Two familiesin battle overgolden legacyUnitajs: The late Colts great's oldestson and sircoml wife square off in court(o contest the company that markets tin;Golden Arm's name and Image.

By AKDKZW RATHER

Standing beneath an Imposing bronze flRure ofhis father, beside the downtown football stadiumthat many fans lobbied hard and lULUely to haverenamed for his father. John C. Unllas Jr. Is recall-Ing sweet memories of his ciad and the Baltimore

He's lost In a moment, but it's not a touchdowndrive. No. In his mind's eye. Unllas Jr. Is ball boyagain for the Colls — a lad with a beeswaxedcrewcut resting In the top bunk In the players'

camp In Westminster with hisdad stretched out in the bedbelow.

~l never looked at my fatheras a celebrity. He was my fa-ther," said Unllas Jr.. 47, ofUnllas Sr. who died Sept. 1L"He'd spend hours al homestudying film, cradling me andmy sister on his lap. Dadwould get a game boll from abin game, like Ihe 'SB champi-onship or somelhlng Impor-tanL We would take off with Itand then go play wflh It outfront and lose It. He didn'tcare. He was a great man, agreat man."

Unllas Jr. adored his father,went Into business with him —and Is now being accused ofattempting to steal from himby people who also were doseto his father his own step-mother and Unllas' secondwife. Sandra, and his father'sattorney and accountant. Thethree recently took control ofthe company thai father andson formed In 1991 to marketUnites for promotional pur-poses.

Sandra Unltaa re- Last year, the companycently took control of earned almost $1 million bythe company, selling licensing rights, auto-

graphs and appearances by

man known as 'Johnny U." and the question of whow)H pro til from It have triggered a court battle andan acrimonious public exchange of accusations.The emotional price ls already heavy withinUnltas' extended family.

The children of his firs', marriage say they didn'tknow their father's ashes were being laid to restthis spring until they were no- {See Unites. ift»|

John Unltas Jr. nndUa father farmed

LS Management.

Page IDA: Sunday. July 20.2003: The Sun

"They're eating John [Jr.] right now. Lawyers don't come cheap. Asa friend, it just breaks my heart. If his father had meantfor any of this to happen, his father would have yanked the business from him long ago."

Stive Spean, a Chicago attorney who earlier represented Unltat Management, referring to John Unltat Sr attorney Charlet M. TWelbaum and accountant Howard H. Moffet

Unitas families in a legal battle[Unites, from Page IA]

titled afterward — with a ceme-tery map snowing where theycould visit. They were also leftout of ceremonies to announceUie renaming of Towson Univer-sity's stadium and 19th Street InOcean City In their father'!honor.

Unitas h»d five children withthe former Dorothy Jean HoeUe,whom he met In high school InPittsburgh on a bus to a schoolbasketball fame. They marriedIn 1954. Their children are Jan-Ice, 48: John Jr.. 47; Kobe/I, H5;Christopher. 43: and Kenneth.35, The couple divorced In 1972.She died in May 2002 at age 67.four months before her formerhusband.

The Colt quarterback hadthree children with the formerSandra Lemon, whom he met ata department store football pro-motion and married the day ofhis divorce, near the end of hiscareer. Their children are Fran-cis Joseph. 29. known as Joe:Chad, 24: and Alicia Ann Paige.21. known as Paige.

The families gathered for holi-days and birthdays, and thehalf-siblings, nearly a generationapart, referred to each other as"brothers' and 'sister*.' But Itwas a more tenuous balancethan tt appeared to most oulsid-

Johnny U.'s work ethk: and back-ground and character that somecompany will want to Identifywith.'

Unitas acknowledged that histiming was better In releasing afootball than cashing la quiteaware that lesser talents whofollowed him earned muchmore. As his fame grew duringhis Colt years, he began accept-ing commercials and appear-ances for extra cash, althoughhe thought It was difficult tomake good money for such workbeyond New York.

