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BRIAN LANDMANAdrian McPherson had it all coming out of Bradenton Southeast. He was the first in Florida to be named Mr. Football and Mr. Basketball in the same year, and was headed to FSU to play both sports and fulfill the Most Likely To Be Famous tag he received in high school. So how did a path to fame turn to a road of infamy?
Bradenton Southeast High football coach Paul Maechtle's office is spartanly decorated, with the exception of a series of large framed collages of newspaper clippings and photos.
One is devoted to Peter Warrick.
Another to Adrian McPherson.
As a senior during the 2000-01 school year, McPherson, a strong-armed quarterback with dizzying quickness and uncanny poise, put up numbers that made him an easy choice as the state's Mr. Football.
"He was as talented as he could be," Maechtle said. "And AD's upside was even greater."
A short golf cart ride across the campus to the spacious gymnasium establishes why he believed that. Inside the entryway hangs a huge banner that is a testament to achievement, a reminder for all of the possibilities. On it are the names of the state's Mr. Basketball winners from Southeast:
Clifford Rozier.
LeRon Williams.
Adrian McPherson.
No prep phenom other than McPherson had ever won both prestigious state honors, something Sports Illustrated recognized in its "Faces in the Crowd" feature on April 30, 2001. None has done it since. Little wonder that in McPherson's yearbook, his peers selected him as the male "Most Likely To Be Famous."
But two years later, McPherson is more infamous than famous.
After just four starts at Florida State this past season, coach Bobby Bowden abruptly dismissed McPherson from the football team on Nov. 25 for a violation of team rules. In the days and weeks to follow, police would accuse him of multiple felony thefts and, most scandalous of all, gambling on FSU football games.
That misdemeanor charge could end his collegiate athletic career regardless of a jury verdict in a trial that's set to begin this week. McPherson, 20, who through his attorney, Grady Irvin Jr., refused numerous interview requests, has maintained his innocence in all pending cases. He had no previous arrests, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
"This is just baffling," Maechtle said.
Those who know McPherson best, or at least for the longest, can only wonder what went so terribly wrong and if they missed a clue that something was amiss.
"I've done that; I've done that often," said Southeast basketball coach Elliot Washington, who coached McPherson for two years but has known him for more than a decade. "There's been plenty of guys who have come through here, plenty of guys, where I could see the tendencies. I could see how they might get caught up in this or that just by their day-to-day activities. With him, I never saw that."
Melvin Capers Jr. started playing sports with McPherson in Bradenton before they were 10 years old. No matter what the game, McPherson, known as "AD," excelled and made it look effortless.
But that didn't cause jealousy or friction with the other kids in the neighborhood. McPherson came off as a humble, polite young man.
"He was just a regular dude," Capers said. "He never wanted to be the top dude and be like, "Oh. I'm AD. You follow my lead.' He wasn't like that."
Police arrested Capers, 20, in late November in connection with cashing a stolen and forged $3,500 check from a Tallahassee business, the charge that ignited a maelstrom that soon engulfed McPherson.
Capers, who had no prior record according to FDLE, hasn't been formally charged by prosecutors and figures to be a star witness in that felony case as well as this week's gambling case. He admitted to betting via the Internet with McPherson but hasn't been charged.
"I can't say anything bad about the guy (from those days)," said Capers, a high school football teammate.
"He was cool," echoed Otis Livingston, 20, a former Southeast High basketball teammate who, like Capers, has admitted to Internet gambling and figures to testify against McPherson. "For all the stardom he had in high school, you wouldn't know it. He didn't talk about it."
And he didn't go out much. Teen clubs? Virtually out of the question, friends said.
"His parents were kind of strict; they were on him," Capers said.
Floyd and Henrietta McPherson, through Irvin, also have declined interview requests. But Maechtle didn't consider them domineering.
"Henrietta and Floyd are perfect parents," he said. "I always felt they're raising a great kid. I just felt everything was going in the right direction with AD."
But warning signs can be tricky things.
McPherson occasionally would ditch a class. Sometimes, he would fail to finish a homework assignment and then try to finagle an extension. He even irked his coaches by trying to squeeze in a stop at a nearby Burger King before a meeting, invariably traipsing in a bit late.
"In retrospect, maybe I should have been a jerk," Maechtle said. "Maybe I should have hammered him and said, "AD, you're not playing.' But it wasn't the worst thing in the world."
Now, he can see how McPherson would push the envelope or, as he said, live life "almost like a two-minute drill," scrambling frenetically to meet his responsibilities.
To some at Southeast High, that smacked of a youngster acting as if his athletic prowess entitled him to special treatment.
"There were a lot of teachers here who didn't like him," Southeast High offensive coordinator Howard Eberly said.
"He had some sneaky in him, but not to this degree," added Capers. "When he got up here, I don't know what happened. Between that time (in high school) and when we got up here, he's changed."
FSU officials took an instant liking to McPherson. He greeted administrators with a broad smile and the women officials with a hug. He asked thoughtful questions about how to best adapt to life away from home.
"He came off as a nice young man," said assistant athletic director for compliance Bob Minnix, who last summer investigated rumors that McPherson had been gambling.
