* * *%

ET us go right to the record for this. The N. C. A. A. has what it

calls “The Basketball Coaches’ Creed.” This “creed” is subscribed
to by every man associated with the National Association of Basketball!
Coaches and the N. C. A. A. It reads—not a comma is left out—as
follows: 4

“I BELIEVE that basketball has an important place in the general
educational scheme and pledge myself to co-operate with others in the
field of education to so administer it that its value never will be

questioned. :
“T BELIEVE that other coaches of this sport are as earnest in its

protection as I am, and I will do all in my power to further their |

endeavors.

“J BELIEVE that my own actions should be so regulated at all |
times that I will be a credit to the profession. |

“| BELIEVE that the members of the National Basketball commit-
tee are capably expressing the rules of the game, and I will abide by
these rules in both spirit and letter. : : ;

“l BELIEVE in the exercise of all the patience, tolerance, and
diplomacy at my command-in my relations with all players, co-workers,
game officials and spectators.

“T BELIEVE that the proper administration of this sport offers an |
effective laboratory method to develop in its adherents high ideals of |
sportsmanship; qualities of co-operation, courage, unselfishness and)
self-control; desire for clean, healthful living; and respect for wise |
discipline and authority. 3

“I BELIEVE that these admirable characteristics, properly instilled
by me thru teaching and demonstration, will have a long carryover and
will aid each one connected with the sport to becofne a better citizen.

“I BELIEVE in and will support all reasonable moves to improve
athletic conditions, ‘to provide for adequate equipment and to promote
the welfare of an increased number of participants.”

There is nothing there about exploiting the college athlete for gain. |
So it goes without further saying that the colleges are not sending their |
teams into the highways and byways for money. They are not if there
is one speck of honesty within the collegiate setup. ;

* * *

WE: then, it must be asked, do the colleges permit teams within |
their association to take part in private promotions—to take the |
place which rightfully belongs to the professional performer?

That is the main question “Phog” Allen raised in his letter of last
week—the mein question which all have sought to ignore, and which Ned
Irish and Madison Square Garden would by-pass by a “personal wish”
that the entire matter be dropped so that Allen might be “silenced.”

For my part, I-do-not believe the colleges of the land can “silence”
Allen now. His charge that games played in Madison Square Garden
“already have been thrown,” plus Sergeant Greenberg’s charge that
players TOLD HIM—HIM, not somebody else--how they, IN THEIR |
COLLEGE GAMES, co-operated,to make the points fit the gambling
odds—has focused national attention upon the entire setup as it exists.

This brought out into the light of day conditions surrounding
college players appearing in Madison Square Garden—detectives
posted outside their hotel rooms to. keep away the rodents, as
Allen calls them, of the gambling world; telephones severed to re-
move the boys from the temptations of bribery; gamblers knocked
down, or thrown out of college hotel suites when they came to
muke their bribe offers; Madison Square described as “filled with

Broadway mobsters bickering and dickering” in its aisles during

the contests, the police standing idly by.

Is this college athletics—sport designed, as the coaches’ “creed” puts
it, to instill ‘a desire for clean living” in the participants?

A lot of people would, no doubt, like to make the “personal wish” |
that Allen be silenced.

“Phog” Allen has thrown down the gauntlet.

Let the colleges of our land pick it up.

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