"You go to a banquet In Balti-more, and If It's not tree. It's S2i.'he wrote In a 1W5 autobiogra-phy. Pro Quarterback: MU OwnSlory. with Ed FlUgerald. Hefilmed one local commercialwith his family singing for "MarySue Easter Eggs.' He lamentedthat It was "the worst commer-cial rd ever s«en' and only pro-vided fresh material for discon-tented fans who would holler.'Get Mary Sue out of there."

On comeback trailAfter Unitas" career, and his

emergence from S3 million Indebt thanki to his Chapter 11bankruptcy proceeding, his soncrossed paths with a Washing-

Unitas' first offspring...John C. Unltaa Jr. (ceoter) held a oewi conference lart month to mpoMl to the law*ult against him. Standing behind him arc his brotb-

-We had a mother whose atlt- en Kenneth (left) and Robert. At the table are attorney Robert R. Bowie Jr. <leA) and UnlUa' slater, Janice,Uiile was. 'He's your father nomatter what happened betweenhe and r We didn't go away. Wewere truly chips off the oldblock. We would not go away.'said Janice Ann Unitaa-DeNlt-Us, the eldest child.

'&B bad u It gvtfl*But now. Ute conflict Is ugly

and In sharp contrast with theImage of the man.

Unitas and his team didn'tmerely play a game, but embod-ied Baltimore during the 1950sand '80s, The motto that Coltslegions used to unfurl on ban-nera at Memorial Stadium, how-ever, might now have a sad ad-dendum: -Unitas We Stand — Indisarray*

Tve never been Involved inanything like this before,' saidScott Wldelltz. an executive withDreams Inc.. a publldy tradedsports marketing company InFlorida that was negotiating tohire L'nltos Jr. and sign a six-fig-ure licensing contract when thedispute halted those talks. ThisIs as bad as it gets.*

Sandra Uoltas. attorneyCharles M. Tatelbaum and ac-countant Howard H. Moffettook control of Unitas Manage-ment Corp. from Unlta* Jr. lastwinter.

The three claim that the sonmisspent tens of thousands ofdollarc on persona) needs aspresident of the company. Theyalso allege that Unitas Sr. con-fided his concern about It :oMoffet before he died of a heartattack at age OB.

That Is a lie, says the son, whoU described by many peoplewho had business dealings withhim as a fierce negotiator forand protector of his father's Im-age

He and his siblings also assertthat their father wouldn't havehesitated to Inform any of themif he was displeased with them.

Unitas Jr. said that the onlyassets of value Unitas Manage-ment owns were bought for hisstepmother and her children athis falher'i request: a white.Lexus sport-utility vehicle thatSandra Unitas drives and a1170.000 townhouse In MaysChapel where her son Chad haslived since attending TowsonUniversity.

Tatelbaum said that Unila*Jr.'t name on the deed of thetownhouse Indicates fraud.

Unltat Jr.. who has a Realtor'slicense, said he signed the deedmerely to gain a better Interestrate than the company could asa purchaser, lie has never setfoot in the townhouse, he said.

named Warren S, Rosenfeld.Unitas Jr.. then In his 30s. wasselling ads In legal publications.Rosen/eld was one of his ac-counts,

A discussion between themled to the formation of UnitasManagement Corp. The sonhelped penuade his father ofthe wisdom of the move bypointing KJ the work of anotherattorney In Rosenfeld* buildingnamed David Falk. who wascooking up unprecedentedsneaker deals for on ascendingbasketball star. Michael Jordan.

But the father wasn't thinkingof himself. Hosenfeld recalled.

'Senior was adamant thatUUj launch Junior off on his ca-reer." the attorney said. "He wasproud of Junior's career In legalpublishing, very proud of hisget-up-and-go and that he

'Johnny Unllas.' He fdl that thiswas something he could do forJunior to launch him to the nextlevel of success."

