The Vancouver Sun from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada • 71

rvaps DJffl VpI QdQ.) jJ I The Vancouver Sun SPORTS SUZY WHALEY SWINGS INTO EVENT I G3 FRENCH FANS CANT GET ENOUGH I G6 EDITOR STEPHEN SNELGROVE 604-605-2717 FAX: 604-605-2524 WEDNESDAY, JULY 23, 2003 E-mail ssnelgrovepng.canwest.com ana, i irZw; 'I Cutolo all about heart, smarts Rookie receiver gave up on game six years ago; the Lions are glad he came back BY IAIN MacINTYRE VANCOUVER SUN I 7f -A 1 1 flit 8 1 Six years ago, Frank Cutolo was earning a living swinging a hammer and slinging drinks. At his night job, at the Pete Rose Ballpark Cafe in Boca Raton, Cutolo would look several times each shift at the bank of TV screens showing football games from around the U.S. "I knew a lot of the people playing," he recalled Tuesday. "And I was, like, I was better than that guy; I played with this guy. I decided I wanted to play football again." Cutolo is playing again, and the B.C.

Lions are glad. Ci '-J 1 The rookie I f'7 receiver-returner is second in the Canadian Football League with 919 all-purpose yards and sixth in receptions with 23. He was brought to the Lions by head It w- NEXT GAME Thursday 8 p.m. vs Ottawa at B.C. Place TSNCKNW iim im i mi mi nun iwiiiiwmiimi iiaiillMiBlTniiiiiiiM MARK VAN MANENVANCOUVER SUN Vancouver Whitecaps general manager Bob Lenarduzzi (left) chats with owner Greg Kerfoot during a break in the action at Swangard Stadium.

On solid ground. A 7 a-league i Pro soccer in Vancouver finally has a long-term commitment ti 1 conference, instead issuing a written statement that was handed out to the media. And he has subsequently declined all requests for interviews submitted through a team official. According to news releases distributed last November, Kerfoot was born and raised in Burnaby and is chairman of the board of Crystal Decisions, a software developer company that was founded in Vancouver in 1984 under the name Crystal Computer Services. A graduate of UBC's computer science department in 1983, Kerfoot joined Crystal Decisions in 1988 and became the 2002 seasons.

"Greg has stated that he's prepared to give the White-caps a minimum five-year commitment," says Ramsbot-tom, who was hired by Kerfoot last November after serving as manager of sales and marketing of Orca Bay Sports and Entertainment for the previous seven years. "It's a significant statement in view of the fact that professional soccer here has never had stable long-term ownership. His commitment has allowed us to proceed with a long-term business plan." Kerfoot guards his privacy closely. He did not attend the change of ownership news the company's president in 1990. According to news reports, Crystal Decisions was sold last week to rival U.S.

software company Business Objects for $820 million US. Crystal Decisions has 1,750 employees, about 1,000 of whom work in Vancouver, but the company's corporate head office is in Palo Alto, Calif. The Whitecaps offices are located in a home owned by Kerfoot in West Vancouver. "Greg isn't interested in an ownership profile," Lenarduzzi says. "He prefers to delegate responsibility for the running of the teams, but that shouldn't be interpreted as a BY DAN STINSON VANCOUVER SUN coach Wally Buono to return punts and add depth on offence, but has 316 receiving yards and four touchdown catches in five games.

Buono said he knew Cutolo could field punts and run pass routes. The only questions were about heart and smarts. He needn't have worried. It was Cutolo's heart that led him away from a full scholarship at the University of Mississippi after one season, and his head that took him back to football at Eastern Illinois after a year in the work force. "Leaving school was probably a mistake," Cutolo said.

"At the time, it seemed like the right thing to do when my son was born. "I fell in love with him. He's the No. 1 thing in my life. I'd give up anything for him." He did once already.

Cutolo, 25, was a high school star in Boca Raton, the ritzy Fort Lauderdale suburb known as much for polo as football, earning an invitation to the football factory at Ole Miss. But at the end of his first season, Cutolo's girlfriend gave birth to little Frankie. Cutolo went home to Florida to do what he thought was the right thing. It wasn't. Having walked away from a free university education, Cutolo worked two jobs to provide for his son.

He is no longer in a relationship with the boy's mother. A year later, he wanted to go back to school and football and wrangled a scholarship from Eastern Illinois, which operates a Division 1AA program. Cutolo caught 52 passes for 1,009 yards as a senior, earning a brief stint with the NFL New Orleans Saints last fall. Buono had Cutolo on the Calgary Stampeders' negotiating list last season, and grabbed him for the Lions when he was dropped by the Stamps during the winter. Cutolo signed with B.C.

in May and made the Lions at training camp. "I haven't seen my son since I left Florida, but when I'm home I see him all the time," Cutolo said. Short on budget numbers but long on optimism for the future, Vancouver Whitecaps' director of operations Bob Lenarduzzi and sales and marketing director Rick Ramsbot-tom say the commitment of owner Greg Kerfoot bodes well for the long-term survival of pr ofessional soccer in RECENT OWNERS OF VANCOUVER PRO SOCCER TEAMS lack of interest in them. He's very much committed to the long-term success of the Whitecaps, but at the same time he wants to keep his privacy. "We discuss team operations on a regular basis with Greg and, of course, he makes the final business decisions," Lenarduzzi adds.

"He's using what we had in place last year as pretty much a base for those decisions. He has stated that he's on a one-year learning curve this season." Lenarduzzi says he's not at liberty to disclose the White-caps' 2003 budget. "We wouldn't want to share those numbers, but suffice to say that Greg knows exactly where he is in terms of his investment," he says. "He came into this with his eyes wide open and is prepared to lose money in the short term. His objective is to make the Whitecaps the best-run small sports franchise in North America.

He has allowed us to proceed toward that goal with a long-term commitment to the teams." Dave Askinas, the USL's executive director and chief operating officer, says A-League budgets this year range from a low of about $400,000 US to a high of about $1.3 million US. "Most teams are in the middle of the pack between $600,000 and $650,000 US" Askinas says. See KERFOOT WANTS G4 r. British Columbia. Kerfoot was announced as the new owner of the Whitecaps men's A-League and women's W-League fran-chises last i I NEXT GAME Thursday 7 p.m.

vs Calgary at Swangard Stadium 1989 to 1997 Vancouver businessman Milan llich operated the 86ers 1998 to 2000 With the 86ers in grave trouble, B.C. Lions owner David Braley stepped in and took over the team June 2002 to November 2002 United Soccer Leagues takes over operation of the franchise, hiring Bob Lenarduzzi to run both teams. 2001 to June 2002 Vancouver businessman David Stadnyk purchased the 86ers, renaming them the White-caps, and the Vancouver Breakers. November 2002 to present Greg Kerfoot, president of Crystal Decisions, purchases both franchises from the United Soccer Leagues and pledges a five-year commitment. Nov.

13. He came aboard at a time when the future of the teams was very much in doubt. Vancouver businessman David Stadnyk bailed on the teams the previous June after Wi seasons of ownership and the parent United Soccer Leagues assumed interim ownership for the balance of See CUTOLO PICKING G2.