Sports briefs
Harris, Talley to have numbers retired
West Virginia will retire the No. 9 jersey of quarterback Major Harris.
WVU announced Friday that it will honor Harris during the Oklahoma State football game Nov. 6.
The announcement comes a day after the school said it would retire linebacker Darry Talley’s No. 90 jersey during the Texas Tech home football game Oct. 2.
Harris was an electrifying presence for the Mountaineers, leading West Virginia to its first undefeated, untied regular season as a sophomore in 1988. Harris injured his throwing shoulder in the first quarter of the Fiesta Bowl and WVU lost to top-ranked Notre Dame. That season he accounted for 2,525 yards of total offense and 20 touchdowns.
He twice finished in the top five in Heisman Trophy balloting and became one of two Division I quarterbacks to pass for more than 5,000 yards and rush for more than 2,000 during his career.
Harris was inducted into the WVU Sports Hall of Fame in 1999 and the College Football Hall of Fame in 2009.
Talley was a consensus all-American and a four-year starter at West Virginia, amassing 484 career tackles and leading the Mountaineers to appearances in the 1981 Peach Bowl and 1982 Gator Bowl.
Three other West Virginia football players have had their numbers retired: Sam Huff’s No. 75, Ira “Rat” Rodgers’ No. 21 and Bruce Bosley’s No. 77.
Sports agent Reich dies at 82
Thomas M. Reich, a pioneering baseball agent with an ebullient, oversized personality who helped players gain multimillion dollar salaries in the early years of free agency, died Friday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He was 82.
Reich had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in December 2019.
Tom Reich went to the University of Pittsburgh and Duquesne’s law school, then became a lawyer in Pittsburgh. He started as an agent in 1970 representing pitcher Dock Ellis, who had a $13,000 salary at a time players still were fighting to gain free agency.
Early clients included Dave Parker, John Candelaria and Manny Sanguillen of the Pirates. Among his first stars was Joe Morgan, who became a Hall of Famer and remained a lifelong friend.
“The racism factor back then was awful for the players,” Reich told the Sports Business Journal in 2004. “There were a lot of incidents in Pittsburgh and other places that were not melodramatic. They were real. The Hispanic players were starting to become a factor back then. Of course, now the infusion of numbers and talent is extraordinary. But there were a lot of issues back then. I was a fiery guy.”
With a beard that he sometimes grew out, especially after it turned gray, Reich was among the more colorful figures in baseball and became influential as salaries soared after arbitrator Peter Seitz’s decision in December 1975 that led to free agency.
Reich, Jerry Kapstein and Dick Moss were among the most notable agents who drove the free agent market in its early years, courted by owners and general managers who coveted their players.
“Bring ’em some iron!” Reich liked to say, his Pittsburgh accent fully on display.
In February 1982, he negotiated the first contract with a $2 million average salary, George Foster’s $10.2 million, five-year deal with the New York Mets. Among his other clients were Jack Clark, Sammy Sosa, Mo Vaughn and John Wetteland.
Reich dated actress Jennifer O’Neill, who after they no longer were romantically involved remained a friend.
Living a peripatetic life, Reich maintained a New York City apartment and a Los Angeles area home, while also commuting back and forth to Pittsburgh, where he kept ties and repeatedly returned. He kept multiple television sets at his homes so he could watch several of his clients simultaneously.
Reich became a back channel negotiator with fellow agents Randy Hendricks and Ron Shapiro during the 7 1/2-month baseball strike that started in August 1995, speaking with owners at a time when the relationship with players’ association executives and Major League Baseball was its most strained.
He branched out into hockey, where his most accomplished client was Mario Lemieux.
Reich also mentored several young agents who later split and went out on their own, most notably Adam Katz, Craig Landis and Chuck Berry, and also Rick Shapiro, who became an executive with the players’ association.