Sunday, February 21, 1999
Ickey shuffling his way into small-time agency
Former Bengal shills for unknowns
BY GEOFF HOBSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
INDIANAPOLIS — Ickey Woods is meeting and greeting here at the NFL scouting combine as he tries to make the move from cult figure to Super Agent.
On Thursday night, Buffalo Bills coach Wade Phillips greets him over the blaring oldies records at Ike and Jonesy's, a 1950s-like diner/bar.
Woods' partner, J.R. Baker, spies Pittsburgh Steelers coach Bill Cowher, drops Ickey's name and the conversation starts. Sure, Cowher says, send me the stuff on your kids.
Friday morning, Woods sinks into a hotel lobby chair to chat with Detroit Lions player personnel man Larry Lee.
“The hierarchy of the NFL is here and so I want them to know what I'm doing. I'm trying to sell our players to them,” Woods says over Friday's lunch, now on the lookout at Ike and Jonesy's.
“Coaches. General managers. I think they give me more time than maybe some other guys breaking into the business because they've heard of me.”
Which is why the Cincinnati-based Ovations Management group brought on the former Bengals' running back as it tries to get a foothold in player representation. The group is backed by Covington, Ky., businessman Larry Naiser and promoted by Baker, an Anderson Township contractor. Lawyer Joe Pitocco is the negotiator certified as an agent by the NFL Players Asso ciation. Woods is the man with the name, the guy who gets the group into the door with a kid or a team.
Woods is starting from the ground up, and he doesn't mind since he has done it his whole life. The group's two clients, Wisconsin quarterback Mike Samuel and Eastern Kentucky tackle Joe Worley, weren't even invited to this weekend's combine. But Woods and Baker are here to let the big boys know that Samuel had a 26-11 record as a starter while throwing just four interceptions out of 155 passes and Worley is 6-foot-8, 340 pounds.
“Mike's father said the rea son he went with us is because of the letter Ickey sent,” Baker says. “It's been nearly 10 years since he played, and people still know him. That says something. And he can help these kids. He knows. He's been there.”
Woods, the NFL rookie of the year 10 years ago, had a four-year career riddled with knee problems. But the biggest blow might have been losing $100,000 he entrusted to his advisers.
Woods figures he made $700,000-to-$800,000 in the NFL and he says he saved enough of it to make sure there is always enough. But he could have saved more, and $100,000 is $100,000.
There are six kids to feed now, and can you believe Ickey Woods' oldest is 15? He still sells meat but no longer door-to-door, just to regular customers. He's also pitching health and life insurance. And on weekends like this, he's selling Ovations. On all his jobs he's always got the same tools: That season from heaven in 1988 and his good nature.
“I came from no money and didn't know how to handle it and I paid for it because I wasn't involved,” Woods says. “I can help kids with that. I've seen the good side and bad side of agents. You've got to stay involved with your money.”
The agents who get the first-rounders stay in the Hyatt downtown. Woods is staying in a Red Roof Inn hard by the interstate. The first-round agents don't have to hand out business cards. They get calls on their cell phones. The first-round agents always seems to have their hair slicked back. Woods tugs on the bill of his University of Nevada-Las Vegas ball cap and tells you Samuel is a proven winner.
“You always got to keep after it when you got six kids,” Woods said. “I don't like to put my eggs all in one basket.”
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