Hanoi Dick.
5 draft deferrments
Blumenthal played a pivotal role in one of the biggest college athletics stories of the decade; expansion of the
Atlantic Coast Conference and the departures of
Boston College,
Miami, and
Virginia Tech from the
Big East. He led efforts by the Big East football schools (Virginia Tech, Rutgers, Pittsburgh, and West Virginia) in legal proceedings against the
Atlantic Coast Conference, the University of Miami and Boston College, accusing them of improper disclosure of confidential information and of conspiring to dismantle the Big East. According to Blumenthal, the case was pursued because "the future of the Big East Conference was at riskthe stakes huge for both state taxpayers and the university's good name. The suits cost the schools involved $2.2 million in the first four months of litigation. The lawsuit against the ACC was initially dismissed on jurisdictional grounds but was subsequently refiled. A declaratory judgment by the
Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts exonerated
Boston College in the matter.
Virginia Tech accepted an invitation from the ACC and withdrew from the suit to remove themselves from the awkward position of suing their new conference. An out-of-court settlement in the amount of $5 million was eventually reached, which included a $1 million exit fee that Boston College was required to pay the Big East under the league's constitution.
Some have speculated that the lawsuit was one of the biggest reasons that the
University of Connecticut was not sought after by the ACC during their
2011 additions of then-Big East members
Syracuse and
Pittsburgh. UConn is currently a member of the less-lucrative
American Athletic Conference, the successor to the original Big East.
"The education of a man is never completed until he dies." - General Robert E. Lee