Latest news with #IAmAthlete
San Francisco Chronicle
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
A perk of playing with 49ers' Trent Williams? Rides in his Gulfstream jet
Trent Williams owns a Gulfstream IV jet. Did you know that? His teammates do. Even the new guys. The San Francisco 49ers ' All-Pro left tackle with career earnings of more than $200 million said Thursday that rookie defensive tackle Mykel Williams recently asked Williams if he could use his plane for a trip to Cabo San Lucas. Is that a typical request from teammates? 'Yeah, they ask a lot,' Williams said, smiling. 'It's probably one of the most frequently asked questions.' Williams, 37, said on the 'I Am Athlete' podcast in 2022 that he bought his jet for 'a little more than $3 million.' Williams employs a pilot and his plane features the logo of his SBG company (for Silverback Gorilla, his nickname), which produces a line of apparel. Williams also owns multiple Ferraris. Trent… admin needs the plane too 😂 — San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) July 24, 2025 'He's larger than life,' tight end George Kittle said last year. 'He has a silverback gorilla tatted on his back and it's on his private jet. It's Trent Williams.' Williams is an 11-time Pro Bowl selection who has become a businessman during his 16-season career. He's had successful real-estate ventures in Texas and his off-field education has included mastering parts of the tax code. Williams received a credit of more than $1 million after buying his jet due to the Section 179 Deduction, which provides businesses with significant deductions for purchases of heavy machinery that weighs more than 6,000 pounds. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Trent Williams (@trentwilliams71) Williams has typically traveled to training camp in his Gulfstream, giving rookie offensive lineman Jason Poe a ride in 2022. As far as another rookie, Mykel Williams, wanting to borrow his bird? Williams and Williams ended up making the trip to Mexico together. 'Mykel told me he was going to Cabo (and) he had asked to use my plane,' Williams said. 'And I was like, 'I'm actually going to be out there at the same time.' So he came over to the house and we kicked it a few times.'
Miami Herald
01-07-2025
- Sport
- Miami Herald
Kelly: Darren Waller, and Dolphins taking a risk on each other
Forget about talent being the driving force for employment. The NFL - if not all of professional sports - is much like the real world. It's about who you know, and who vouches for you. Not what you know, or how hard you work. It certainly helps to have talent, but connections are just as important, if not more. The Miami Dolphins used some of their connections Tuesday to land a former Pro Bowl tight end a day after trading cornerback Jalen Ramsey, tight end Jonnu Smith and a 2027 seventh-round pick to the Pittsburgh Steelers for safety Minkah Fitzpatrick and a 2027 fifth-round pick. Darren Waller, who abruptly retired from football last year, returns to the NFL in Miami, which traded a conditional 2026 sixth-round pick to the New York Giants in exchange for Waller and a 2027 seventh-round pick. Miami signed Waller to a one-year deal that could be worth $5 million, adding the 33-year-old to a room that presently features Julian Hill, Tanner Conner and Pharaoh Brown. When the dust settled - and at this rate it might not for a while because Miami still needs cornerback and offensive line help - the Dolphins subsequently swapped out two Pro Bowlers (Ramsey and Smith) for another two Pro Bowlers (Fitzpatrick and Waller). And it's likely that Waller's history with offensive coordinator Frank Smith, who coached him for his three breakout seasons in Las Vegas, is what sold him on joining the Dolphins. Smith was Waller's tight end coach when the nine-year veteran began his sobriety from a battle with drug and alcohol addiction. Waller struggled with opioids (like oxycodone), Xanax, cocaine, and alcohol. His addiction began in his college years and continued into his professional career, impacting his performance and leading to multiple NFL suspensions. His journey to sobriety began after a near-fatal overdose in 2017, and he seemingly walked away from the NFL last season after noticing he was picking up 'bad habits' again, according to a conversation he had with the I Am Athlete podcast. 'I've been busy since I retired. There was a lot of work I thought I was doing when I was sober. Oh, [I'm a] sobriety hero. But there were a lot of roots that needed to be gotten to, and worked through, and healed, and changed. In doing that work I've felt I've been trapped in what I should be doing, or pleasing other people,' Walker told I Am Athlete. '[I was] trying to find a way to be seen as the man in the room. Now that I don't feel like I need to do that anymore, that's [the source] for a lot of the gas in the tank.' According to A Men's Health article on Waller, which was published earlier this year, him being traded to the Giants in 2023 'exposed everything that was going on within me. 'It put me back in the space of feeling isolated. I didn't know people in [New York],' Waller said. 'So I just retreated back to old habits.' Waller divorced WNBA superstar Kelsey Plum in April of 2024, and has spent most of last year undergoing therapy, apparently learning about attachment theory, a psychological framework that seeks to understand behavior by focusing on people's relationships with their caregivers. In the Men's Health article, Waller says that therapy helped him identify as an avoidant, someone who is insecure and struggles with emotional intimacy. 'I wasn't doing drugs and alcohol anymore, but the hole was still there,' Waller said. 'There are still childhood traumas that needed to be unpacked.' Waller clearly never ruled out returning to the NFL, but he's seemingly missed the game, and reuniting with Smith could help him get his life, and career back on track. 'I don't even know if playing football was a love,' Waller told Men's Health. 'It was just that I'm good at it, and I know what it's going to get me: some bread and for people to look at me and say, 'Oh, that's Darren Waller.' Now, it'll be 'Oh, that's Darren Waller, the new Miami Dolphins,' who either has a third act in the NFL, or walks away from the game against in an effort to save himself. At least this time he has Smith along with him for the journey again.
