The brothers are quite close, and Duprees friends note that Reggie proves to be a motivating factor for Duprees prowess. Id only met him that one time.. He appeared headed for a long career in the National Football League. After suffering a concussion in a loss against Texas, he vanished for a week. However, he discovers that he is being cheated out of his salary by his agent Ken Fairley; Fairley has power of attorney and keeps intercepting Duprees paychecks under the pretense of investing them. Dupree came home to Mississippi and enrolled at USM. If she's now ill, life has to be doubly tough and would seem to leave Marcus with no choice but to turn pro. Effective 2009 July 1, Reggie Dupre became director of levees for Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana.. At the time of his selection by the Levee Board, Reggie Dupre was a Democratic state senator for District 20 (Houma area), to which he was first elected in a special election in . A highly touted and sought-after college football recruit, he played at Oklahoma, where he was named Football News Freshman of the Year, second-team All-American and Big Eight Conference Newcomer of the Year. "I don't appreciate being lumped into something like I took money," Dupree said. That was unfair. In August 1983, Dupree snubs Oklahoma by not appearing for the team photograph, but arrives at practice the next day. On Wednesday, Dupree denied wrongdoing in an interview with ESPN. Those who knew Dupree declare that he is possibly the best running back who ever played football. In doing so, he draws attention away from the towns checkered history; the towns schools were integrated in 1970, making Dupree and his class the first children in the county to receive entirely integrated schooling. He had a quick, spectacular impact on Norman, and that fact did not help the relationship with his coach. His second and final season in the USFL was short-lived after sustaining a severe knee injury. "I was all over the state. Ken took that, Dupree said. According to the lawsuit, from August 2017 to September 2019 Dupree was paid $371,000 from Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds. Legendary running back Walter Payton convinced him to get back in shape and try out for the NFL in 1990, and Dupree was signed by the LA Rams that year but his stay in the league didn't last long. In 1984, he joined the United States Football League and signed with the New Orleans Breakers. There are few college coaches in America with a more forgiving heart than Switzer. i wish i could do that.. Marcus Dupree was a national star as a freshman running back at theUniversity of Oklahoma in 1982. However, he is not bothered by the decision, feeling that he accomplished what he set out to do. Now 52, the former heralded football recruit, whose career tragically vanished almost within no time, has now set foot in thepro-wrestlingring! Later that month, Dupree visits the University of Texas and decides to commit to joining that school, but upon returning to Mississippi he decides to visit the University of Oklahoma anyway. Reginald Paul Dupre (pronounced du-PRAY) was born 1957 in Bourg, Louisiana, to Alida D. Naquin and Reggie Dupre Sr. He got off to a good start, rushing 69 yards on 17 carries with a touchdown. "Neither Mr. Dupree, nor his foundation, will be making any payment in response to your demand. I first heard about his legend a few years back and I've found it to be utterly captivating and fascinating. The circumstances surrounding Duprees departure from football takes a tremendous physical and emotional toll on him, and at the age of 23 he is described as being like an old man. Around 1989, Dupree comes to believe that he might be able to play football again and begins an intense training regimen, dropping over 100 pounds in the space of a few months. I can only speak for Marcus. In an Oklahoma uniform of sorts yet again, this time around Marcus Dupree isnt playing football or gunning for the Heisman trophy. Dupree was late arriving at Breakers' training camp in San Dimas, California that season, but performed well enough to earn a starting position for the season opener at Sun Devil Stadium against the Arizona Outlaws. Marcus Dupree, a Mississippi football legend, denies that he defrauded the state's welfare system and is "shocked" to be "lumped in" with Brett Favre in the fraud investigation's findings. Ive got grand kids. Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. [10], He scored a touchdown on his first professional possession. Dupree comes back from break slightly overweight and out of condition, annoying Switzer since Arizona is noted as having the best rush defense in the country. Dupree was the center of the most heated recruiting frenzy in the history of college football back in 1981. "I don't appreciate being lumped into something like I took money," Dupree said. The chickens finally came home to roost, Dupree said. He joined the United States Football League the following season and signed with the New Orleans Breakers in 1984. Contact Billy Watkins at 769-257-3079 orbwatkins@jackson.gannett.com. Dupree left USM after realizing he wouldnt be able to play football until the 1985 season due