This is the story of disgraced Ohio State quarterback Art Schlichter.

In order to understand Art Schlichter’s crimes, you first have to understand how his story ends. Anita Barney, heiress and widow of a former Wendy’s CEO, lost every single penny her husband left her. 

Art Schlichter and Anita Barney

How did it happen? Art Schlichter gambled away her entire fortune. 

Art and Anita first met in 1981 after her son Alan survived a plane crash. He was at the pique of his football career when he heard about Alan’s accident. A mutual friend brought Art over to pay Alan a visit.

It turns out, Alan's football hero was a compulsive gambler. Art made a series of bad bets and lost thousands gambling on college and professional teams. By midseason, he blew his entire signing bonus. He continued to play, but his football career was essentially over. Looking back, he’s considered one of the biggest draft flops in NFL history.

Art Schlichter's gambling problem got so bad, that in 1995 he was sent to prison for 10 years for fraud and writing bad checks.

After prison, Art says he was a new man. In fact, he was campaigning around the state of Ohio asking people to vote against the legalization of casinos.

30 years after they first met, Art ran into Anita while promoting his new book. Anita caught up with him after his speech.

Anita: “Art, you don’t remember me…” I told him who I was. He said, “I do remember you now. How is Alan doing?" “He’s doing well and I’m having a surprise 40th birthday party. Would you like to come?” He said, “Yeah that would be good. I would like to surprise him.”

Anita gave Art her phone number. A few days later, Art calls and says,

Anita: “I would love to come but I can’t.” He said, "I’d love to get together and get caught up on how Alan’s doing." I said, "Sure that would be fine."

He showed up at Anita Barney’s house with a bag full of Wendy.

Anita: And that’s how everything started.

It didn’t take long for Art to make his move. Before they were even done eating their sandwich he gave Anita a sob story about his daughters. He said he needed to borrow $10,000 to purchase a car so he can visit them. 

While this may seem like a ridiculous request, Anita had the means. Plus, when her husband was alive, they helped people out all the time. Art’s promise to repay the loan seemed sincere, the reason for the loan was understandable. Plus, for Anita Barney, $10,000 was a drop in the bucket. Why wouldn’t she help out the man who brought her 10 year old son back when nothing else worked?

Anita: I just put myself in his place. And I remembered my son and how sad he was. I don’t know how to explain it. Because he did get my son out of that depression I felt I owed it to him. Because nothing else was working until Art came in.

Art promised to pay back the $10,000 loan within 90 days. In fact, he wrote Anita a post-dated check for $10,000.

The next week, he asked to meet Anita again. This time, he asked her for $100,000. He said the money would go to pay off the debts he owed other gamblers. He promised to repay the loan with with ten percent interest. After thinking about for a few minutes, Anita agreed to loan him the money.

And the rest is history.

 

This episode was written and produced by Javier Leiva

Music by:

Cylinder Eight by Chris Zabriskie

Careless Morning, Bivly, Pxl Eventuat, Pxl Cray, Pxl Ultra by Blue Dot Sessions

Bittersweet, Pounded Piano by Podington Bear

No More Trap by Audiobinger