PROFESSIONAL SPORTS: Rabinowitz is Hardin County's own Double Agent (05/05)

Nathaniel Bryan

Jon Rabinowitz is a local attorney with the full-service litigation firm of Coleman, Lochmiller & Bone, which is located on Ring Road in Elizabethtown. The firm is a partner of Global Sports Management Group.

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By NATHANIEL BRYAN nbryan@thenewsenterprise.com ELIZABETHTOWN — The first day of the annual NFL Draft came and went with hardly a whimper for Jon Rabinowitz. Rabinowitz isn’t a professional scout, coach or general manager. He wasn’t a collegiate player looking for his big break. Instead, Rabinowitz is a local attorney with the full-service litigation firm of (Reford H.) Coleman, (Beth A.) Lochmiller & (R. Keith) Bond, which is located on Ring Road. Rabinowitz leads a double life. By day, he dazzles in the legal world. By night, he dabbles as a football agent. “Actually, I do both all day and all night long,” Rabinowitz said before laughing. “Either way, it works.” Along with baseball agent Shawn Freibert, consultants David K. Rose and T. Brian Lowder and partners Bond, Coleman and Lochmiller, Rabinowitz runs the Global Sports Management Group. When Rabinowitz, 30, went to Coleman, Lochmiller and Bond a few years back to tell them he wanted to become a sports agent, he wasn’t sure what to expect. “I told them I had a passion for sports agency, but I thought they would tell me to pack my bags and do it on my own,” said Rabinowitz, a 2004 University of Louisville law school graduate and a member of the Hardin County Bar Association. “Instead, I’ve gotten a completely different response. They’ve all been great to me and have given me a couple of years to try it.” The trial – pun very much intended – has gone better than Rabinowitz could have expected. Of his 12 football-playing clientele, two are former University of Kentucky players with area ties. Long snapper Jason Dickerson, an Elizabethtown High School graduate, had a tryout with the Detroit Lions. And linebacker Dominic Lewis, a John Hardin graduate, reports this week for mini-camp with the New Orleans Saints. “Jon works really hard. He’s very persistent. He fights for his players and he keeps you updated with any changes,” Lewis said. “He’s very up front. He doesn’t tell you that you’re going to get drafted in the first round and then you don’t. He’s been very straightforward with me.” Rabinowitz also represents former Urbana (Ohio) University defensive tackle Kyle Lockett, who attended the Cleveland Browns’ mini-camp this past weekend and has been invited to the Baltimore Ravens’ mini-camp this weekend as well. Another Rabinowitz client is former Louisville tight end Scott Kuhn, who was undrafted but signed a free-agent contract with the Ravens. He caught 15 passes for 171 yards and two touchdowns for Louisville in 2007. “I feel Baltimore is a good place to play football and I have a good shot at making the team,” Kuhn recently told Mike Dyer of The Cincinnati Enquirer. Other Global Sports clients include: - Former Louisville linebacker/safety Terrance Butler, who has been invited to the Lions’ rookie mini-camp. - Former Vanderbilt defensive tackle Gabe Hall, who has had discussions with the Lions and Ravens. - Former Vanderbilt linebacker Funtaine Hunter, who signed a rookie free-agent contract with the Browns in spring of last year before signing with the Stampeders in late November. - Former Middle Tennessee State running back DeMarco McNair. - Former Clemson running back Reggie Merriweather, who signed with the San Diego Chargers in 2007 and was drafted by Team Tennessee of the upstart All-American Football League in 2008. - Former Western Kentucky cornerback Dennis Mitchell, who starred with the CFL’s British Columbia Lions in 2007 before signing with the rival Hamilton Tiger-Cats in late January. - Former Middle Tennessee State cornerback/kick returner Bradley Robinson, who has been offered a contract by the Canadian Football League’s Calgary Stampeders and a tryout from the CFL’s Edmonton Eskimoes. - Former Louisville fullback Deriontae Taylor, who was invited to the Browns’ 2007 rookie mini-camp and the AAFL’s 2007 national tryouts before signing with the Fire this past January. - Former Newberry (S.C.) College wide receiver Tymere Zimmerman, who plays for the af2’s Louisville Fire after having attended training camps with the NFL’s Carolina Panthers and the Arena Football League’s Los Angeles Avengers. Most of his clients’ names were not brought up during the NFL Draft’s first day, but that doesn’t mean it has to stay that way for an agent such as Rabinowitz. “I’m hoping next year will be different,” Rabinowitz said. “I would love to be busy on the first day.” Although many of his clients are playing professionally or have the chance to do so if they perform well in camps, Rabinowitz isn’t happy. “I’m an athlete and I’m a competitor,” said Rabinowitz, who played football for aforementioned Newberry College. “I don’t feel I’m a successful agent unless all of my clients are playing somewhere in the NFL or CFL.” Nathaniel Bryan can be reached at 505-1758