motife
09-22-2006, 05:26 PM
THURSDAY, Sept. 21, 2006, 4:25 p.m.
The Mossy Cade story
This week's question was submitted by Richard Miller of Los Angeles He asked: What was the whole story involving Mossy Cade?
Tommories "Mossy" Cade, a defensive back from the University of Texas, was chosen by the San Diego Chargers with the sixth overall choice in the 1984 draft. A bitter contract dispute followed and Cade wound up signing with the Memphis Showboats of the United States Football League, where he played in the spring of 1985. The following August, after the Showboats failed to pay him a bonus that he had coming and with the league on the brink of folding, Cade was released from his contract.
On Sept. 5, 1985, with the Packers coming off another dismal exhibition slate and with the season-opener three days away, coach Forrest Gregg traded the Packers' first-round draft pick and a conditional pick, which turned out to be a fifth-rounder, to San Diego for the rights to Cade and also simultaneously came to terms with him. With cornerback being perhaps the Packers' strongest position at the time - the starters were veterans Mark Lee and Tim Lewis - the trade was not a popular one.
The word was that Cade hadn't even played that well in the USFL. "Very frankly, he didn't play up to his potential or his abilities," Carl Peterson, then general manager of the Baltimore Stars and now with the Kansas City Chiefs, said at the time.
Cade played the 1985 season, starting two games at corner for an injured Lee and one at strong safety, but certainly didn't distinguish himself. Moreover, he was arrested on Nov. 14 and booked on a charge of second-degree sexual assault.
The woman who was the victim of the assault was Cade's aunt by marriage. She said she was in Green Bay visiting Cade and was staying at his De Pere home when he assaulted her in the early morning hours of Nov. 4, the day after Cade had made his first pro start against the Chicago Bears.
The criminal complaint said Cade had arrived home about 1:15 a.m. The woman said she was sleeping when Cade woke her and the assault followed.
The Packers chose not to suspend Cade and allowed him to continue playing. "I am not the judge," Gregg said at the time. "I am not the jury. This is America. A man is innocent until he is proven guilty."
Cade finished the season and played again in 1986 while the case worked its way through the courts. In '86, Cade began the season as the starter at strong safety for an injured Mark Murphy and moved to corner when Lewis' career was ended by a neck injury.
Later that season, wide receiver James Lofton also was arrested on a sexual assault charge.
The two players went to trial in May, 1987, in separate courtrooms across the hall from each other in the Brown County Courthouse. Lofton was acquitted. On the day after, Cade was convicted on two counts of second-degree sexual assault.
Cade was sentenced to two years in prison and fined $15,000. He never played pro football again.
The Mossy Cade story
This week's question was submitted by Richard Miller of Los Angeles He asked: What was the whole story involving Mossy Cade?
Tommories "Mossy" Cade, a defensive back from the University of Texas, was chosen by the San Diego Chargers with the sixth overall choice in the 1984 draft. A bitter contract dispute followed and Cade wound up signing with the Memphis Showboats of the United States Football League, where he played in the spring of 1985. The following August, after the Showboats failed to pay him a bonus that he had coming and with the league on the brink of folding, Cade was released from his contract.
On Sept. 5, 1985, with the Packers coming off another dismal exhibition slate and with the season-opener three days away, coach Forrest Gregg traded the Packers' first-round draft pick and a conditional pick, which turned out to be a fifth-rounder, to San Diego for the rights to Cade and also simultaneously came to terms with him. With cornerback being perhaps the Packers' strongest position at the time - the starters were veterans Mark Lee and Tim Lewis - the trade was not a popular one.
The word was that Cade hadn't even played that well in the USFL. "Very frankly, he didn't play up to his potential or his abilities," Carl Peterson, then general manager of the Baltimore Stars and now with the Kansas City Chiefs, said at the time.
Cade played the 1985 season, starting two games at corner for an injured Lee and one at strong safety, but certainly didn't distinguish himself. Moreover, he was arrested on Nov. 14 and booked on a charge of second-degree sexual assault.
The woman who was the victim of the assault was Cade's aunt by marriage. She said she was in Green Bay visiting Cade and was staying at his De Pere home when he assaulted her in the early morning hours of Nov. 4, the day after Cade had made his first pro start against the Chicago Bears.
The criminal complaint said Cade had arrived home about 1:15 a.m. The woman said she was sleeping when Cade woke her and the assault followed.
The Packers chose not to suspend Cade and allowed him to continue playing. "I am not the judge," Gregg said at the time. "I am not the jury. This is America. A man is innocent until he is proven guilty."
Cade finished the season and played again in 1986 while the case worked its way through the courts. In '86, Cade began the season as the starter at strong safety for an injured Mark Murphy and moved to corner when Lewis' career was ended by a neck injury.
Later that season, wide receiver James Lofton also was arrested on a sexual assault charge.
The two players went to trial in May, 1987, in separate courtrooms across the hall from each other in the Brown County Courthouse. Lofton was acquitted. On the day after, Cade was convicted on two counts of second-degree sexual assault.
Cade was sentenced to two years in prison and fined $15,000. He never played pro football again.