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Wednesday, November 24, 1999
IceRays place season-long ban on fans
By Bart Wright
Caller-Times Sports Editor
The Corpus Christi IceRays hand delivered letters to two fans Tuesday announcing that they would be banned from all remaining games this season, including possible postseason games.
Exactly why they received the letters seems to be in question.
"Surprised?" said Frank Wagner, a local stock broker who has been a fan since the team started here a year ago, "nothing these people do surprises me."
Wagner said he is a season ticket holder in a group of 12.
Robert Quintero, IceRays director of ticket operations, signed the letter that announced the ban and disputed Wagner's season ticket claim.
"He did not purchase any season tickets,' Quintero said Tuesday night. "He didn't give us any money so he won't be entitled to any refunds."
That wasn't the case with a season ticket holder Quintero declined to identify who also got a letter Tuesday banning him from IceRays games for the rest of the season.
"We will be discussing where we go from here," Quintero said of the ban on the unidentified season ticket holder. "We will work something out."
The letter to Wagner said, in part:
"During the last few IceRays games, the management has had to eject you from the arena due to disorderly, obnoxious and unbecoming conduct. You have been repeatedly warned about these concerns, but your persistence in this type of behavior leaves us no other alternative than to refuse you admission for the remaining games of this season."
The letter was signed by Quintero who would not specify what Wagner had allegedly done, other than to say he had not participated in the chant that the IceRays have banned that has led to dozens of fans being ejected.
"It had nothing to do with chanting anything," Quintero said. "I'm not going to go into detail about what he did, the letter says it all."
Wagner said he was a friend of former IceRays front office employee Scott Brower who died in a car wreck last year, and that he helped Brower sell season tickets a year ago.
"I got to know Scott right away after he moved down here and helped him get to meet people and pushed some season tickets myself," Wagner said. "The letter is inaccurate because it says I was ejected from more than one game - that's untrue. I was ejected only once, and it was for chanting the chant they don't like.
"To be honest, what bothers me about this is not this letter, that's a joke, it's laughable," Wagner said. "What bothers me is that these people have destroyed the players' morale. Believe me, I know several players and they are so low you just feel bad for them. They don't want to come back next year and I'm worried about the future of this franchise. It's amazing they could mess it up so badly so soon."
Wagner said he has contacted attorneys and "we're discussing what the next step should be or will be."
The IceRays, losers of six straight games, play at Austin and Waco this Friday and Saturday. Their next home game is Sunday at 3 p.m. against Central Texas.
Sports Editor Bart Wright can be reached at 886-3745 or by e-mail at wrightb@caller.com
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