Arena League

All that sparkles is not diamond

Several former Tampa Bay Storm players complain that the bling in their 2003 ArenaBowl title rings is a bust.

By FRANK PASTOR
Published December 22, 2004

	[Times photo: Stefanie Boyar]
	Former Tampa Bay Storm quarterback John Kaleo's championship ring is made with artificial diamonds, he says.

TAMPA - Gary Compton toiled for six teams over 12 seasons in search of his first Arena Football League title. John Kaleo's quest took him to seven teams over a decade.

Their paths crossed in 2003 as teammates on the Tampa Bay Storm's ArenaBowl championship squad.

Compton, who was inactive for the title game, considers the commemorative ring he received from the Storm one of his most cherished possessions and displays it proudly on his finger.

Kaleo, the starting quarterback, keeps his out of sight.

The difference?

Kaleo says the diamonds in his ring are fake.

He is one of seven players, including six starters who signed elsewhere after the 2003 season, who say the five main stones representing the Storm's five championships on the rings they received contain cubic zirconia.

"I was in disbelief, I couldn't believe that they would do something like that," said lineman Eric Thomas, who signed with Austin after the 2003 season.

"At first, I thought it was a mistake, that all of us didn't have real diamonds. But when it came out everybody who had left had fake diamonds, I was in a state of shock."

Storm coach and general manager Tim Marcum said players who left the team were not singled out.

"There are players who played for us last year that started all the games that got artificial stones," he said.

The Arena Football League Players Association has filed a grievance against the Storm on the players' behalf. An arbitration hearing has been scheduled for Feb. 14 in Tampa.

The players association will argue that the players who exercised their right to free agency were discriminated against by being given rings of lesser quality and value.

"We just want to get the rings that we deserved; nothing more, nothing less," said lineman Al Lucas, an All-Rookie selection who signed with Los Angeles after the season.

A jeweler Lucas talked to estimated the rings the players who left the Storm received were worth $1,200 to $1,300 less than those given to other players. But the players aren't as bothered by the money as by what they perceive as a lack of respect.

The letters FFEO are etched into the sides of the rings, an acronym for "Fight For Each Other," the Storm's rallying cry during its championship season.

The words now ring hollow for the players who received phony diamonds.

"The fake ring makes it personal," Kaleo said. "It's not a business move. We all knew when we left the organization it was a business move whether they wanted to offer us a fair contract or not. But to give us fake rings, that was personal."

Storm owner Peter C. "Woody" Kern acknowledged that rings containing cubic zirconia were part of the $160,000 order the team placed for about 50 rings for players, coaches and nonfootball personnel such as secretaries, sponsors and St. Pete Times Forum employees. He said the same was true of orders after the 1995 and '96 championship seasons.

Kern said Marcum, who recently received a five-year contract extension though he faces criminal charges of insurance fraud over a claim he made on a boat he owns, made all decisions regarding distribution of the rings.

"That's a decision he makes down there with the coaches, and I pretty much stay out of that," Kern said.

Rings were distributed along different levels as rewards for service, Marcum said. He said some players who returned to the team also received artificial diamonds, but he declined to name specific players.

"No one was singled out for any reason," Marcum said. "There were just certain levels, some people here, some people there, you reward people. Everyone's rewarded. It was the owner's priority to buy the rings or not buy the rings. You don't even have to."

The Arena Football League does not have a policy with respect to championship rings, spokesman Chris McCloskey said.

In addition to Thomas, Lucas and Kaleo, defensive specialists Omarr Smith and Corey Sawyer and lineman B.J. Cohen, who all left left through free agency, and kicker David Cool, who was released before the postseason, say they received rings containing cubic zirconia.

Lucas learned his ring did not contain diamonds when he took it be cleaned shortly after receiving it in April. Other jewelers verified the initial appraisal. Thinking there must be a mistake, he said he phoned Marcum.

"I asked him what was going on, did he know my ring had fake diamonds?" Lucas said. "He said, "I don't know what you're talking about.' He just kept saying, "The rings are good,' being sarcastic."

When word spread among players that some rings contained artificial diamonds, many had theirs appraised, said Compton, a former Storm wide receiver/linebacker and player representative. Compton, who initially stayed with the Storm before being traded to Philadelphia, said his ring contained real diamonds.

"My understanding is that everybody who stayed on that team had a legitimate ring," Compton said. "Why that was done, was it out of spite, who knows what happened? It's something that ... should not have happened."

Smith, who signed with San Jose after finishing as runner-up in voting for 2003 Defensive Player of the Year, said he wasn't surprised to find his stones were artificial.

"There were hints of it going around before it even happened," Smith said, "that (Marcum) was going to do something like that to the guys that left."

Said Kaleo, "Maybe that's Marcum's way of getting his last laugh to all his players that left."

Like Lucas and Kaleo, Smith, Thomas and Cohen said they no longer wear their rings.

"That just put a damper on the whole thing," said Cohen, an All-Arena pick in 2003 who signed with New Orleans. "You shake your head at a guy. We fought our (backsides) off 25-some weeks, laying it on the line for this organization every week, and to get stabbed in the back like that was hard. That's what's sad."

Though nearly 18 months have passed since the Storm's victory over Arizona in ArenaBowl XVII, Compton said he believes the players eventually will receive the rings they earned. "I think in due time these guys will get their rings and maybe will cherish them more than any one of us."

[Last modified December 22, 2004, 00:32:14]