RIMINATION FOR OR AGAINST Some of our American university administrators suffer from a deadly disease - the disease of "buck passing". The three great epochs in our American life are: the passing of the Indian, the passing of the buffalo, and the passing of the buck. We readily recognize some alarming and attendant evils connected with intercollegiate athletics in some sechérs, especially football. However there is, in my opinion, a fer better way of meeting the attendant evils than that endorsed by the National Association of State Universities concerning their "Standards of Athletic Eligibility" draw up by the committee on Student Group Life last November the 2lst. Please give your : attentive ear to the following lines: "The faculty committee on eligibility shall, in advance of competition require of each can- didate for competition in any sport, a detailed statement in writing of the amounts and sources of his financial earnings and income received, or to be received during the college year and the previous summer, from others than those upon whom he is naturally dependent for support. In case any question arises _ with regard to the implication of this statement, the matter shall be referred to the executive committee of the conference for decision." If this situation does not produce mass perjury, then pass judgment upon the following edict: “Every candidate for an athletic team, must, after a careful explanation of all the ¢ eligibility regulations and their implications of honor, by the faculty committee on athletics, declare orally to the committee and in writing upon his honor his eligibility or ineligibility under each separate regulation. Each member of the athletic staff, physical education department, athletic council, and faculty committee on athletics, shall upon his honor in writing certify his own adherence to all the athletic regulations and to the best of his knowledge the eligibility or ineligibility of every member of the team that represents the institution." There is no admission or confession here stated that the majority of athletes are receiving secret subsidies of a clandestine nature, but the very tone of this act immediately takes on the spirit of the inquisition, and then the crime results in getting caught. This scheme above mentioned was in operation a decade ago concerning summer baseball and failed dismally. : Another administrative feu paux follows: "No member of the athletic staff shall receive for his services or for any athletic purpose any money or other valuable considera-~ tion except through the college authorities.” If the framers of this section desired to hit at coaches receiving bonuses from insurance or bond companies, then let them say so. But this prohibition would bar coaching during vacation time or even their receiving compensation as an official. You and I know that fraternities and sororities feed athletes, who, being without the price of eats, pack a foot- ball and a sturdy pair of legs goalward and to glory. You and I know that fraternities and sororities index wow term papers and in Bo examination questions from year to year, even. guinea so far as to determine just what pedagogue received this or that epistle and noting upon whom it should or should not be used at the next future time. You and I both know that the students on this great American frontier used expert “ponies" long before and during the automobile age, and that professors who caused students to sign the "no eribbing” exam blank knew full well that many who signed were either going to crib or had already done so, Just as long as students are required to do many things in which they have no interest, these "get by" rackets will be indulged in with no qualm of the conscience. The athlete is already and many times discriminated against. Just why should the finger of suspicion be pointed at a two fisted, healthy American boy because he wants to play a game in which he excels? Why should he be hailed into an academic court, lectured to, and caused to sign papers and also to declare orally that he is without stain of professional guilt any more then the music or art student who is not only paid a tidy sum for singing tn a church choir but, in addition, is given credit toward graduation for his singing. , No credit is given the athlete for partici- pating in daily two hour practice drills on the football field, and if he should go down town and play a game with an outside team, even without remuneration, he would automatically become ineligible. If the athlete should referee a game of any kind for the same amount of money that the singer receives for his ~ 4 one hour's work, the athlete immediately becomes a professional and is ineligible to play. When playing games for his school in intereollegiate athletic contests no acadenic credit is given for this activity, but credit toward graduation 4s given a member of the band for his services. It is thinkable that you could take athletic eoaching by correspondence and maybe you could get a job at some fine school, but it is improbable, By earning a Varsity letter, you feel that you have filled one of the laboratory requirements. If you desired to teach History or Chemistry, you could carry the minimum the school required and you could take as long as you desired to complete the course. But if you care to participate in intercollegiate athletics, you must possess 27, 28, or 30 hours of academic credit the two preceding semesters before you can enter the game laboratory of athletic instruction. "A recent survey was conducted in one of our Mid-Wes tern universities to determine what percentage of the student body was eligible for athletic competition under the present ruling of twenty-seven hours of passing work the preceding semester. The findings were interesting. Out of a. total enrollment of 4,082 students, 2,197 were found to be eligible and 1,992 ineligible. But it was the average of the women in class standing that brought the average of the student body a little past the 50 per cent mark. Of the men students, 1,240 were eligible and 1,461 were ineligible; of the women 957 were eligible and 531 were ineligible. Perhaps it is unjust to the athlete to focus so much attention upon the undesirable reflection that he brings upon his school when his class grades render him ineligible for intercollegiate competition." I have little patience with the plan of paying college athletes for their athletic competition. The earnings of football go to no private individual or profit sharing corporation. Rather they go to the state or to an educational foundation which reinvests them in the youth of our nation, It costs the state an average of $240.00 per year per student, oxelustvs of fees paid in, to educate their youth. If the athlete should demand a cut of the earnings, then the full amount of the cost of his education should be deducted from his stipend. Personally, I believe the question of | eligibility should solely be one of academic credits with no promise of remuneration to any student. It is thinkable to me that it might be possible to have athletic scholarships as well as any other special scholarships which are offered by alumni and other beneficiaries. Coaching and Physical Education are professions, and the