Tragedy affects SID's perspective


By Daniel Shanks
EastGators staff writer

Steve McClain's inauspicious introduction to the world of sports information could not have prepared him for what happened on July 19, 2001.

When McClain first started taking classes at Syracuse University, the position of assistant athletic director at the University of Florida was not something in his realm of possibilities as far as a career was concerned. He wanted to follow in the footsteps of another prestigious Syracuse graduate, Bob Costas.

"I went there to major in broadcast journalism," McClain said.

During his first two years at the university, McClain became indoctrinated with basic journalism tenets.

McClain didn't discover the wonderful world of sports information until the summer of his junior year.

"I basically just answered an ad on the wall and went and kind of checked it out," McClain said.

On a volunteer basis, McClain started as a contact for the field hockey and the swimming team, the latter of which he was a member.

Those were good times at Syracuse. McClain fondly recalled a time when he was working at the office and two guys called with a question. Who had more rushing yards during his Syracuse career, Jim Brown or Larry Csonka?

"You could tell they were a little, had been socializing quite a bit," McClain recalled with a smile on his face.

The first fan that talked to McClain had his money on Jim Brown, and McClain let him know that he was right.

"Can I put my buddy on the phone, because he owes me money," the first fan said.

So guy No. 2 gets on the phone, McClain says "Larry Csonka" and hung up the phone.

That entertaining, interesting occurrence could not have prepared him for what happened that fateful day in the summer of 2001.

That's the day Eraste Autin collapsed.

No one could have imagined that he would have died, but six days after his collapse, A-Ross was gone.

This tragedy happened during a siege of heat-related death for athletes, most notably Minnesota Vikings pro bowl tackle Korey Stringer.

Questions whirled around the circumstances of Autin's death. And as the sports information director for football, McClain found himself at the center of it all.

One reason there were so many rumors and speculations flying around is because of the national prestige Florida's athletic teams receive, particularly football, especially at time the event took place, when the head ball coach was still at the helm.

McClain noted that the amount of exposure Syracuse athletics received when he was there, from 1987-88, pales in comparison to the coverage UF gets now.

Since the family asked that no specifics about his death be revealed, there was a lot of speculation about how he died.

McClain was unfortunate enough to deal with one of these rumors up close.

McClain said that a reporter at a television station (he declined to say which reporter at what TV station) called him and started asking questions about the young fullback's death. McClain promptly told the reporter that at the request of the Autin family, he could not release that information.

That's when the TV reporter lowered the boom. He said that a source in Louisiana told him that Autin had actually died on the practice field. The reporter told McClain that he planned to run the story. At this point McClain made a tough decision.

"The first thing they teach us is there's no such thing as off the record," McClain said ruefully, but went on to tell the reporter, off the record, that if the reporter ran with that story, he would be wrong.

The reporter swiftly replied that if McClain couldn't give him any further information, then the reporter would use his source and air the story. McClain, bound to the family's wishes, respectfully told the reporter nothing more, and the story ran later that night.

He reassured the young journalists in the room that he understood the job of reporters and knew that sometimes intrusive was necessary to the public's right to know.

"That's not you're job (to step back from the situation," McClain said quietly, but you could tell, even before he announced that the events that transpired made him much more cynical about his occupation.

How can someone deal with the local and national media every day, especially during times like these when journalists take on the appearance of vultures and still remain civil? It's no wonder the public sees the media as a bunch of heartless, unsympathetic, blood-thirsty animals.