NBC Sports
23-06-2025
- Sport
- NBC Sports
Court upholds nearly $1.4 million arbitration award against Reggie Bush
Nearly 20 years later, the events that clouded Reggie Bush's entry to the NFL still resonate. Via Ryan Kartje of the Los Angeles Times, a judge recently upheld an arbitration award requiring Bush to pay Lloyd Lake $1.4 million for defamation. It was Lake's alleged provision of benefits to Bush's family that sparked a controversy that resulted in USC football being sanctioned and in Bush losing his Heisman Trophy. (He has since gotten it back.) The timing of the story's emergence also may have contributed to the Texans' decision to pass on Bush with the first overall pick in the 2006 draft. He was picked by the Saints at No. 2. He also played for the Lions, Dolphins, 49ers, and Bills in an 11-year NFL career. Lake originally sued Bush in 2007. The case was settled in 2010. The second lawsuit flowed from allegations that Bush violated a non-disparagement clause in the settlement agreement. The agreement also contained a clause requiring future disputes to go to arbitration. According to Kartje, Bush appeared on the I Am Athlete podcast in 2022 and accused Lake of blackmail and exaggerated Lake's criminal record, saying it was 'as long as the Cheesecake Factory menu.' Bush, per Kartje, also falsely accused Lake of being a convicted rapist. The arbitrator ruled in Lake's favor, awarding him $500,000, along with $764,640 in attorneys' fees and $116,780 in other costs. Bush has appeal rights. Typically, however, it's very difficult to get a court to throw out the results of a private arbitration agreement. That's mainly because courts love arbitration agreements; they reduce the load of cases that otherwise would have to be resolved by the court system.
Yahoo
20-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Judge rules Reggie Bush must pay Lloyd Lake $1.4 million in defamation case
Former USC running back Reggie Bush must pay Lloyd Lake, the man accused of paying Bush and his family during his career with the Trojans in violation of NCAA rules, after Lake filed a defamation lawsuit against the former Trojan. (Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times) Lloyd Lake, the San Diego man at the center of the Reggie Bush extra benefits saga, scored a major legal victory this week over the former USC running back after a Van Nuys judge upheld an arbitrator's decision to award Lake nearly $1.4 million in his defamation suit against Bush. Lake filed the suit against Bush back in February 2023 — along with his parents, Roy and Barbara Gunner — alleging that Bush publicly disparaged and defamed him during a podcast appearance and in social media posts and, as such, violated the non-disparagement clause they agreed upon in a previous settlement. The comments, according to Lake and his parents' complaint, 'created a firestorm of vitriol' that saw the Gunner home vandalized with graffiti and left them fearing for their safety. Advertisement The judge's decision this week came more than 15 years after the first explosive lawsuit between the two men was settled. That suit, which Lake first filed in 2007, claimed that he and another businessman, Michael Michaels, had provided Bush and his family with cash, a car, rent-free use of a house and other gifts while he played at USC in 2004 and 2005 with the expectation Bush would sign with Lake and his fledgling sports management company, New Era Sports & Entertainment. The first case was settled in April 2010, just before Bush and Michaels were scheduled to be deposed. But Lake's account of their arrangement, which violated NCAA rules, had already prompted a firestorm, one that ultimately ended in severe sanctions for USC's football program, the vacating of the Trojans' 2004 national title and the return of Bush's Heisman Trophy. Read more: Reggie Bush and USC get Heisman Trophy back 14 years after it was forfeited As college athletes were allowed to receive compensation for use of their name, image and likeness and public opinion began shifting toward Bush, the legendary Trojan running back began sharing more about his experience and the saga that would come to define him. In an appearance on the 'I Am Athlete' podcast, Bush opened up about the emotional toll the case and losing his Heisman Trophy took on him and his family. Bush eventually succeeded in having the Heisman returned to him in 2024. Advertisement Neither of the two men had spoken publicly about the other in more than a decade, abiding by the non-disparagement agreement in their 2010 settlement. At the time of that agreement, all parties involved — including Bush's mother and stepfather — agreed to "not make any statements or representations to any person that may cast another Party to this Agreement in an unfavorable light, that are offensive to or disparage them, or that could adversely affect their name and reputation." But during the 2022 podcast interview, Bush went on to accuse Lake of blackmail and exaggerate Lake's criminal record, which he said was 'as long as the Cheesecake Factory menu.' Months later, in a Twitter post, Bush falsely accused Lake of being a convicted rapist. The same week the podcast was published, the Gunners' home was vandalized with graffiti. The threatening message left behind, written in red spray paint on an outside wall, read: 'Help Reggie Bush Get His Trophy Back F— Crook.' The number '187' was also spray painted on the wall, which the plaintiff attorneys say referred to the state Penal Code number for murder. They blamed the graffiti on 'unknown bad actors' working 