McPherson won over teammates just as quickly.
A month before he arrived in Tallahassee, he met incoming freshman cornerback Dominic Robinson at the CaliFlorida Bowl, an all-star game for high school graduates from California and Florida.
Robinson, a confident southern Californian, intercepted a pass and strutted over to his fellow FSU signee for a good natured give-and-take. He never got out the first word.
"He's like, "Hey, good pick,' " Robinson said. "That was the craziest thing. I'm thinking, "He's going to talk trash to me.' But he congratulated me on making a good play. I was like, "Man, this is a cool guy.' "
Other student athletes reached the same conclusion. McPherson frequently attended FSU women's soccer games, not exactly the in-place to be seen. He didn't seem to care.
Many nights, a half dozen or more teammates and friends would huddle in his dorm room waiting for their turn to test him at PlayStation 2's NCAA Football. They just wanted to be with him.
"Anybody who knew AD knew he was a great person and still is a great person," sophomore receiver Craphonso Thorpe said. "He joked around and laughed. He'd watch TV, go to the malls, nothing special. He kept it real simple."
Although mired on the depth chart behind Chris Rix during much of his FSU career, McPherson didn't publicly grouse about his backup role. That didn't change when some teammates vociferously lobbied for him to take over for a struggling Rix midway through last season.
"During all the quarterback controversy, there wasn't a person in America who could have dealt with it better than AD dealt with it," Robinson said. "You never heard him complain. He just worked his butt off. He stayed supportive of Chris and didn't say anything stupid. It was amazing for me to watch and it was an example for me.
"His attitude helped team chemistry."
"I would talk to him once a week and I really thought he was maturing," Eberly said. "I saw him at the (North) Carolina game and he was on top of the world. What's happened has shocked the heck out of me."
In March 2002, McPherson's parents bought him a white 1999 Ford Expedition. A nice ride that he felt compelled to make nicer. McPherson customized it to the hilt, adding two 7-inch televisions, a DVD player and used wheel rims that cost him $1,200, friends say.
He had a 60-inch big screen TV in his dorm room and, last April, he returned to Southeast High for a district track meet decked out in a chic, velour jumpsuit that screamed his statement of status.
Maechtle couldn't help but notice.
"I went up to him and said, "AD. Let your game do your talking. Just dress in your basic Nikes, Nike shirt and jeans. You don't need to be like that,' " he said. "But he was out styling, so to speak."
Depending on whom you asked, McPherson had the financial wherewithal to support his tastes.
"When I was around him, he had money," Livingston said. "I don't know where he got it, but he had a lot of stuff and he had to have some money to get it."
McPherson's parents both work for Verizon. They own a 2,000-square foot home with a swimming pool in a middle-class subdivision in south Bradenton. In addition to McPherson, they have two younger daughters. They have helped McPherson out financially; records show they sent him a $1,000 cashiers check that he deposited on Sept. 5.
Things seemingly started to unravel for McPherson last spring. Former football team student managers Jeff Inderhees and Mike Pellicer told an FSU official that McPherson had stolen credit cards from their girlfriends to buy clothes and jewelry. McPherson denied the accusations, according to police reports. No charges were filed.
At about the same time, rumors began to swirl that McPherson owed a campus bookie thousands of dollars in the first couple of months of 2002. Last summer, McPherson reportedly frequented the Sarasota Kennel Club.
From July to November, his SunTrust account usually had a negative balance, records show. He bounced dozens of checks for clothes and shoes. Prosecutors also say he defrauded Publix by bouncing five checks for cash, $76 each, at two stores in a short span of time in mid August.
A few weeks later, he cashed a $1,150 check from FSU student Latisha Gulley.
More warning signs?
As police investigated the alleged theft, forgery and cashing of the $3,500 check in late November, FSU officials re-examined some of those signs with more clarity. Bowden dismissed McPherson from the football team and privately told his players that McPherson had lied.
"It's darn disappointing," Bowden said at the time.
Two days later, Nov. 27, police arrested McPherson, charging him with felony grand theft. Police later said a handwriting analysis indicated McPherson had forged the check. Prosecutors added two more felony counts.
Then on March 4, police charged him with gambling on the Internet, a misdemeanor. Livingston said McPherson bet on all FSU games, picking the Seminoles each time.
"If you do something, you should be man enough to face it; he keeps denying it," said Livingston, who added that he doesn't expect he and McPherson will ever be as tightknit as they were.
They haven't spoken since the North Carolina State game on Nov. 23. Similarly, Capers, a student at Tallahassee Community College, said he and McPherson have talked just once since then.
"We were going to move in together and everything this year and then . . . " he said, his voice tinged with a sadness that is shared by many in McPherson's circle of friends.
"It's hit me hard; it's been like losing a brother," Robinson said. "I just feel like I didn't do everything to keep him from maybe making the wrong decision here or there. That hurts me so bad because I feel like if I would have done that, he may still be here now. I just wish he could play. You just keep wondering, "Where did it go wrong? He's such a good guy.' "
-- Times researchers John Martin and Kitty Bennett contributed to this report.