By JOHN E. HOOVER World Coulmnist on Sep 12, 2013, at 1:30 PM Updated on 9/12/13 at 1:51 PM
The dead can’t speak.
The dead can’t say, "Yes, I did," or, "No, I didn’t."
So when the dead are accused, it falls to their families to tell their story.
“For the record, sir, my son did not receive any cash. No kind of cash whatsoever.”
Those are the words of Vernon Grant Sr., father of the late Vernon Grant Jr., who was implicated by unnamed former teammates in a Sports Illustrated report this week as one of a dozen players who accepted illicit money from Oklahoma State University boosters and Cowboy coaches.
“When I read that,” Vernon Sr. said Wednesday night in a telephone interview from his home in Duncanville, Texas, “it tore me apart.”
Vernon Jr. was a star cornerback for the Cowboys from 2002-04 but died in a car crash in 2005. One of his best friends on the team, cornerback Darrent Williams (2001-04), also was indicted in the SI article by former teammates, and was a member of the Denver Broncos when he was shot and killed in a limousine after a party in 2007.
The SI report said Grant and others “were identified by teammates as having received bonuses” in violation of NCAA bylaws. “Teammates say,” the report continued, “they knew those players were paid because they witnessed them being handed money and/or those players openly discussed their bonuses.”
That’s an outright lie, Grant’s family says.
“If anybody knew Vernon was having some, I would be the one to know,” said Anthony Grant, Vernon’s cousin with whom he grew up in Duncanville. “I guess that’s why it’s so disturbing to me.”
Anthony Grant also played college football at Texas State University in 2001 and 2002. He and his cousin played together at Duncanville High School and were so close they considered themselves brothers. They also were members of the same fraternity in college, Omega Psi Phi.
“We talked daily,” Anthony Grant said in a telephone conversation from his home in DeSoto, Texas. “…That’s not even in his character.”
Vernon Grant Sr. said he knows without a doubt his son never received anything beyond his scholarship check because he frequently had to transfer money into his son’s bank account.
“He said his car was going bad; I had to get the radiator fixed in his car,” Vernon Sr. said. “I’m down here, he’s up there. I said, ‘Go put it in the shop; have them call me and I’ll take care of it.’ ”
Christopher Demerson is the Grant family attorney and has been a family friend since 2002. He said he knew Vernon Jr. well enough to confidently declare Grant didn’t receive any “bonuses” for his on-field performance or from any fraudulent jobs or in just a handshake from an OSU booster or anyone else.
“Look, we have nothing to hide,” Demerson said in a telephone interview from his home in Missouri City, Texas. “If this guy, if he was taking illegal payments, it just seems odd to me that he would have to call his dad for money. You know, I spoke to Vernon Sr. and we would have no problem showing bank records where his dad would have to send him money for little things — that a person who has seen the money from boosters or from working these cushy jobs, you don’t have to call home for money to get your car fixed.”
Not only did Vernon Jr. not get prohibited compensation himself, Demerson and the Grants said, but he never saw anyone else get any either.
“I know for a fact that Vernon didn’t have knowledge of anyone taking money that was (implicated) in that statement,” Vernon Sr. said. “None of those guys — none of those guys — received any kind of finances. Because I know if it was so, Vernon would have mentioned it to me, and it wasn’t ever brought up.”
Vernon Sr. said he spoke with his son nightly.
Most of the conversations were about football, and much of it was motivational toward football and school.
“I mean, we talked ‘til about 12 or 1 o’clock every night until it’s time for him to go to bed,” Vernon Sr. said. “He’d be in the library doing his homework.”
Like Vernon Grant Sr. and Anthony Grant, Demerson said everyone’s first objective is to clear Vernon Jr.’s name. But Demerson also said they may consider litigation against Sports Illustrated or its sources who accused him.
“Right now, our main goal is to obviously do our due diligence and see what remedies we have available to us in the judicial system,” Demerson said. “But of course, no family wants to go through that and have to relive a lot of this stuff. So if judicial intervention can be avoided, we will. But if necessary, we are headed that way.
“But first we want to do our due diligence and see how we can get his name cleared and let the family get back to their life and move on.”
Anthony Grant said he is equally disappointed in the magazine and Grant’s former teammates.
“Sports Illustrated just picked the article and picked the teammates, and whatever they said, they just ran with what they said without contacting us and investigating the situation to see if any of this stuff was true. They just ran with it. We just thought that was very disturbing,” Anthony Grant said.
Anthony Grant also said it will be difficult to explain to Vernon Jr.’s son, Vernon III — who turns 9 on Saturday — why people are disparaging his father, his hero.
“It was hard to deal with,” Anthony Grant said. “We feel like Vernon left his legacy at OSU, and just to hear all this come up from out of nowhere, it was very disturbing to us.”
Vernon Sr. choked up several times during Wednesday’s interview, composing himself to describe his son’s vibrant and outgoing personality.
“It really saddens my heart that they (implicate) those young men,” he said. “… It’s real hard. Especially (because) Vernon is not there to defend himself. Darrent Williams is not there to defend himself. And it’s really hard.”
OSU football investigation
On Monday, Oklahoma State announced the hiring of Charles E. Smrt to lead an independent review of alleged misconduct in the OSU football program.
