Don Yaeger - It’s Not About the Truth: The Untold Story of the Duke Lacrosse Case and the Lives It Shattered

I f it takes a village to raise a child, it took a city to write this book, especially on compressed time frames. That is where good help, lots of clip research, great editing, and a strong publisher come into play. Without those elements, this project never ends up on the shelf.

The work of many journalists can be found in these pages. Their efforts at reporting this story helped me track its path and allowed me to ask better questions of the more than one hundred people interviewed for the book.

Among those whose work I turned to are: Scott Price, Farrell Evans, and Lester Munson, my longtime colleagues at Sports Illustrated , Kurt Anderson at New York magazine, and ESPN the Magazine s Greg Garber and Jon Pess. At Rolling Stone , Janet Reitman; ABC11 Eyewitness News; ABC News, Aaron Beard, Chris Cuomo, Chris Francescani, Eamon McNiff, David Scot; New York Times , David Brooks, Jack Shafer; Duke Chronicle , Adam Eaglin, Saidi Chen, Jared Mueller, Emily Rotberg, Gregory Beaton, Rob Copeland, William Chafe, Steven Baldwin, Steve Veres, Matt Sullivan, Victoria Ward, David Graham, Bolin Niu, Sheya Rao, Stefanie Williams; TIME , Greg Fulton; WRAL, Kelcey Carlson, Julia Lewis, Melissa Buscher, Erin Coleman, Ken Smith; ESPN, Darren Rovel; New York Daily News , Tamer El-Ghobashy, Dave Goldiner; USA Today , Eddie Timanus, Steve Wieberg, Erik Brady, Mary Beth Markein; The OReilly Factor , FOX News, Megyn Kendall, Liza Porteus; MSNBC, Dan Abrams, Susannah Meadows, Rita Cosby, Evan Thomas; Slate, Stuart Taylor, Jr.; CBS Early Show ; CBS News 60 Minutes , Ed Bradley, Lesley Stahl; Chicago Defender , Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.; Herald-Sun , John Stevenson, William F. West; News & Observer , Benjamin Niolet, Joseph Neff, Anne Blythe, Jane Stancill, Samiha Khanna, Ruth Sheehan, Michael Biesecker, Eric Ferreri, Jim Nesbitt, Lorenzo Perez, Matt Dees, Jenifer Brevorka, Ted Vaden, Nikole Hannah-Jones, Allen G. Breed, J. Andrew Curliss, Steve Ford, Jonathan B. Cox; Wall Street Journal , Stuart Taylor, K. C. Johnson; Washington Post; Wilmington Journal , Cash Michaels; NBC 17; New York Sun , Eliana Johnson; Weekly Standard , Charlotte Allen; Duke magazine; Durham-In-Wonderland.com, K. C. Johnson; Renew America, Michael Gaynor; LieStoppers.com; FreeRepublic. com; Johnsville.blogspot.com; Essence , Kristal Brent Zook, Bridget A. Lacy; CNN; JohnInCarolina.blogspot.com; Charlotte Observer , Gary L. Wright; New York Post , Frank Ryan; Newsweek , Susannah Meadows; Newsday , Steven Marcus; and WPTF Radios Kevin Miller.

On the writing and research end, Jim Henry was the glue that held this book together. An enormously talented sportswriter, Jim came to work with me a year ago and, when the deadline on this book was pushed up by four months, put everything aside to make sure this book was thorough and a pleasure to read. Four young and talented college students, Jenny Fernandez, Erica Foti, Leah Porter, and Sarah Kwak, worked night and day on this as well. I hope their professors prove to be as understanding as Jims wife. The talented Tiffany Brooks also brought her special blend of skills, and once again delivered like a champion.

Literary agent Ian Kleinert, editor Margaret Clark, and publishers Louise Burke, Mary Matalin, and Anthony Ziccardi were there to offer whatever support was needed. Lee Southren and Keith Askenas, agents for Mike Pressler, couldnt have been more helpful.

The greatest challenge, though, proved to be writing this book without input from some of the storys most central players. Not long after signing a contract to author this book, I Federal Expressed letters to Duke President Richard Brodhead, Athletic Director Joe Alleva, and District Attorney Mike Nifong. As they were central figures in the story, I wanted to hear explanations for decisions. None of them responded to requests for interviews.

As the reporting on this project continued, I met and interviewed Mike Pressler, Dukes longtime lacrosse coach, who was the one university employee who was fired during this debacle. Pressler came to the interview with a bombshell: He had kept a diary from day one, filled with details of conversations and his reactions and emotions. It was a writers dream.

Pressler also told me he was going to write his own book. Why not, I suggested, combine the two projects? That is how this book fell together. Add a hundred interviews to the insight of the storys ultimate insider and you get a tale that has both graphic detail and personal passion. More important, as Mike Pressler stressed, you get to the two words that have been at the root of his support for the players: The Truth.

Weeks after my letter to Brodheadand after Coach Pressler had decided to fold his project into mineI received a call from John Burness, Dukes senior vice president and chief spokesman. Burness told me he was to consider my request to interview the president, but that doing so could only occur after he had spent time briefing meeven telling me another reporter had spent fourteen hours with Burness before getting to Brodhead. I had to pass the Burness test. We met for more than four hours one night in his Duke office. In emails Burness sent later it was apparent I failed the test. Burness believed that I held such strong opinions about the case after having done so many interviews with opponents of Brodhead that he did not allow an interview with the president.

That is my one regret. Despite the hours I spent with Burness, Dukes leader didnt want to answer these questions. Later, Burness would imply that my interview request was rejected because I now had Presslers involvement in my book. As a result, you will find Burness speaking for Duke and Brodhead throughout this book. Reporters always want to get their information from the horses mouth. That didnt happen here.

Don Yaeger

I t was a postcard-perfect Monday afternoon in North Carolina on March 13, 2006. A brilliant sun was accompanied by temperatures in the midseventies. The campus of Duke University was peaceful and relatively empty with the arrival of spring break. Dukies, with the exception of athletic teams in season such as mens lacrosse, welcomed the reprieve. The city of Durham, meanwhile, embraced a new work week. Durhamites savored the crisp, clean air as they scurried around town and tackled their to-do lists. Little did they know the perfect storm had started to churn on the horizon.

The Perfect Storm?

Yes, thats exactly what would occur. Not a drop of rain would fall in Durham over the next twelve hours, but an extraordinary combination of events would devastate a prestigious university and a proud city, changing many lives forever. Not rain, not snow, not wind would cause this massive destruction.