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69 replies

Brian Rupe MIA again?

K KellerDad1,000+ posts
The Heat entered his tournament, as well as a bunch of other teams, and when the Dallas Drillers 17's showed up this morning at 9AM for thier games, guess what?

No umpires, no Brian Rupe, nobody.

Our team was already in transit to OKC.

Thanks to a local team (who's name right now escapes me, sorry) and Lynn Vanlandingham, our coach, the boys will be playing some games out in El Reno OK.

Going to have to pay a penalty to get out of our Hotel Rooms. Moving all the boys 30 miles west, cell phone bills, gas, not to mention, the Heat just didn't give him a deposit, Lynn gave him the whole amount for the tournament.

Brian's Voice Mail is full, he is nowhere to be found, and there are numerous teams that had games scheduled that are now SOL.

Brian, you need to call Lynn and make this right. If you don't, I will personally hound you until you do. You took MY hard earned money, and if need be, I will personally travel to OKC and file a small claim lawsuit against you and your company.

Enough is freakin' enough. People overlooked your crud last summer and gave you another chance. Guess we were all idiots.
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K KellerDad1,000+ posts
Day two, and still no Brian Rupe.

The Oklahoma Travellers and El Reno High are graciously helping Lynn and the other coaches by hosting a "quasi" tournament.

Heat started the season with a win last night, 8-2 against El Reno, they have 3 games today and two tomorrow.

Again, thanks to all the locals that stepped up to step in where http://www.oklahomaselectbaseball.org and Brian Rupe didn't.

I'm still in D/FW working, but I can tell you this, my wife is in OKC, and if she runs into Brian, there may be some bloodshed.
Last edited by KellerDad
T trojanparentMember
Has Rupe surfaced anywhere? As a parent with a son that was to play on OK Select I am furious. Last we saw of Rupe was Wed. afternoon with his car loaded with equipment, uniforms and all the money he collected and he was on his way to Norman to pick up the hats. Was to deliver uniforms on Wed. night at hotel. He left the coaches with the hotel bill and most of the boys without a place to play for the summer. Rupe's dad showed up at SNU at 2pm on Thurs. to watch the game. He had no idea where Rupe was. Thought he might be in jail. It's too bad for your team and the rest of the players, coaches and parents that he screwed. Any way to know how he can be found would be appreciated. If we find him, we will let you know so you can take care of your "concerns" with him.
Bighit15Bighit155,000+ posts
I agree David. Brian was very good to my son and when we didn't have the money, he let my son go for free. I have always appreciated that.

So this is very disturbing to me. I feel bad for all that have been duped. I especially feel for players that were going to be playing this summer and now cannot. This hurts people's kids and hurts their college chances. A bad situation. What is worse is that some of us stood up for him when complaints were lodged on this board. He got a second chance. He will not get a third and will not be allowed to ply his wares here again without their being a full disclosure of past dealings or an outright deletion.
D dbg_fan1,000+ posts
Unfortunately, he is still listed here: HSBBWeb Showcases He needs to be removed immediately. My son attended his Baylor event 2 summers ago. Pretty well run event, but Brian oversold and under-delivered on the number of college coaches that attend his events. I have often warned people off from his events when asked. Sorry to hear about this incident. Worst possible news for the kids he duped on OK Select teams.
HC Houston Coach10+ posts
"Scam Central" I like that.. Well fitting for Rupe. This guy used to dress up people in the stands as scouts at his showcase events. I have run into many of his phony scouts over the years. What I can't believe is that it took so long for people to finally catch on about this guy. Many of the so called scouts in the stands at his Baylor events were nothing more than high school coaches or even off season coaches posing.
NaturalNatural500+ posts
My only experience with him was back in 2001 when he ran a pretty good showcase at Baylor that included pro scouts coaching the teams. We met three pro scouts at this event who live in our area and kept in touch with my older son. One of them helped him land at the JUCO he played at last year. Back then there were plenty of real college coaches in the stands and the Baylor coaches helped run the event. I can't understand what happened to ole Brian in the last few years... must have something to do with greed...it is an ugly thang.
K KellerDad1,000+ posts
yeah, it still shows him online. Guess he came here to get cheered up.

I've made preliminary contact with the Postal Authorities. They think we have a good case. We have a parent on our team that's a lawyer, so on his advice we are going to give him a week or so and then start some action against him.

Wonder if they have a scout team in the pen?
raiders3604raiders360410+ posts
First of all you run out on a tournament with coaches, families and most of all players expecting to participate. Then you take off with their fee's that they had paid you and when they try to contact you to find out what in the hell is going on you don't return their calls..Only now when people are starting to make legal threats you suddenly feel the urge to do the right thing... hell no, I would still file legal action against you to make sure you are made an example of. I also hope that even though you say re-imbursement checks have been sent out that you also paid these folks the moneies they spent getting there for your tournament that you cancelled by not showing up. With all that has happened your website which had been inactive for a couple of weeks is suddenly back up and you are hosting more tournaments what a shame. I still find it hard to believe that until you posted a public apology that this website is still letting you have access... go figure...
oldbat-neveroldbat-never1,000+ posts
The below comment is in response to a comment on the Baylor Bears thread regarding B. Rupe. After posting my response I felt it better to delete it and repost it here so that we keep that thread as one for/about the Baylor Bears.

Ascmcktx:
<From what I have heard (firsthand) and read B. Rupe did a lot of good things in the past, but in the last couple of years there have been more complaints than compliments. There is a pattern here being with the folding of Midwest Prospects (his showcase company) last summer due to financial reasons.

I would suggest you read or reread the thread titled Brian Rupe as there are several members that were burned and there are parents of his players that have also been burned financially. I still have yet to read that restitution has been made. If restitution has been made I hope our members will post this information as well.

You mention the listing of players at Baylor, do we know first hand that he was the reason they were there? Or is it that these players attended one of this camps in the past so he is listing what schools they now attend? Now, that would be interesting to know....

Personally, I think the postings are meant as a "let the buyer beware" not a crucifiction. Isn't it always better to know the good and the bad before you sign up and send your money to any showcase/camp/tournament.>
Last edited by oldbat-never
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