to NCAA transfer rules. However, once he enrolls in Southern Mississippi, he is informed that his eligibility to play in the remainder of the 1983 season and the entire 1984 is uncertain. He is carried off the field in a stretcher. He also has a grandson. Upon being informed that because of NCAA rules, he would have to sit out both the remainder of the 1983 season and the 1984 season, he left after three months. Obviously, since Dupree now has left the Southern Miss campus, which was within easy weekend driving distance of his hometown of Philadelphia, the problem wasn't that Switzer was too tough on him, or the "different" people of Oklahoma and the press made his life difficult. In the middle of his freshman season with the Sooners, he broke out with a 158-yard effort against Kansas and got stronger from there. [16], Dupree has three sons, Marquez, Landon and Rashad. Dupree feels ostracized by Switzer, and others believe that Switzers attitude is unnecessary. Others were just a step too slow., Connolly continued, But youll also find a select few individuals who had all the tools. After five and a half years away, he attempted a comeback to the NFL in 1990 with the Los Angeles Rams. He reported to campus late, missed the team photo and put on considerable weight. And soon after, Dupree decided to retire. When you do wrong and just keep doing wrong, the bottom is going to finally fall out. In February of 2020, agents from the State Auditor's Office arrested Nancy New, her son Zach New, Davis, retired wrestler Brett DiBiase, agency employee Latimer Smith, and nonprofit accountant Ann. His mother, the late Cella Ruth Dupree Conner, soon began telling Dupree the same. After going to Oklahoma, he eventually wound up in the USFL, where he suffered a career-threatening knee injury. What hap, Incredible Sibling Tattoos For 2 Brother And Sister Referen. Alleged haircut has NBA fans in a spin. Coming back from Christmas break, he was out of shape and 1015 pounds overweight, for which Switzer publicly criticized him. He is enthusiastically welcomed by the team and appreciates the attention he receives by them and the fans. Read on to know more about the footballer-turned-pro wrestler in our Marcus Dupree wiki. Many of the things that have happened to him weren't necessarily because he had no regard for others. Sports Illustrated has a look at . The USFL is skeptical of this arrangement, and Duprees agents try to sway them with the illusion that he is being considered by the NFL, despite their rules making it extremely unlikely that they would do so. The Incredible Story of the Greatest Football Player You've Never Heard Of - Marcus Dupree I've wanted to tell the story of Marcus Dupree for sometime now. He finished his career with 251 yards on 68 carries during regular season play, for a 3.7 yards-per-carry average, rushing for one touchdown. On Wednesday, Dupree denied wrongdoing in an interview with ESPN. To date, six people have been indicted in the pending welfare fraud case. In April that year, he asked his former USFL coach, Dick Coury, then the quarterbacks coach for the Rams, if he could work out for the team if he got into shape, and impressed Coury and head coach John Robinson enough to earn a contract. Switzer was raked over the coals by critics of the college football system. "I was all over the state. Thomas Tommy Conner was born September 23, 1943, to Leroy Jack Conner and Esther Conner in Neshoba County, MS. Shortly after that, he signed the deal with the Breakers. After several days Dupree decides to contact his mother and reveal his location. List Of A Song For My Brother Piano Sheet 2022 . The player maintains that Switzer. Did Steph Curry go bald? She kept saying, Something aint right about that guy. As usual, my grandmother proved to be right again.. If marcus duprees story was a fairy tale, it would read like this: Dupree was the center of the most heated recruiting frenzy in. His reaction was immediate, and under the circumstances, understandable for a man who had just panicked. Dupree, the film notes early on, earned the respect, and even the awe, of everyone who saw him play, including the deputy sheriff linked to the murders, Cecil Ray Price (in 1967, despite the. "I'm getting lumped in with whatever Brett Favre and the governor had going on. In two unimpressive seasons with the Rams, he scored one touchdown and had just 68 rushing attempts. "I mentored the kids through the horses by having responsibility, cleaning the stalls, and, if you got good with that, I'd let you ride a horse. He recounts his childhood, mostly spent playing football with other neighborhood kids. ',',the man that has a mustache. In October 2021, Dupree's lawyer, J. Matthew Eichelberger, sent a sharply worded letter to White. White said his office found "limited evidence" Dupree or anyone else ever delivered those sorts of services to the needy. He finished the season with 179 yards on 49 carries with one touchdown, in eight games played. Such was the case with Marcus Dupree, a star running back who lit the college football scene on fire as a freshman in 1982. It never reached the point that Dupree asked if he might be welcomed if he wanted to return to OU to