Wheeler’s Parents Battle Over Lawsuit

The parents of a Northwestern football player who died during a preseason workout are each seeking control of a lawsuit accusing the university of negligence.

Linda Will of Ontario and George Wheeler Jr. of Northridge, are due in a Chicago probate court Oct. 2 to ask a judge to decide who will oversee the estate of their son. Rashidi Wheeler, a 22-year-old senior strong safety, collapsed during conditioning sprints Aug. 3 and died.

Less than three weeks later, Will, her former husband and other family members filed the wrongful death suit against Northwestern. Will is named the suit’s sole administrator. The father’s attorney, Thomas Demetrio, met Wednesday with Will’s representatives, Johnnie Cochran Jr. and Jim Montgomery, to discuss a compromise, including recognizing both parents as co-administrators.

But Will said Wednesday she is resistant to sharing that role with her former husband, who, she said, was largely absent from her son’s life.

“Now, he is wanting to act like a concerned, loving dad,” Will said. “He never wanted to co-parent Rashidi. But now he wants to be his administrator?”

Demetrio said his client was unavailable for comment.

“I do not want to compete against Ms. Will in a war or words,” he said. “Our view is we’re all friends and we should all be working together.”

Will and Wheeler filed for divorce in August 1978 in San Bernardino County Superior Court, a few months before Rashidi was born in February 1979.

After the divorce, Will fought to force Wheeler to maintain his $300 a month spousal and child support payments, according to court records.

In a court request filed a few weeks after Rashidi’s birth, Wheeler, then an IBM field representative, said he was behind in support payments. He asked that his payments be cut to $50 per month for support of Rashidi and his older brother George III, and $1 annually for spousal support. That request was rejected.

A document filed in 1990 concluded that Wheeler met all his payments.

But Will said she estimates that Wheeler owes her more than $16,000 in back support. She said she never went to court to seek that money.

“What was I going to do?” she said. “I was tired of fighting it.”

Demetrio said Wheeler supported his children: “We categorically deny that Mr. Wheeler was a deadbeat father.”

Will said she is also opposed to sharing oversight of the case because her former husband does not share her desire to force the case to trial and use the proceedings as a tool for change.

“He wants to settle,” said Will, a recently retired state corrections counselor. “I want a trial. I feel a trial would allow everything to come out .... My interest is establishing a lifetime legacy for my son.”

Demetrio disagreed, saying his client, who is a financial planner, also wants change that will make football a safer sport.

The lawsuit alleges, among other things, that the school personnel on the practice field that day were ill-prepared to deal with a medical emergency involving her son, a chronic asthmatic. It also alleges that the practice violated NCAA rules.

Northwestern’s football team begins its season Friday at Nevada-Las Vegas, a game Will said she’ll attend.