NFL STARS, SUPER-AGENTS SUE REAL-LIFE JERRY MAGUIRE, DEMANDING THAT HE ... SHOW US THE $$$.

Byline: Beth Barrett Staff Writer

Super-agent Leigh Steinberg was portrayed Monday in court papers as angry, greedy and selfish - a lot like the ``Jerry Maguire'' movie character that was partly modeled after him - a man who had come to think of himself as the star and his athletes as bit players.

The allegations surfaced in sworn declarations filed Monday in a bitter breach-of-contract lawsuit between Steinberg and his former partner David L. Dunn, who has won the support of dozens of National Football League stars such as New England Patriots quarterback Drew Bledsoe as well as their union.

Disgruntled former employees' declarations portrayed one of the world's best-known sports agents as a man who kept a top college prospect waiting while he signed copies of his own book, stole the limelight at player- signing press conferences, ignored his clients and manipulated minority players and employees.

Steinberg's Newport Beach lawyer, David Cornwell Sr., dismissed the charges, saying the case is all about money - millions of dollars worth.

``At the root, it's very simple. It's greed,'' Cornwell said.

The documents were filed Monday by Dunn, who bolted Steinberg earlier this year after the super-agent sold his company, Steinberg Moorad & Dunn, to a Canadian firm, Assante Corp in 1999. A number of NFL players followed Dunn out the door and signed with him at his new firm, Athletes First. The NFL Players Association is trying to intervene in the lawsuit, saying players have the right to choose Dunn or any other agent.

Steinberg sued in May, saying Dunn took a $2 million bonus and agreed to a nonsolicitation clause that he broke, taking trade secrets and high- profile clients with him. Dunn disputes that the clause is binding and says the players joined him freely.

``Given the inflammatory nature of the allegations against David, he had no (recourse) but to respond as he did,'' said Dunn's San Diego attorney, Douglas Butz. ``His position is it's not about him and SMD, it's about athletes' rights to choose who they wish to act as their representatives.''

Court papers provide a rare glimpse into what is alleged to have gone on behind the scenes in the rarefied sports agent world, where multimillion-dollar athletic contracts - and the agent commissions that go with them - are hammered out in closely held negotiations. The public usually only sees the handshake at the end.

For months, after Assante Corp.'s acquisition of SMD, there was an effort to keep the rift from going public. Cornwell, however, said there were threats from employees that if they weren't given a better deal, they would embarrass Steinberg.

``They had consistently attempted to dissuade us from exercising our legal rights by threatening to disclose private information about Leigh and the business,'' Cornwell said.

``On the playground, it's called blackmail. In court, it's called extortion. It's an admission they have no defense against substantive legal claims.''

Cornwell said he was aware of some of the allegations by the former employees, but he dismissed most as either unfounded or minimal compared with the allegations of trade secret and client theft against Dunn.

``When the facts are against you, you argue the law; when the law is against you, you argue the facts; when both are against you, you attack the man. That's what they've done here,'' Cornwell said.

Steinberg broke into the business by representing his Berkeley dormmate, quarterback Steve Bartkowski, in 1975, and getting him the largest rookie contract in NFL history. He signed up a string of pro athletes - many of them NFL quarterbacks - based on his ability to negotiate huge contracts, and he built a reputation for impressing upon them the need to be good role models and to give back to their communities.

But former employees said Steinberg had grown so enamored with his own fame that he cared less and less about his clients.

Brian Murphy, a Harvard lawyer, said in a declaration that he joined SMD in May 1999 and was ``Steinberg's right-hand man for all personal and professional issues.''

But by the time he left in mid-February, Murphy said, he had grown disillusioned, feeling Steinberg was deceitful. He said Steinberg asked him to lie on his behalf.

Murphy said the SMD team was giving recruits packets that realistically told them what to expect from the agency, but that Steinberg became angry and wanted them changed to indicate he would be doing all the work for the clients.

``I knew how deceitful it was to tell these clients that Steinberg would be involved in their football careers,'' Murphy said.

Murphy said recruiters realized Steinberg was hurting recruitment efforts because young athletes didn't want to listen to his boasting.

``Specifically, as soon as Steinberg started meeting with our recruits, we started losing the players. This was because the players did not want to hear about Steinberg's representation of Steve Bartkowski and all about Steinberg himself.''

Murphy said some top prospects said Steinberg made them uncomfortable, and that they were going with other agents.

The big blowup came in January when SMD failed to sign a prominent wide receiver. Steinberg grew enraged, threw something from his desk top, screamed, kicked the screen on a television set and stormed out of the office.

Murphy said Steinberg had come to rely on ``cheat sheets'' to announce deals that were negotiated by other agents and had no secret negotiating techniques other than that spelled out in his book ``Winning with Integrity.''

Two former African-American employees said Steinberg used them to front with African-American athletes even though their roles were small.

John Marshall Branion III said he was the ``token minority agent.'' He said he was taken along on recruiting trips to offset the impression that SMD ``employed too few minorities.''

Branion said he was disillusioned when Steinberg once stood up a player's family until 11 p.m. while he signed copies of his book. The family was disturbed because they had expected to meet ``humble people,'' he said.

Carmen M. Wallace, another former African-American employee, said he was taken to meetings where ``more black people'' were needed, and that African-American athletes were treated differently than whites.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Marilyn Hoffman has previously denied Steinberg's request to keep filings in the case closed and is set to hear arguments Friday about Steinberg's request to compel former employees to give depositions to his lawyers and on July 26 on his request to block Dunn from representing the athletes until the case is resolved.

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3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- 2 -- color) Leigh Steinberg, here in a 1996 interview with CNN, is the sports super-agent on whom the Tom Cruise character in the movie ``Jerry Maguire'' is based.

Cindy Yamanaka/The Orange County Register

(3) Leigh Steinberg, here in 1998, jokes with client Steve Young, former quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers, center, and actor Rob Schneider.

Nadia Borowski Scott/The Orange County Register