sports apparel manufacturer last week. ``What you read about Michael scares you,'' the representative said, according to Brandt.
The representative then brought up Emmitt Smith's name for possible endorsements.
``I said whatever he wants, give it to him,'' Brandt said.
James, who along with Irvin owns ``The Michael Irvin Show'' broadcast by KDFW-TV (Channel 4 in Dallas) during the football season, said his concern is not with the program but with Irvin.
``I have to sell the show, but my real concern is that Michael and his wife, Sandi, are OK,'' James said.
Dan Bennett, the station manager at KLIF, said he will wait until he knows all the facts before making any decisions.
``The charges that are floating around are very detrimental to his profession and married life,'' said KLIF's Simon. ``Somewhere down the line he has to show up and say, `This is the way things went down.' You have to clear the books, and he hasn't done it yet.''
The North Texas Toyota Dealers have featured James and Irvin in a TV commercial. The organization met Friday and discussed the situation.
David Schoemaker, Toyota of Irving's general manager, said the group would have no comment on the future of the commercial.
``Half the town is upset that he has been dragged into this because he is a high-profile player,'' Hansen said. ``The other half is upset because they believe he will be getting away with something because he is a high-profile player.
``What he is guilty of, and there is no question, is terribly bad judgment.''
Staff writers Ed Werder, Richard Alm and Jean-Jacques Taylor of The Dallas Morning News contributed to this report.
LENGTH: Long : 198 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP Dallas Cowboys receiver Michael Irvin (left) sharesby CNBa laugh with teammate Alfredo Roberts and a fan at a New York-Dallas
NBA game in Dallas on Sunday. Irvin's recent off-field incidents are
no laughing matters, though.