With a more aggressive ap-proach than the previous hand-shake deals and contracts onnapkins, promotional Income forUnitas tripled from less than$100.000 to $300.000 In a fewyean. Rosenfeld said.

The son seized on opportuni-ties faster than before. One eve-ning, he nolked a passing refer-ence LO his father while watchingthe 1960s TV hit Coacft. He

... and his secondJohn Uaha* widow, Sandra, la unrounded by her children Chad (right), Joe and Palfedarlnc a tribute to Ute Ute Cottaquartertiackbefore a Baltimore RKV«QI garae four dayi after Unltai' death In September.

ho big moneyAlthough Unltaj Is regarded

as one of the greatest players —if not the greatest — ever infootball, his 17 years with theColt* preceded the ere of mil-Uon-dollar contracts for profes-sional athletes. Some players to-day spend as much on can asthe largest contract Unitas eversigned — $250.000 with the SanDiego Chargen In his final year.1973.

His uncanny ability to readhis opponent's Intent on a foot-ball field seemed In Inverse pro-portion to his ability to Judgebusiness propositions. An unfor-tunate array of Investments, Inbusinesses from bowling lanesto circuit boards, forced himLT.IU personal bankruptcy pro-tection in 1»1. He recovered fi-

nancially, but he didn't die Im-mensely wealUiy.

The details of his estate haveyet to be filed In BaltimoreCounty, but he left two life in-

1M5.000 to be divided amongSandra Unitas and the eightgrown children. Days before he

20-acre estate In BaltimoreCounty horse country for$875.000.

Unitas couldn't print money,but he came as close to it asmortal man might Imagine Inhis later years, as the memora-bilia market soared. A glossyphoto of him bought for 11.50wholesale gained about 180 Invalue once he signed i: A hel-met with the Colts* horseshoelogo, bought for $300 wholesale,sold for twice that amount withUnltas' autograph and might•ell for triple that since he died,sports marketing expert* said.

Even In death, his vauntedname would be the gift thatkeeps giving for whoever gainsthe right to sell It. Although-••ports marketing experts saidIts worth depends heavily onhow well the "property" Is man-aged and promoted, some sayUnltai1 trademark could easilyfetch $250.000 a year or more.

Babe Ruth's Image generates$1 million a year. 29 yean afterthe Baltimore-born slugger died.And an Elvis-like Infatuationwith auto ncer Dale Earnhardt,who died In a crash two yeanago, generates 120 million a yearfor his estate, according lo aFor bet magazine poll of top-earning dead celebrities.

It's surprising, but people arereally Into nostalgia." sold Dan-iel Mantle. 43. of Dallas, whowtih his brother manages the li-cense for his late father, theYankee star. Mickey Mantle'sImage generates between1250,000 and 1500.000 a year forInclusion on everything from

corporate advertising to: slotmachines. "His name Just getsbigger for some reason. It's nat-tering that people still think ofhim."

Unitas, likewise, presents arare opportunity. He epitomizedan era recalled for tough andgallant players — a John WayneIn tilghtop cleats. Prom an ad-

vertising penpectlve, hli Iconkpenona Is more valued eventhan his record-setting play onlong-ago Sundays. A recent pollon ESPN.com ranked him fifthamong the greatest sports he-roes, behind only Jackie Robin-son. Babe Ruth, VTnce Lombard!and Muhammad AIL

"People ask me, why is Babe

Ruth so popular? He was some-one who appealed to the every-day man. He was kind of one ofthem.' said Pete Enfleld of CMCWorldwide Inc.. a prominent li-censee that hold* rights toRuth. Marilyn Monroe and otherdeceased celebrities and whichdid limited work for Unitas.There's something like that In

A bench at Dulaaey Valley Memorial Garden*(led) servu aa a modest memorial to •modeat man who happened to be a football•Hperttar. The children of Unltaa' tintmarrtafe oay they didn't know their rathert

ebdng laid to rert there until theywm notified afterward by Sandra UDlia* —with a cemetery map (above) and ahandwritten not* ihowlnf the spot

his father In the Screen Actor'sOulld and got him scripted Intoa later episode — «.',n a decentpayday.