'on behalf of or at the direction of Bush.' Read more: An interview with the man jurors in McNair vs. NCAA wanted to hear from: Lloyd Lake Advertisement Lake's attorneys first sought to bring the case to a jury trial. But a judge ruled in June 2024, that Lake's lawsuit against Bush would go to binding, confidential arbitration, per the terms of their original settlement. The arbitrator in the case, Jeffrey G. Benz, ultimately ruled in Lake's favor, awarding him $500,000, as well as $764,640 in attorneys' fees and $116,780 in other costs, according to court documents. Still, Bush's attorneys continued to challenge the ruling by arguing that Benz had exceeded his authority as the arbitrator. Their latest challenge was quashed this week by Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Eric Harmon, who took only a few hours to reaffirm the arbitrator's decision. But Bush and his legal team succeeded, in one respect: Bush's responses to Lake's petition, as well as other supporting exhibits and documents pertaining to Bush's side of the case, remain under seal or heavily redacted. Sign up for more USC news with Times of Troy. In your inbox every Monday morning. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
20-06-2025
- Sport
- Los Angeles Times
Judge rules Reggie Bush must pay Lloyd Lake $1.4 million in defamation case
Lloyd Lake, the San Diego man at the center of the Reggie Bush extra benefits saga, scored a major legal victory this week over the former USC running back after a Van Nuys judge upheld an arbitrator's decision to award Lake nearly $1.4 million in his defamation suit against Bush. Lake filed the suit against Bush back in February 2023 — along with his parents, Roy and Barbara Gunner — alleging that Bush publicly disparaged and defamed him during a podcast appearance and in social media posts and, as such, violated the non-disparagement clause they agreed upon in a previous settlement. The comments, according to Lake and his parents' complaint, 'created a firestorm of vitriol' that saw the Gunner home vandalized with graffiti and left them fearing for their safety. The judge's decision this week came more than 15 years after the first explosive lawsuit between the two men was settled. That suit, which Lake first filed in 2007, claimed that he and another businessman, Michael Michaels, had provided Bush and his family with cash, a car, rent-free use of a house and other gifts while he played at USC in 2004 and 2005 with the expectation Bush would sign with Lake and his fledgling sports management company, New Era Sports & Entertainment. The first case was settled in April 2010, just before Bush and Michaels were scheduled to be deposed. But Lake's account of their arrangement, which violated NCAA rules, had already prompted a firestorm, one that ultimately ended in severe sanctions for USC's football program, the vacating of the Trojans' 2004 national title and the return of Bush's Heisman Trophy. As college athletes were allowed to receive compensation for use of their name, image and likeness and public opinion began shifting toward Bush, the legendary Trojan running back began sharing more about his experience and the saga that would come to define him. In an appearance on the 'I Am Athlete' podcast, Bush opened up about the emotional toll the case and losing his Heisman Trophy took on him and his family. Bush eventually succeeded in having the Heisman returned to him in 2024. Neither of the two men had spoken publicly about the other in more than a decade, abiding by the non-disparagement agreement in their 2010 settlement. At the time of that agreement, all parties involved — including Bush's mother and stepfather — agreed to 'not make any statements or representations to any person that may cast another Party to this Agreement in an unfavorable light, that are offensive to or disparage them, or that could adversely affect their name and reputation.' But during the 2022 podcast interview, Bush went on to accuse Lake of blackmail and exaggerate Lake's criminal record, which he said was 'as long as the Cheesecake Factory menu.' Months later, in a Twitter post, Bush falsely accused Lake of being a convicted rapist. The same week the podcast was published, the Gunners' home was vandalized with graffiti. The threatening message left behind, written in red spray paint on an outside wall, read: 'Help Reggie Bush Get His Trophy Back F— Crook.' The number '187' was also spray painted on the wall, which the plaintiff attorneys say referred to the state Penal Code number for murder. They blamed the graffiti on 'unknown bad actors' working 'on behalf of or at the direction of Bush.' Lake's attorneys first sought to bring the case to a jury trial. But a judge ruled in June 2024, that Lake's lawsuit against Bush would go to binding, confidential arbitration, per the terms of their original settlement. The arbitrator in the case, Jeffrey G. Benz, ultimately ruled in Lake's favor, awarding him $500,000, as well as $764,640 in attorneys' fees and $116,780 in other costs, according to court documents. Still, Bush's attorneys continued to challenge the ruling by arguing that Benz had exceeded his authority as the arbitrator. Their latest challenge was quashed this week by Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Eric Harmon, who took only a few hours to reaffirm the arbitrator's decision. But Bush and his legal team succeeded, in one respect: Bush's responses to Lake's petition, as well as other supporting exhibits and documents pertaining to Bush's side of the case, remain under seal or heavily redacted.