sooner we have a newer and a better understanding on these moot points, the better off all of us will be. | Very few coaches want the athlete who always has his hand out as pay for his college athletic services. Study the roster of the professional football leagues of the United States with the player's college affiliations, for a pretty fair appraisal of where proselyting is dominant. Generally, that - 6 « player had e sinecure job in college, and after his playing days at school were over, professional football seemed the most lucrative to this pseudo-student of hyper-athletic leanings. The so-called illegal athletic scholarship carries many scars far beyond the academic hall. But from a practicalyY necessity, the s0= called poor boy who is skilled in athletic endeavor looks to his skilled physical activity as legitimate means of obtain- ing a college education. When college days called poor boy who has been fed on course but wholesome food and has been forced to labor throughout the day and into the night sometimes for a bare existence, is a fit subject for the so-called illegal athletic scholarship because he is tough enough to stand the football racket. And our average social “nezzanine hurdler" and "cooky pusher" who is surfei ted on the pre-digested food, the late hours, plus cocktail parties and the automobile, is no fit subject for a coach4s perfect dream, Who will say that this fearless and rugged chap, en- dowed with nature's wonderful physique and a fine brain, hasn't as much right toe use his God-given talents ais a favorable intro- duction to a college education, as is the rotund and daper high — school luminary with a Carusoan voice who uses his talents in the finer arts? mG UD, this s0~ It is a notorious fact that the wealthy alumni of the Ivy League - some of the oldest colleges in America - have long subsidized this so-called poor boy with heavy and husky gastrocnemius and biceps muscles to the so-called o Fw : glory of their alma mater. But when the Southwastern Conference prepeses a new deal that perhaps is settesi, some of these same representatives throw their hands up in horror and ery, "Sin. Sin." | A shameful procedure happened a few years _.ago in our own Big Six Conference, when it was necessary ‘to resort to the application of a retroactive rule to make Jim Bausch a professional, although he was hired by an insurance company at $75.00 a month, a thing that is practiced and has been practiced for years by athletes of other schools, members of conferences many many times older than the Big Six Conference. Without discrimination for or against the Jew, column after column has been written regarding Germany's unfair attitude toward a discrimination against the Jewish athlete competing under a Nazi banner. Let it be sald that a committee comprising in the majority college men appointed by the American Olympic Committee, visited Germany for the express purpose of learning the correct situation before American athletes would be sent to Germany. Mr. Avery Brundage, a great all around athlete and Olympic competitor from the University of Illinois, headed the commission. After carefully and netienlously delving into the whole situation, the committee reported in favor of American participation of the Olympic games at Berlin in August, 1936, Then a political situation clouded the horizon. One of the American Athletic Union giants, seeing an ~- B- opportmnity to appeal to the special classes, and expecting to run for governor of New York State, vaised the issue of America's non-participation in the Olympic games because Hitler was unfair to the Catholics and the Jews. It is a known. fact that Hitler is just as much opposed to the Masonic organization, a secret order, as he is against the Knights ef Columbus. ‘The National Collegiate Athletic Association has always declared in favor of participation. At their New York meeting Saturday, they put the unanimous stamp of approval on America's participa- tion, and asked that it be encourage! both with money and with cooperation. : I know of a very specific instance where one of the outstanding Jews in New York wired a colleague in one of the largecities of our country and demanded that this certain individual use his influence and pressure upon an Olympic committee member, so that he would absolutely deny the right of the Olympic member the privilege of a free ballot. General Charles H. Sherrill, brigadier _ general of the United States Army, made a trip to Berlin for the express purpose of finding the exact conditions there. He said that everything depended upon whether Hitler would allow at least one invitation to be sent to the Jewish athlete. The Nazi's sent two invitations to Jewish athletes. Jewish circles in particular were sullen and insubordinate. To be perfectly candid, the Jews in the United States have lost much ground in sympathy and good will by their continued insistence ots of endeavoring to influence members of the American Olympie Committee who should have a right to exercise their free ballot. There would be ne eountey ia the world thet would endeaver te hold Olympic games but what some creed or class of people could bring up their grievances as a bar to these games, We have great sympathy for the Jewish people when we consider Hitler's atrocious treatment of then, but in the name of sportsmanship, etter thiresse hes been heard, let the pesple in authority of the games decide without coercion ani embarrassing hindrance. Without discrimination for or against the athlete, but let us discriminate against the drunkard at our college football games. Drinking has become @ serious menace to the very existence of the sport. All directors and coaches agree that the present conditions are intolerable and publie opinion must be aroused to stop drinking in the stands. Let the feetball dpankerds imow thet they ave decidedly unpopular with their neighbors in the stands. _ You expect the boys on the field to give you a clean, manly, inspiring exhibition. Let us make the spectator background one of decent behavior that matches the standard set by our athletic representatives. It is a queer and curious thing with what sags and drops our behavioyr takes at football games. Some of our so-called respectable people would not openly pull out a flask and drink on the public street. Yet at a football game it is chic. Quite the thing to do to appear smart. - 10+ It seems logical and thinkable that when we are endeavoring to cut down the dreadful mortality in accidents and desths from the automobile that these gin and corn "sponges" should all be herded together in a spacious "hoosegow" and be forced to stay there until the sober people driving cars can be assured of a safe way out. The world would be happier and the sober people merrier if the student leaders in our American colleges and universities would enlist, investigate, and convict or acquit on this most serious charge, that drinking at our football games is a most serious threat to the contimation of decent conduct and to the continuation of football as a college sport. ; This ehallenge to you seems to me a sizable job for the best of you "go getting" American college leaders who believe first in common decency, secondly in success, fun, personality and leadership.