Columnist Dean Juipe: Art critics have plenty of ammo

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at [email protected] or 259-4084.

His rap sheet encompasses countless pages and continues to expand on a regular basis.

He has duped dozens of acquaintances and friends. He long ago lost the trust and devotion of his wife and two young daughters. He's in and out of prison so routinely that within minutes of completing one term he's facing additional charges that inevitably lead to still another stint behind bars.

He has resisted rehabilitation and stolen hundreds of thousands of dollars. His word is worthless.

He has double-crossed loved ones, pals, business associates and even guys who usually take out their revenge on your knees or your head.

Easy as he is to despise, Art Schlichter is alive and his reign of terror never seems to end.

He was back in the news again this week, back in jail and awaiting a hearing next Wednesday in Indianapolis that will likely result in still another prison sentence. At 40 years old and long since removed from the hero status he enjoyed as an all-American quarterback at Ohio State, the former Las Vegas resident (and KVEG talk-show host) stands as a definitive example of the perils of mindless gambling.

He's so immersed in gambling, sports gambling in particular, that a few of the charges that have been leveled against him are the result of conducting business while incarcerated. He simply can't quit.

Interestingly, he came to our attention at the Sun about 10 years ago after claiming in a newspaper piece -- in The National, a sports daily that didn't survive -- that he had quit gambling and had cleaned up his life. Within hours of that article appearing in print, a ticket writer at Sam's Town told us Schlichter regularly placed bets there and had, in fact, placed a few that morning.

It was an exciting story at the time, not only catching a sports star in a lie but laying to waste the hunky-dory piece that a national newspaper had misrepresented as fact. It remains memorable in a perverse way, as does seeing Schlichter a few weeks later at a boxing event at the old Dunes hotel and being told by a buddy of his that we were treading dangerous water.

With the passage of time, the problems Schlichter had while living in Las Vegas are almost minor compared to the criminal record he has since compiled. At the least he has five felony convictions related to the theft of some $800,000 that was used to fund his gambling addiction, and he will face money laundering charges next week in Indianapolis and fraud charges June 19 in Anderson, Ind.

Once the fourth player taken in the NFL draft, by the Colts in 1982, Schlichter was a former Big Ten Conference most valuable player whose pro career was cut short by gambling. The league suspended him in 1983 after it was revealed he owed bookies $150,000.

Year after year, Schlichter's name would reappear on the police blotter as new theft, forgery and fraud charges arose. Typically, he'd serve 180 days or so and be released, only to slide right back into his bad habits.

"We'll be dealing with this forever," his former wife, Mitzi, told the Sun in 1992 after coming home to find their car and every piece of furniture repossessed. She escaped, divorcing him six years later.

He's still ruining lives.

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