December 28, 1944.

Mr. Asa S. Bushnell,

Executive Director,

Central Office for Eastern Intercollegiate Athletics,
Biltmore Hotel,

Madison Avenue and 43rd Street,

New York 17, N.Y.

Dear Asa:

I acknowledge with thanks your good letter of the Z2ist instant.
I trust that you had a very Merry Christmas and wilt have a Happy New
Year, if wo can in this country under the conditions that we are now
facing.

I believe that correspondences, even if lengthy, would not be
the answer to our situation. You talk about unsubstantiated stories,
publicity for rumors, secondhand reports, and alleged happenings that
do harm to college basketball. I am wondering where the N.C.A.A. has
been all this time. There certainly have been many, many things
happening. For example: the Jesse Owens episode in Cleveland, Ohio,
when he matriculated at Ohic State University at Columbus (investigated
by the outstanding and dominantly controlling officers of the Big Ten,
and whitewashed); the Everett Case-Piggie Lambert—Sem Barry episode
that the Big Ten investigated, with a fizzle-out and another whitewash.
fhe fuses were pinched off before they got to the powder keg.

Asa, I wonder if you really think that the public is taking
the administrators of college athletics very seriously these days.

I have before me rules of the Big Ten and the Big Six. They
are a joke because the rules are not being followed, and I know it and
thousends of others mow it. On page 12 in the Big Six handbook under
recruiting, is this rules "1. By Alwmi and Friends. The Conference
is opposed to the recruiting of prospective students by alwmi and
friends, when the reason for such recruiting is that the prospective
students are athletes. ‘The conference will make continued and positive
efforts to eliminate such recruiting. 2. By Members of Athletic
Staffs. Members of athletic staffs shall not recruit prospective ath-
letes. ‘The following are submitted as typical examples of reoruiting:
(a) Urging enroliment thro initiating correspondence, direct confer-
ence or indirect message. (b) Promising employment, loans, scholarships
or remission of fees. (co) Indirectly contacting prospective athletes
by suggesting to alumi or friends that they endeavor to recruit them."