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A Valuable Life Lesson
July 15, 2016 01:57 PM | Football
Former WVU SID Roger Ruhl, pictured here with football coach Jim Carlen at old Mountaineer Field in 1968. WVU Athletic Communications photo.
To the best of my knowledge, the last fib (aka lie) I told was to the late Mickey Furfari in the summer of 1967.
WVU athletic publicity director Eddie Barrett had left to take the athletic director’s job at Marshall. I was his youthful, 23-year-old assistant and I got his job, in large part because Mickey, Bill Evans, Jack Fleming and other media hounds told WVU athletic director Red Brown I was up to the task.
As I settled into my new position, I got a call one day from WVU basketball coach Bucky Waters. He was at his summer basketball camp somewhere in Virginia or North Carolina. He told me we had a little problem. Do we? I wondered. It seems that highly prized recruit Dana Pagett, a first-team Parade Magazine All-America selection, was backing off his commitment and going to Southern Cal.
Recruiting had not gone well for Bucky, so we had publicized Pagett’s commitment with extra gusto. Now he wasn’t coming, and Bucky wanted to know how we could announce the news with a “positive spin.”
Good question, I thought. I told him I would think about it and call him back.
Football coach Jim Carlen gave me an idea. He said four or five football recruits – none very noteworthy – were backing away from their commitments, too. I decided to bundle the news, hoping that would take some attention off the Pagett defection. I planned a news announcement for a couple days later so I could notify everyone involved.
Then, that afternoon, Mickey called. Summertime was a slow sports news time in Morgantown, and his call was the kind he frequently made looking for some crumbs that could fill out a notes column. We talked for a while, and then out of the blue he asked if all the recruits were in the fold. My heart sank and I probably started to sweat. My carefully thought-out plan to announce our negative recruiting news was in the works and wouldn’t happen for a couple days. I stammered and said something like, “Well, to the best of my knowledge, as far as I know, I guess so.”
We talked a little more, and then hung up.
I frantically placed a call to Bucky to cover my tracks, but he was involved with his campers and not available.
“Have him call me just as soon as possible,” I said.
A while later, he called.
“Thank God I got you,” I told him. “I needed to talk to you in case Mickey calls.”
Then came another body blow.
“I just talked to Mickey,” Bucky said. “Did he ask about recruits?” I asked. “Yea … I told him you were putting together an announcement about Pagett,” he replied.
Oh no, I thought. I was caught in a lie … and caught lying to a friend, a supporter and probably the most influential sportswriter on the WVU beat. Mickey was known to be volatile at times - legend had it that he and Syracuse football coach Ben Schwartzwalder took swings at each other.
I expected the worst.
I swallowed hard, and then called Mickey. “I hear you talked to Bucky,” I said, then waited. I expected a lion, and instead encountered a lamb. “Yea … you lied to me … you’ll probably do it again,” he said.
Now I felt even worse.
As it turned out, Mickey and I remained friends and grew even closer. Maybe he understood the pickle I was in trying to make good news out of bad.
The incident lingered with me and made a lasting impression. As my public relations career moved along, I grew increasingly passionate about the importance of being totally honest.
As I wrote above, I do not believe I have told a lie since that day back in 1967. I have refrained from speaking at times and I have told people that I would rather not talk about a certain subject; but I have not lied.
I have a one-pager (“Working with the News Media”) that I give to my marketing/public relations clients. The very first item reads: Never, never lie. Not even a little fib or a lie of omission. It’s OK to dance around an issue. Never say “no comment.” Some alternatives: “I’m sorry, but I’m not able to talk about that at this time.” “I don’t consider myself qualified to talk on that subject.” “That’s not really my area of expertise.” Even “I don’t know”; it really is OK to admit you don’t know everything.
Roger L. Ruhl, former sports information director at West Virginia University and former Vice President Marketing for the Cincinnati Reds, is currently a Director of the Charles H. Dater Foundation and operates Roger Ruhl Marketing Communications in Cincinnati, Ohio. He can be reached at RogerLRuhl@aol.com.
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