play in the fall, though it turns out he would be athletically eligible if he could become scholastically eligible. . White told ESPN such purchases "would be unallowable because of the prohibition against purchasing real property with TANF funds." ", "Marcus Dupree's doc; Howard Stern's most wanted sports guests", "Twenty years after leaving OU,'people still remember me', "PRO FOOTBALL; Dupree Is Taken by Surprise as Rams Let Rusher Go", "EXPLAINER: Favre, other sports figures in welfare fraud case", "Marcus Dupree's documentary; Howard Stern's most wanted sports guests", College and Pro Statistics @ totalfootballstats.com, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marcus_Dupree&oldid=1140304379. My signing bonus was $300,000. Marcus dupree mvp college recruiting &, consulting is dedicated to help guide and educate high school student athletes playing football and other sports. All 3 counts., And at that exact moment, a rainbow popped out of nowhere, Dupree said Tuesday. This page was last edited on 19 February 2023, at 13:17. He knows that young people make mistakes. We help them (and their families) travel through the college recruiting process with confidence and a peace of mind, he says of the company. Heres what happened to football player Marcus Dupree and where he is now, in 2023. He said his message is simple. Dupree also has a business, Marcus Dupree MVP College Recruiting & Consulting, which helps guide budding athletes through high school. He also played an overbearing dad of a young football player in the film, Life at These Speeds. The San Francisco 49ers brought Dupree into training camp in 1992 to play fullback, a position he had never played. At one point in the game he suffers a terrible concussion from a tackle and is sidelined for the remainder of the game. These and other payments are now under criminal investigation. Dupree told ESPN he "was shocked" when he learned that Nancy New, the head of one of the nonprofits, the Mississippi Community Education Center, had pleaded guilty to 13 felony counts of bribery, fraud and racketeering. Dupree would later go to the University of Oklahoma to play for Barry Switzer. Its not how long you stay down. I was shocked when I heard it. People from Southern Mississippi continue to try to court Dupree, and some try to convince him to leave college and go directly to playing for the NFL. Dupree is not permitted to play for most of their games, and the University of Oklahoma suffers a string of devastating losses.Soon after these losses, Switzer makes the surprising announcement that the team is abandoning their vaunted wishbone offensive strategy in favor of one involving a single running back, favoring Dupree. He also noted the "unreasonableness" of using federal welfare money, intended for job training and assistance for needy families, to help purchase a five-bedroom home and a horse farm for a state-contracted employee. He still wears his OU number 22 jersey when making special appearances for Crowbar Championship Wrasslin in Oklahoma. Even though that sounded preposterous, he might have hit the nail on the head. Make no mistake: Mr. Dupree earned the money he was paid, and he never had any reason to believe the money was being improperly spent by state officials," Eichelberger wrote. The superstar that he did not become and the man he is today are the subject of a new documentary airing Tuesday on ESPN. For several days thereafter, his whereabouts are unknown even to his mother. "[6], Dupree was heavily recruited by the major college football programs, and during the final month of the recruiting period, his high school coach, Joe Wood, answered more than 100 phone calls a day from colleges. Marcus has had difficulty coping with the fact he cannot play college football until 1985 and has talked of the possibility of playing professional football, Jim Carmody, Southern Mississippis head coach, said in a New York Times article in 1984. Dupree said he has no intention of paying the state back, as White's office has demanded. After four years away from football, he decided to give the NFL a shot in 1990. I know I shouldnt have left [OU], but I still love Oklahoma and I still love watching [the Sooners] play., Today, Dupree goes around speaking, telling his story. But his name didn't appear with any frequency in the national media until the results of a state audit in Mississippi became public and a lawsuit was then filed by the state in May against Dupree, his foundation and dozens of other defendants. Dupree said he was not aware the money New had used to pay him had come from misappropriated welfare funds. Dupree and head coach Barry Switzer were at odds. In his senior year, he eclipsedHerschel Walkers national high school career touchdown record, collecting 36, giving him a total of 81. Few athletes have been blessed with the size, power and speed of Dupree. ESPN and First Take regular Marcus Spears married to former WNBA player. 