A day after being named a defendant in a former player’s lawsuit, former Auburn University offensive line coach Hugh Nall expressed surprise at the action and the rhetoric surrounding it.
Nall told the Opelika-Auburn News he still hadn’t gotten a chance to look at the suit filed by former offensive lineman Chaz Ramsey against he and former athletic trainer Arnold Gamber — the suit does not name Auburn University as a defendant —, but has been “shocked” by all he has heard about it.
“The allegations are what shocked me,” Nall said. “I heard rumors that (Ramsey) was going to do something, but I didn’t realize there were going to be things said that were flat-out untrue.”
Attempts to reach Gamber were unsuccessful.
Ramsey, who started 10 games at right guard as a true freshman and was named to the Coaches’ All-SEC Freshman Team in 2007, injured his back near the end of his freshman year.
Steve Heninger, Ramsey’s attorney, told WJOX radio in Birmingham on Thursday that Nall and Gamber caused a career-ending back injury in Ramsey by forcing him to do training that was against his doctor’s orders after the lineman’s back surgery before the 2008 season.
Ramsey was released from his scholarship last September.
Neither Nall nor Gamber was retained by Auburn University after the resignation of coach Tommy Tuberville after the 2008 season. Nall now works as the chief operating officer of the SouthernAG Carriers, Inc., trucking company in Albany, Ga.
Various news outlets reported Thursday that the suit alleges Nall and Gamber “negligently caused or negligently allowed Plaintiff to be exposed to increased injury.”
The suit, which the Birmingham News reported was filed in the U.S. District Court in Birmingham on Thursday, seeks “compensatory or punitive damages” against Nall and Gamber for “pain and anguish” and “the denial of a very probable career in the NFL.”
Heninger told WJOX Thursday that Nall and Gamber intimidated Ramsey into doing workouts that were against his doctor’s orders. And when Ramsey refused, Heninger said Nall told him he was off the team, told his teammates to “stay away” from him and had his locker cleaned out.
Nall said that as an assistant coach, he didn’t have the authority to kick Ramsey off the team.
“Either (Heninger) was misinformed, or it was flat-out not the truth,” Nall said. “The whole thing’s a weird deal.”
“The bad thing is you can’t defend yourself. There’s going to be people believing, and that’s disappointing.”
Heninger told WJOX that the suit is against Nall and Gamber, not Auburn University, and that he expects the case to come to trial “at this point next year.”
Nall said he expects to be represented by lawyers from the university.
“I’ve done this for 24 years because I like working with young men, helping them reach goals, pushing them,” Nall said. “After all these years, it’s just disappointing.”
dmorrison@oanow.com | 737-2568
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