Woods Key Figure In Bengal Lawsuit

Cincinnati Bengals receiver Tim McGee testified that former teammate Elbert "Ickey" Woods was a key figure in the group of players who paid $30,000 to a Seattle woman who claims she was raped.

In U.S. District Court yesterday, McGee, who contends he had no contact with the woman on the October 1990 night of the alleged rape at a Tukwila hotel, said the former running back promised to handle her complaints after consulting other players.

"I was encouraging Mr. Woods to clear my name because he knows I wasn't there," McGee told a jury of four men and two women.

McGee was the first player to testify in the trial, which will determine the validity of a release document signed by the woman, identified as Victoria C. She is suing 12 current and former Bengals for rape and another seven for ignoring her pleas for help. In the release document, the woman agreed not to file suit in exchange for $30,000.

Testimony by a Spokane private detective indicates that Woods followed up on McGee's urgings. On Oct. 4, 1991, the day the agreement was signed, the woman, then living in a Spokane condominium, told the detective Woods had made a financial offer to her.

"She said Ickey Woods had called and offered $800-plus per player," said Dave Prescott, an ex-police officer hired by the woman's lawyer to determine whether she was receiving calls from players.

Woods, who no longer plays in the NFL, was in court yesterday but will not testify until Monday at the earliest. He has had no comment, other than to say he is representing himself because he can't afford an attorney.

Lawyers for Victoria C. said she may testify today. McGee, a witness for the defense, was scheduled to take the stand after her but was allowed go early because his wife was scheduled to give birth in Cincinnati last night to the couple's second girl.

McGee said he became involved in the civil lawsuit only because he was mistakenly identified.

The first he had ever heard of Victoria C. was late September 1991 when he and Woods were summoned to the office of Bengals executive Mike Brown, he said. Brown told them a woman had called alleging that she had been raped by Bengals players, and the only names she gave the club were Woods and McGee.

Brown gave the players the phone numbers to James Perry - the Cincinnati-area attorney who later drew up the release document - and the woman.

McGee said he called the woman and asked how she picked him, and she told him she had gotten his face off a poster. When he asked her to describe him, she said, "tall and lean, with your teeth messed up," he said.

McGee is 5-feet-10 and 183 pounds, with unmarred teeth. But immediately, he said, he had a "real good idea" of who she was thinking of - fellow receiver Reggie Rembert, who is 6-feet-5 and 200 pounds, with bad teeth.

"I said, `That's not me. You need to do your homework,' " he said.

"She said, `Maybe I'm not sure about you, but I know who Ickey Woods is. I can identify him because he has a ponytail.' "

McGee said he agreed to help the woman get Woods on the phone, but never offered Rembert's name. Why? asked Victoria Vreeland, counsel for the woman. "I just didn't want to get involved," he said.

McGee said he now plans to stay involved, with a pending countersuit for defamation against the woman. His lawyers said in their opening statements Monday that McGee was originally misidentified by the woman because of an autograph she obtained the night of the alleged rape from another player, who signed McGee's name and jersey number.

McGee said he did not, nor was he asked to, contribute to the $30,000 sent to the woman.

In other testimony yesterday, Greg Gamby, Victoria C.'s husband when she signed the release document, conceded that he recently told a defense lawyer that she knew her acceptance of the money barred her from pursuing a lawsuit.

He disavowed his statement made to attorney Carol Lee Moody at an impromptu, three-hour meeting last month, saying yesterday that he was drunk and angry with his ex-wife at the time. He said he had just spent two days in jail as a result of a domestic dispute between them.

"I would have done anything then to hurt her and ruin her credibility," said Gamby.

He has since testified that he had no reason to believe Victoria understood the document.