(Admin Note: This is the first in a new periodic series to be featured here at Midwest Sports Fans: the Sports Agent Corner. Gary Glick, President and founder of the Dallas-based sports agency Synergy Sports Inc., will be our regular guest. Mr. Glick has worked recently with former Big 12 standouts Maurice Purify, Marcellus Rivers, and Dwayne Blakely.)
Midwest Sports Fans: One of your players is Maurice Purify of the Cincinnati Bengals, who has found his share of trouble. You have said that too big a deal has been made out of his off-field issues. How so?
Gary Glick: Maurice Purify transferred to Nebraska at a rough time in his life and although I make no excuses for a player’s behavior, Mo had 4 close relatives pass away during that time. He was accosted by a bouncer at a club and got into a fight and was charged with assault. During his probation, he received a DUI and then subsequently during a house party, he and his uncle (a school counselor from Missouri) were watching an ESPN special in the basement of a friend’s house when the police burst in and asked people to leave. The people in the basement (including Mo) did not hear the request and were issued citations (even his uncle). The citation constituted a violation of his probation.
When looked at as a whole, his “offenses†do not appear that egregious and surely do not constitute the seeming “black balling†he received on Draft day.
For those who read this, try to keep in mind that Maurice Purify was a college kid and try to remember the things you did in college, whether you got caught or not.
I have gotten to know him and have seen a humble guy that is incredible with fans and with children. To actually know Maurice Purify is to realize that he is not this player with ridiculous “off the field issues†but a good guy that wants to succeed and has the ability to succeed with the Cincinnati Bengals and in the NFL.
