Fast lane

McPherson's expensive tastes, stylish wheels

By Mike Fish, SI.com

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- While Adrian McPherson was allegedly running up an $8,000 gambling debt, the former Florida State quarterback was still spending money and cutting a flashy figure around campus.

His signature ride? A 1999 white Ford Expedition that a friend described as "like an NFL player's." So that there was no doubt about who was at the wheel, McPherson spelled it out on a vanity license plate: AFIVE, the 5 being his FSU jersey number.

According to Florida Department of Motor Vehicles records, McPherson's parents, Floyd and Henrietta, purchased the Expedition, with an odometer reading of about 45,000 miles, Feb. 23, 2002, from a Tampa dealership. The couple had purchased a new GMC Yukon SLE just a week earlier from a dealership in Bradenton.

McPherson wasted little time customizing his SUV. He equipped it with two television sets and a DVD player, friends say. He put in a remote starter that worked off a button on a key chain, and further set off the vehicle with neon lights and custom brake lights.

His most expensive purchase was a set of 22-inch Neeper Monsta wheels, which may have set him back $4,000. Tony Fields, the owner of Executive Car Care in Tallahassee, said he acted as the middleman in the sale to McPherson of the used rims last Sept. 15.

Friends and former teammates question whether McPherson paid $4,000, recalling that he told them of getting a significantly discounted price. They said it wasn't uncommon for McPherson and other FSU players to receive discounts around Tallahassee.

According to a source familiar with the bank records subpoenaed in a felony bad check case pending against McPherson, he never had a balance of more than $1,010 in September and had a negative balance on all but three days during the month.

Fields said McPherson paid him in cash. "If he paid any other way I wouldn't have taken it, 'cause [the wheels] belonged to another guy and I had to give him cash," Fields said.

The pricey purchase apparently didn't entirely satisfy McPherson's taste for nice wheels. Two months later, on Nov. 18, McPherson was preparing to order a more expensive spinner set from R&R Truck Accessories when he allegedly stole a blank check from the Tallahassee rim shop.

By then, police in Tallahassee were already familiar with McPherson and his ride, having issued him at least five traffic citations since May. He had his license suspended for failing to pay the fines at one point, and it wasn't until Dec. 18 that he paid off the $650 fees.

The citations against McPherson included parking in a handicapped spot at the Governor's Square Mall and driving with unsafe equipment, which in his case were blue neon lights on his windshield wipers.

After the quarterback was stopped at 11:59 p.m. June 17 on the FSU campus, officer John Doran wrote: "The vehicle had blue lights on the hood and loud music playing that could be heard from more than 100 feet. Upon approach I observed a TV mounted on the dashboard in view of the driver. The driver was cited for the television and given warning for the other offenses."

The SUV isn't a problem anymore. Driving on I-75 near his home in Bradenton on March 3, McPherson heard the tread separate from the left rear tire and overreacted. He lost control and the SUV overturned.

McPherson was charged with failing to use due care by the Florida Highway Patrol, which also listed failure to maintain equipment as a contributing cause. The vehicle defect proved to be "worn, smooth tires."

Damage to the Ford Expedition was listed at $18,000.

Mike Fish is a senior writer for SI.com.

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