The experience helped lead toUnlus cameos In the 1999 mov-ies Ar.-.i Given Sunday andRunaway Bride, and even touse ofhls voice and caricature Inan episode of The Stmpsons.The mere mention of Unitas'

which contrasted him with theflashier Joe Namalh, brought$75.000. said Nova Lanktree. aChicago agent who helped ar-range several national TV spot*for Unitas.

The father confided to Rosen-feld that he wished his sonwould reach out to license evenmore retired stars, but Rosen-feld never doubted their bond.

"John Unltas Sr. walked onwater to Junior you could seethe Interaction between thetwo." he said. "I have a hard timebelieving Junior would havedone anything to Injure his dador anyone his dad loved."

Chill sols inBut that's exactly what ho*

been alleged almost sinceUnitas died Sept. I I , 2002, Justas the nation mourned the firstanniversary of the terrorist hi-jackings that killed more than3.000 In New York, Washingtonand a Pennsylvania field 70miles from his birthplace.

Last Sept. 12, Monet, Unitas'personal accountant, phonedSaul Bashed, who handled thebook* for Unitas Management.He wanted financial recordsthat he had sought without suc-cess since spring 2002. he said.

Unitas Jr. told Bash o (I he wassurprised Model dldnt alreadyhave them. He had given them10 his dad to give to Moffet afterhis father asked for themmonths eartter. he said.

By October, the exchanges be-came more frequent and terse.Tatelbaum. whom Unl tasnamed a* his personal repre-sentative In his will with Moffet.warned the son not to "deviatefrom normal [See Unilat. '.!•..

The Sun: Sunday. July 20.2003: Page 1 IA

"/ never looked at my father as a celebrity. He was my father.... He was a great man, agreatman.'John C. Unlttt Jr., cidfst .wnvft.1t late Colt* quarterback

[Unttas. from Page 10*1

practices* until control of thebusiness coukl b« settled.

Unltas Jr. who holds 10 per-cent of the shares In UnlUiManagement. countered that heIs entitled to his father's 90 per-cent of Unltas Management knexchange for Unltas Jr. turningover a $125.000 life Insurancepolicy to his stepmother and herchildren. Unltas Jr. and his at-torney. Robert R. Bowie Jr.. eon-tended that Unltai outlinedsuch a trade In the event oC hisdeath In a 'shareholder agree-ment* In 1992.

By December, the chill hadtully blown in. Unltas Jr. Dew toLouisville. Ky.. to Join SandraUnltas and her (amity at a re-ception for the Oolden ArmFoundation Inc.. a scholarshipprogram that Unltas Initialed.

-She was acting like nothingwas going oa" Unltas Jr. said ofhis stepmother. 'We were on thedais, having pictures taken withthe award winners. We flew backhome together We were walkingon the tarmac [at Baltimore-Washington International Air-port). I said, 'Sandy, can we sttand talk?' She Just said. This Ishow your father wonted this tobe.' I said. 'Ho. this Is not howmy father wanted It to be.' Chadand Paige Just looked on.stunned.

'I haven't talked to her sinceDecember. Chad came to the of-fice once. I told him. The onrypeople who win here are the at-torneys. I had every Intention oftaking care of you: He said, 'Idon't want to know anything.' ~

Chad Unltas declined to com-ment recently.

Desperation puaSandra Unltas, who Is 59. also

declined to be Interviewed, al-though she concurs with Tatel-baum and Moffet thai her hus-band had expressed misgiving*to Mattel about the handling ofcompany profits.

•This all started before myhusband died, and I'm sure hewas doing the right thing.' thesaid. "People know me. so I'mnot worried about my reputa-tion.'

