Artrell Woods at OSU in 2008. AP file
The final chapter in “The Dirty Game,” alias Sports Illustrated’s five-part series on the Oklahoma State football program, was released one day early.
Chapter five was not expected to be released until Tuesday, according to a publication schedule distributed to media last week. But the last chapter -- titled “The Fallout” -- appeared on SI’s Internet site just before noon Monday.
SI uses former receiver Artrell Woods, who suffered a spinal injury while at OSU and came back to play for the Cowboys before transferring to UCO, as an example to lead into a story which says this: “Scattered across Oklahoma, Texas and neighboring states are young men like Woods -- former Cowboys from the last dozen years now damaged and downtrodden.”
SI said some ex-Cowboys have been incarcerated or live on the streets, adding that some have battled substance abuse and a couple have attempted suicide.
Said SI, “Several reside in the purgatory of the unemployed, sitting on a couch all day, hoping to hear back about a position at Walmart or Target. Some with jobs see little future in them. One is a lumberjack; one works part-time at a food-processing plant; another is a bouncer at a strip club. Once vigorous men, their eyes now convey confusion and vulnerability.”
At the time Woods was interviewed by SI, he was working as a waiter in a chain restaurant in his hometown of Bryan, Texas.
SI says that young men leave their hometowns and go to college in hopes of pursuing a better life.
But, said the story, “In the past decade so many players have been kicked out or driven out of OSU, many returning in shame to neighborhoods and lifestyles they hoped desperately to escape, that the sheer number of those downtrodden and embittered raises the question: How much did the program really care?”
Former player Kevin White said he was dismissed after being a passenger in a car in which marijuana was found by police. He was dismissed for a violation of team rules and had previous strikes, including a charge of concealing stolen property that had been dismissed.
The story says White tried to get his transcript from OSU so he could resume his career at a lower-division program, but he claims he was told he owed hundreds of dollars for miscellanous charges (including a sofa he had allegedly stolen from a dormitory).
White said he now works at an industrial battery company owned by his uncle (he called it his “last resort”) and said he breeds pit bulls to make extra money to support his 2-year-old son.
SI said linebacker Marcus Richardson was in a gang before his 12th birthday and sold drugs and committed robberies while growing up in Florida. After parting company with OSU, he returned to a life of crime and now is in a Texas prison serving a 15-year sentence for aggravated assault, according to SI.
“I’ve seen that college football is a business....” Richardson told the magazine. “The only type of relationship (coaches) really have with the players is, ‘OK, if y’all don’t produce then I get fired’.”
Former running back Herschel Sims was dismissed from the team in 2012 after withdrawing $700 from a teammate’s checking account. He was reportedly given chances to pay the teammate back, but, when he did not, he was charged with two felony counts of second-degree forgery and pleaded guilty, receiving a deferred sentence.
Sims transferred to Lamar and now is at Abilene Christian University in Texas. Said Sims, “They care a lot here.”
