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Longtime NFL player agent
GARY WICHARD
passed away Friday at the age of 60 "from diabetes and pancreatic cancer," according to the AP. An agent since '80, Wichard's NFL clients included Colts DE
DWIGHT FREENEY
, Jets DE
JASON TAYLOR
and CB
ANTONIO CROMARTIE
and Panthers QB
JIMMY CLAUSEN
, among many others. He was "suspended for nine months" by the NFLPA in December for his involvement with former Univ. of North Carolina football player
MARVIN AUSTIN
. He also was "investigated last year by the NCAA" (AP, 3/11). In Charlotte, Ken Tysiac noted the North Carolina Secretary of State's office last week "executed a search warrant on a Bank of America account belonging to Wichard in Raleigh." Secretary of State spokesperson
GEORGE JETER
said that the office's investigation "will remain active and ongoing" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 3/12). ESPN.com's Tom Friend noted Wichard "was the inspiration" for the movie "
JERRY MAGUIRE
." He entered the agent business "at the urging" of Basketball HOFer
JULIUS ERVING
, a friend from Long Island who "introduced him to his own agent,
IRWIN WEINER
." Wichard "made his name in the late 1980s when he represented" Univ. of Oklahoma players, including LB
BRIAN BOSWORTH
and TE
KEITH JACKSON
. His players said that Wichard's own "football background and loyalty is what appealed to them most" (ESPN.com, 3/11).