Sandra Unltas. Tatelbaumand Moffet Invited Unltas Jr.and h;s wife, Christine, to ameeting Jan. 8 after asserting

Spears said. 'They're eatingJohn right now. Lawyers don'lcome cheap. As a friend. 11 Justbreaks my heart. If his fatherhad meant for any of this tohappen, his father would haveyanked the business from himlong ago."

Talclbaum. meanwhile, wasarrested and accused of insur-ance fraud In March In Florida.where he had relocated fromBaltimore years ago. He was ac-cused of Improperly claiming aformer wife as his dependent fora seemingly meager health In-surance dalm of S5.06L He saysthat It Is a misunderstandingand that he will be exonerated.

Tatelbaum's arrest madeheadlines in legal Journals be-cause of his repule In creditors'rights law. He is Ihe principalaulhor of Chapter 10 of the U.S.Bankruptcy Code, dealing withsmall business, and he aidedCroatia and Slovakia In Imple-menting bankruptcy laws at theinvitation of :l:s US. State De-partment.

Tatelbaum declined to elabo-rate on the Unltas case outsideof federal court in Baltimore,where he wore a gold lapel pinwith Unltas' number. 19. Hethreatened *one of the largest

d e f a m a t i o nsuits In a longtime' againstUnltas Jr. to areporter whenpressed.

Court pa-pers shed lit-tle l ight onhigh living byUnltas Jr. thathis accusershave alleged.

In fact, three of the five credi-tors listed In the bankruptcydalm are the law and account-ing Orms of TateJbaum. Modeland their co-counsel with theirbills totaling almoit $85,000. An-

Thert's a

BIG DIFFER^*in gtstlines, too!

Try TheTwo-Tank Test

An advertisement for Crown gasoline In a CoILn program trom thelate 1950i pain John UnitM Sr. and Jr. If ore than 30 yean Inter,falber and son would form Uottu Maoacvmcnt Corp.

TateRMUim

other $137.000 Is owed to WellsFargo and American Express,which extended lines of credit tothe business.

Unltas Jr. said he was paidabout 136.000 kn annual salaryby Unltas Management. He hasother income trom a commercialcollection agency he runs andfrom selling real estate.

His father received about5*5.000 to $120,000 a year fromUnltas Management, he said.Both men collected tens ofthou-sands more between them in

year-end bonuses, the son said.Other expenses Included S25.000for the father's pension plan,iao.000 for his annual tax billand a S4.000 premium on a$100,000 life Insurance policy.Unltas, his eldest son said. In-tended the proceeds from thatpolicy for his first five children,whom he otherwise categoricallydisinherited In his wllL

Unltas' will appeared unkind —"my children from my prior mar-riage ... shall b« deemed to have

predeceased me' — he foundother ways to help his grownchildren.

Two years ago, for example,he used Unltas Management toback a loan lo set up Robert, hiasecond-olden son. in a gas sta-tion business In Bel Air. Itclosed after a year.

The will, however, appears tobe an Indication of the simmer-ing divisions that nave boiledover since the lawsuits.

Unltas Jr. and his siblingscontend they were not Invited tothe dedication of a site at Du-lancy Valley Memorial Gardensin Tlmonlum where their fa-ther's ashes were spread lastspring. A simple bench of pol-ished granite Inscribed with thename 'Unltas* sits by a pond be-neath a shade tree. It Is wholryunassuming, with no mention offootball exploits, In keeping withhis wishes.

Sandra Unltas said that shewrote each child Individuallyabout the memorial, but UnllasJr. fell lhat his note was inap-propriately curt.

'John — This map will showyou where your father was putto rest on May 23.2003. Sandra,"the message read, with an arruwto the father's resting place.

The official naming of the sU-dlum at Towson University forUnltas. planned for October,also faces precarious circum-stances. Although Unltas Jr.said he is pleased wlih the trib-ute, he is concerned that theuniversity does not have aproper licensing agreement andcould attempt to sell Items withhis father's name or likeness.

