Players burn the race card

Victoria Sun

Monday, July 3, 2000 | 11:04 a.m.

Bill Duffy and Lee Fentress are powerful agents responsible for negotiating multimillion dollar contracts for professional athletes.

Both have found their niche in representing NBA players.

The only difference? Duffy is black and Fentress is white.

Or is there any difference?

Duffy, Ray Anderson, Angelo Wright and James Sims were among the speakers at the Black Sports Agents Association Sports and Music Weekend that concludes tonight at the Venetian hotel-casino with a sports award and music special.

John Salley, an 11-year NBA veteran and a member of this year's world champion Los Angeles Lakers, said when it comes to choosing an agent, race isn't a factor.

"No," Salley said. "It's what you feel.

"You need to be with a guy who you feel has a good relationship with that team. You have to realize that this person has a good vibe and if that's the person you want to be around.

"(But) a lot of people go with the guy who (can get the most money)."

Salley entered the league in 1986 after starring at Georgia Tech and played his first six seasons with the Detroit Pistons.

His first agent was David Falk -- best known as Michael Jordan's agent. But when Salley moved to Detroit, he amicably split with Falk. Salley had two other agents, one black, one white, before he retired after the 1996 season.

When he decided to come back and play for the Lakers, Salley signed with Aaron Goodwin, a respected black agent whose clients include point guards Gary Payton of Seattle and Damon Stoudamire of Portland.

"He's really, really good at what he does," Salley said of Goodwin. "He's a hands-on agent.

"They might relate better because they are black, but it didn't make much of a difference because what we were negotiating for was money.

"They (the black agents) knew my situation, how I had to take care of my family, how I felt. They weren't part of the 'old boy' system so they had to work double hard and I respected that."

The "old boy" system Salley mentioned was one of the obstacles Anderson faced when the latter got started in 1981. Although the majority of football and basketball players are black, the majority of owners, team executives and head coaches are white.

Anderson, an attorney and president of Atlanta-based AR Sports, Inc., was a prominent baseball agent but started concentrating on NFL players and head coaches around 1997 when his firm split into divisions. Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Tony Dungee and New England Patriots strong safety Lawyer Milloy are among Anderson's clients.

"Part of the challenge for my generation of agents was getting over the perception that the white agent was better," Anderson said. "A lot of that was promoted by the white agents that wanted our young men and their families to believe that because it's still a good old boy industry. If you didn't have a representative that was the same color of the owners you weren't going to do as well.

"But as the education reached a higher level, it was better understood that that was hogwash."

Today, Anderson believes there are many more opportunities for minorities to become sports agents because athletes and their families have become more educated in how to choose an agent. He said athletes now are more prone to choose an agent based on the quality of service they deliver, not the color of their skin.

But while that may be true, the increased opportunities have not resulted in a larger number of black agents.

There are an estimated 1,000 agents in the NFL, 400 in the NBA and 300 in Major League Baseball. The percentage of black agents is an estimated 15-20 in football and basketball and a much smaller number in baseball.

The numbers shrink significantly when you examine the number of black agents considered at the top of the profession. In the NFL, Wright figures there are 8-14 highly regarded black agents, with about five in the NBA and 6-8 in MLB.

Duffy, who began as an agent in 1986, says that becoming a successful sports agent these days is more difficult. With the advent of multi-million dollar contracts, being an agent has become both a very lucrative and competitive business.

An NFL agent gets no more than three percent of a player's gross salary. In the NBA, it's four percent; five in baseball. Endorsement deals are worked out individually between players and their agents.

"It's difficult for an athlete to take a chance or a risk on someone that is inexperienced," Duffy said. "It is a hard business to get into.

"For someone starting out whether you're white, black or whatever, if you're inexperienced, that's your major disadvantage. Your best option is to get affiliated with an established agent or build a relationship with a budding superstar."

That's what Duffy did.

Duffy's BDA Sports Management has about 60 athletes in its stable, including 17 in the NBA. Before this year's NBA draft Duffy signed Joel Przybilla (the No. 9 pick overall from Duffy's alma mater Minnesota who was subsequently traded to Milwaukee) and the No. 20 pick, Craig "Speedy" Claxton from Hofstra. Minnesota point guard Terrell Brandon and Dallas' Steve Nash also are among Duffy's clients.

Because he is a former basketball player, Duffy already had contacts.

When he was done playing he became a roommate of Ronnie Lott, who happened to be Leonard Armato's first client. Duffy said he learned a lot from Armato, now Shaquille O'Neal's agent and one of the most influential agents in the business.

"I'd say I probably had less obstacles than most because I was affiliated with an established agent," he said. "Had I started on my own it would have been extremely difficult."

A recent difficulty faced by aspiring black agents is dealing with the negative publicity generated by black agents Leland Hardy and Tank Black.

Hardy is the lawyer who negotiated New Orleans Saints running back Ricky Williams' incentive-laced contract that has proved to be a bust.

Williams' got an $8.8 million signing bonus, but to earn the majority of his potential $68.4 million over seven years, Williams would have had to have seven incredible seasons. In the NFL, the only thing guaranteed is the signing bonus.

"You get one chance to blow it and he (Hardy) probably will not do another NFL contract during his career," Anderson said.

Black is the agent accused of defrauding millions of dollars from nearly two dozen athletes through bogus stock deals and other means.

Although he is not the first agent to scam a large number of athletes, his story made national headlines because of his brazen attitude.

Anderson was one of the first to blow the whistle on Black to the National Football League Players Association.

"Hopefully we overcome these types of situations by policing ourselves," Anderson said. "Part of how you overcome it is to clean up our own mess and move forward.

"The challenge is to continue doing high quality work whereby the athletes then know that the bottom line is the quality of the service. Then there is no distinction between the Falks and the (Arn) Tellums and the Lee Steinbergs and the Ray Andersons or the Angelo Wrights."

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