The weekend Navy suffered its third straight devastating loss to Army in football and George Chaump lost his coaching job at the academy, Art Schlichter lost his freedom. Schlichter, recall, was a first-round choice and fourth overall in the NFL draft for the Baltimore Colts in 1982.
Politics isn't the only pastime that makes for strange bedfellows, as the saying goes. Add sports to the list.
Chaump and Schlichter will always be linked closely, particularly in the minds of Ohio State football fans. It was George who, while serving as an assistant to the legendary Buckeye Woody Hayes in the late '70s, recruited Art to Columbus.
This fairly simple act, one repeated countless times across the land as the colleges conduct their annual battle to land high school stars, changed so many things it's difficult to figure out where to start. Let's try the beginning.
If ever there was an all-American boy, it was Schlichter. A spectacular all-stater in football and basketball, Art was a good student and adding to his virtue was the fact he was raised on a farm and realized the value of responsibility and hard work at an early age.
Chaump took one look at him performing his magic at Miami (Ohio) Trace High and rushed back to Hayes and sputtered, "I've just watched the greatest quarterback I've ever seen and he's playing 40 miles from here."
For more than a quarter-century, Woody had featured the famed "three yards and a cloud of dust" offense at Ohio State, so it was Chaump's duty to talk the old man into a change. It would have been easier to talk him into getting rid of his baseball cap for a chic fedora while stomping the sidelines during a game.
George did a terrific job, not only convincing Woody that the forward pass wasn't a fleeting fancy, but getting Schlichter, who started out not wanting to matriculate to Columbus, to admit, "I like the idea of an Ohio boy turning the Ohio State offense around. I wanted to be the one to make the Buckeyes pass."
Schlichter started his first game as a freshman, all-Big Ten quarterback Rod Gerald being moved to pass receiver for his senior year. The team lost to Penn State, the first loss Art ever had at quarterback (39-0-1). He finished fourth in the Heisman Trophy balloting and moved up a notch as a sophomore as he led Ohio State to the Rose Bowl and within a couple of minutes of the national championship before Southern Cal nipped the Buckeyes, 17-16.
Hayes got fired as a result of a sideline incident with Clemson player Charlie Bauman following a pass interception thrown, interestingly, by Schlichter. Woody was replaced by Earle Bruce and Schlichter's career flourished until time to turn pro. Meanwhile, a flaw had developed in the kid's character. He liked going to the track and betting on the ponies, which ultimately led to his becoming a compulsive gambler.
"Of course, we had no idea," recalls Ernie Accorsi, assistant general manager of the Baltimore Colts at the time. "Bob Irsay had gotten rid of Bert Jones for a No. 1 and a No. 2 pick and we went into the 1982 draft with the second and fourth choices. We all wanted to take [linebackers] Johnie Cooks and Chip Banks, and pick up a needed quarterback backup [Mike Pagel in the second round]. Irsay took Art and we knew we'd be the laughingstock of the league."
While he was a terrific college quarterback, it was pretty well agreed that Schlichter wouldn't be a great pro, especially one to spend a No. 4 overall pick on.
"We got Pagel in the fourth round," added Accorsi, "and we weren't five minutes into their first mini-camp when it was apparent there was no comparison, Mike was much better. Art didn't even throw a spiral."
Baltimore went winless (0-8-1) during the strike-shortened '82 season and it was during preparations for the '83 draft that the team received word that Schlichter was being suspended indefinitely by the league for gambling activities.
The Colts went 7-9 in '83 and Schlichter was reinstated for the '84 season, the team's first in Indianapolis. The kid's off-the-field problems persisted and he was suspended again. Art had a tryout in Buffalo in 1986, went to Canada for a while, then to Arena Football. In 1992, the Cincinnati Rockers took care of a $500 check Schlichter bounced and took over management of his finances. Then he bounced a check for $3,000.
Two years ago, with his football-playing days apparently over, Schlichter said, "I did some things that were not very healthy for me [like running out on gambling debts with bookies]. I have come to grips with the fact I can't handle money. It's part of the disease."
He conducted a sports talk show in Cincinnati for a stretch but that vanished. Indicted by a grand jury in Ohio for theft and grand theft for allegedly stealing $20,000 just 10 days ago, Schlichter was already in jail in Las Vegas after pleading guilty to bank fraud for stealing and writing $175,000 in bad checks.
He is awaiting sentencing in Nevada and is expected to draw at least two years. Earlier this year, he was charged with three counts of theft and three counts of complicity in Ohio. All told, authorities in four states accuse him of making off with $400,000 and, the mails being involved, many of the charges are federal offenses.
Years ago, after Chaump had landed Schlichter for Ohio State, the late Woody Hayes took one look and said, "He'll be a great one if the damn reporters and agents don't ruin him."
How unfortunate it is that a whole lot more wasn't done about Schlichter's real problem when it would have counted.