University spokeswoman Su-sanna Crane said the schoolhas a general 'memorandum ofunderstanding" signed by San-dra Unltas. Tatelbaum and Mof-fet. but hasn't worked out de-tails about the stadium nameand has no plans tor souvenir

sales.The school Is aware of the dis-

pute, she said. Towson officialsasked Sandra Unltas to be anambassador for their athJetlcprogram to fill a role that wasbeing carved for her husbandbefore he died.

Two victim*Unltas Jr., who resembles his

father, except for a mane of sil-vered auburn hair more abun-dant than his dad's signaturebuzz cut, also appears directand hotly competitive like bis fa-ther, but he laid he sometime*goes Into his attorney's officeJust to cry.

'I don't know If It's ever goingto end,' he says, glancing at hisattorney. '1 don't know if I'msupposed to say this, but some-times I don't know if I shouldJust throw my hands up and sayto the other side, 'You've won.'

"I guarantee you my fatherdid not want this to happen,'said Unltas Jr.. father of a15-year-old son and a 12-year-olddaughter, the latest generationaffected. "My kids know whal'sgoing on. No more birthdaycards from Grandma (Sandra |.

This is a total ruination ofour oimlty. I'm victim No. 1, bul Ithink Sandy Is victim No. 2."

Raymond Berry. Unltas' favor-ite larget as a Colts receiver,said he sensed no troublebrewing a year ago when UnltasJr. arranged a store promotionfor him, or a year earlier whenJohn and Sandra Unltas spentseveral days with the Berrys atIhelr Colorado home — 'thebest visit we'd had in years."

'I was surprised about It.'said Berry, TO, about the familyfeud. "Maybe if he was here, thisnever would have happened'

Unltas Jr. didn't consider themeeting legitimate, so he andhis wire did not attend. The triomet and voted him out as presl-

Unllas as president, Moffei assecretary and Tatelbaum at as-sistant secretary.

Two weeks later, Unllas Jr.tried the equivalent of a football•Hall Mary" pass. He asked San-dra and her children to a dinneron 'Super Bowl Sunday" al hishome 'without lawyers or ac-countant* or anybody else." hisinvltailon read. He received noreply.

On Feb. 12, Baltimore CountyCircuit Judge Thomas J.BoUlnger Sr,, ruling on a claimTatelbaum filed In state court,upheld the right of the three tolake control of the company.

The next day, Talelbaumwrote Unltas Jr. to offer him aJob as an employee of the com-pany and asked him to proposea salary and duties for himself.Unltas Jr. considered the offerludicrous, coming from peoplewho were In the midst of kickinghim out. He drove to his attor-ney's office In Towson to turnover his home-office computerand canons of business files.

Unltas Jr. has appealedBellinger's ruling to the Mary-land Court of Special Appeals. Ahearing is set for November, An-other case ti also wendingthrough federal court, whereSandra Unltas, Talelbaum andMoffet have sought Chapter 11

Unllas Jr. said he hopes la getthe federal case dismissed Fri-day.

Opportunities fn*1lT*cWhile Unltas Jr. disputes the

claim that Unltas ManagementIs bankrupt, he acknowledgesthat heavy legal expenses, thedeath of Ihe company's star at-traction and the Inability u> ne-gotlaie deals during the disputehave rapidly eroded cash flow.

Some sports-marketing exec-utives fear that opportunitiesavailable In the year aflerUnltas' death, with emotionshighest, have been all but lost

'John Jr. was concerned forsome lime about what theywould do lo Ihe business. Hedidn't feel they managed his fa-thers business affair* well." saidSteve Spears, a Chicago attor-

Unltas Management, referringto Tatelbaum and Moffet. 'In allthe lime that Senior controlledthe company. If he wanted Tatel-baum and Moffei to have hadanything lo do wlih 11, ni l he hadto do was to say the word. Henever did.

"John Jr. li not a rich man.This business dldnt make him arich man. I have no Idea howhe's paying for the litigation.'

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