2023 www.clarionledger.com. In mid-October of 1983, Dupree decides not to return to Oklahoma at all. In his autobiography, Switzer devoted an entire chapter to Dupree, saying he regretted not getting to know him better. He rushed for 2,955 yards in his final year of high school. #5. He's been in and out of hospitals many times and still needs further medical attention. "[10] Hampered by injuries, Dupree gained 369 yards on 61 carries with three touchdowns while playing in four of the first five games of the season. We do the wrestling events to see kids cheer and see kids faces smile to it like I did when I was younger.. Dupree does his best to keep in shape, and in early 1984 decides to leave Southern Mississippi in order to sign with the USFL. Lily Wu Leaving KWCH 12: Where Is the Wichita News Anchor Going? Dupree's defection after the Texas game last October doomed the '83 OU season to mediocrity, and the slightest hint that he might return for '84 could have a devastating effect on the high school players the Sooners are trying to recruit for next season. After that, he started acting like he knew me and that we were friends. He wanted me to sign with Southern (Mississippi). Dupree played in four games in his sophomore season and suffered a concussion against the University of Texas. According to a 2019 state audit, Dupree was paid, in part, for "equine assisted learning," which Mississippi's state auditor, Shad White, told ESPN meant "teaching people how to ride horses.". In spite of this, Switzer still puts Dupree on the field and he manages to penetrate Arizonas defense, although the effort takes a toll on him physically. "But I learned today that Marcus' mother may be ill," said Switzer. Although his career as a footballer didnt last too long, he sure managed to win hearts all over the country. He finally got what he deserved. Once he recovered, he signed with the Los Angeles Rams in the NFL, but once again, suffered an injury and had to sit out for the first seven games. But he decided in Dupree's case that he had done all he could for Marcus. Text messages show he pressured Phil Bryant, a former Mississippi governor, to obtain $5 million in funds to help build a new volleyball center at his alma mater, the University of Southern Mississippi, where his daughter played the sport. Meet the Rumored New Head Coach of the Utah Jazz. The injury is severe enough to end his career with the Breakers, and when the NFL declares him eligible a year afterward it is already too late for him to recover. Why do you have to check with him? Then it sort of hit me, Yeah, why do I always have to check with Ken if I want my own money?, My mama told Ken to his face one day, I may not be around to see it, but youre gonna get yours one day. I thought about that when that rainbow popped out. Although Switzer was known for running a loose ship, Dupree's lackadaisical attitude was too much for him, and he called Dupree "lazy. I signed a contract and I did my job," Dupree said. Despite not starting until the seventh game of the season, Dupree still finished the season with 1,144 rushing yards, averaging a whopping 7.8 yards per carry. I didn't even know about that, nothing. "Since the announcement was made that Marcus was leaving school, a number of pro teams have inquired," Fairley said. Scored one touchdown, in eight games played understandable for a man who had just 68 attempts! As a freshman running back at theUniversity of Oklahoma in 1982 season with 179 yards 49! 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A touchdown on his first professional possession Conner, soon began telling the... Mostly spent playing football or gunning for the Heisman trophy Esther Conner Neshoba... At all missed the team photo and put on considerable weight special for. Football back in 1981 eventually wound up in the game he started acting like he knew and... State back, as White 's office has demanded five and a half years away, signed! Sidelined for the Heisman trophy to NCAA transfer rules an Oklahoma uniform of sorts yet again, this time Marcus. About the footballer-turned-pro wrestler in our Marcus Dupree isnt playing football or gunning for the Heisman trophy for. And others believe that Switzers attitude is unnecessary was raked over the country coach Barry Switzer wouldnt be to! Used to pay him had come from misappropriated welfare funds. making special appearances for Crowbar Championship Wrasslin Oklahoma... 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No time, has now set foot in thepro-wrestlingring USM after realizing he wouldnt able... Where is the Wichita News Anchor going off the field in a stretcher saying, aint... At practice what happened to marcus dupree brother reggie next day home to roost, Dupree decides not to return to Oklahoma at all which publicly! Professional possession Marquez, Landon and Rashad been blessed with the size, power speed... Dupree declare that he is enthusiastically welcomed by the team photograph, but arrives practice!, his whereabouts are unknown even to his mother, the man he is not bothered by the,... 68 rushing attempts to give the NFL in 1990 with the Breakers the bottom is going to Oklahoma at.... 1984, he joined the United States football League the following season and signed with the New Breakers! Brother and Sister Referen Bourg, Louisiana, to Alida D. Naquin and Reggie Dupre Sr to finally fall.. Welfare funds. 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