Witnesses attest: Tolly once had it together, until he lost it

"YOU WERE the best of the best, Don. You were the man."

That's what Eric Cushing, vice president of marketing and development for Special Olympics Pennsylvania, said about Don Tollefson when cross-examined by the former sportscaster during the fifth day of Tollefson's fraud trial in Bucks County Court yesterday.

The testimony came as the prosecution rested its case after calling a long list of witnesses against Tollefson, who prosecutors allege took $342,393 from people who bought sports packages from him, thinking a portion of the money spent would go toward his charities.

Cushing said Tollefson would emcee special events for the Special Olympics, including their biggest night - the athletes' induction into the Hall of Fame.

Tollefson, representing himself, was able to draw these kinds of admissions from several witnesses called by the prosecution yesterday.

Still, witness after witness testified that the once widely celebrated "Tolly" let down a lot of people who paid good money for sports trips and Eagles' away games that never materialized.

Brett Wells, executive director of the Greater Norristown Police Athletic League, said his nonprofit had to eat $2,000 from the $19,500 his donors paid toward Super Bowl packages that Tollefson auctioned off that did not exist.

Wells said he had had a good working relationship with Tollefson since the GNPAL's ribbon-cutting in 2004. By 2012, he said he started to ask questions.

"By 2013, it became apparent there was no arrangement with the NFL," Wells said.

"We had dozens of angry donors and we had an image problem on our hands. Norristown is a small community. News travels fast."

Bucks County Chief Prosecutor Matt Weintraub brought in several witnesses who claimed they paid thousands of dollars for canceled overseas trips and were never reimbursed. Three men testified they were out $2,000 each after Tollefson promised them a weeklong trip to the World Cup in Brazil but never gave them tickets or an itinerary and never returned their many inquiries about their prize.

Tollefson admitted in court yesterday that he was sloppy and disorganized when it came to executing successful sports trips toward the end of his career.

He said he received countless obscenity-laced emails and even death threats while he was hospitalized for drug addiction and under investigation, and his lawyers, at the time, had warned him not to speak to anyone who might be called as a witness in a criminal trial.

The former famed sportscaster plans to call 25 witnesses when he begins his defense on Monday.