Athletes often graduate late
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Kelly said last year the spring 1969 semester was the eighth semester for 3,250 students in four year programs. Of these, 2,811 received degrees in June. That is, in a year called "a fairly typical year for graduation," 80 per cent of the students completing eight semesters graduated at the end of eight semesters.
Novotny said he thought two years ago was a good year for graduating seniors. The Kansan found that in the 1967-68 school year, there were 38 senior athletes. Sixteen graduated in June, 1968, four graduated within a year later, three are now enrolled as undergraduates, and seven never graduated from KU.
HE ALSO SAID he thought last year was a poor year for graduation percentage, and he was right. Only seven of 45 senior athletes received degrees last June and 15 are enrolled this semester at KU.
Novotny expressed a philosophy that the student athlete "is doing twice the job a regular student does."
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Clear to partly cloudy and continued cold with 10 to 20 miles per hour northwest winds today. Slight chance of snow furries late this afternoon and evening. Tonight partly cloudy and quite cold. Highs today 15 to 22. Lows tonight 5 below to 5 above zero. Probability of measurable precipitation 5 per cent today through Thursday.
Jan. 7
1970 KANSAN 3
"He maintains a full academic load and has to devote time to practice," Novotny said.
He estimated that the average load for an athlete was 15-16 hours. But that average includes at least one-half hour credit for the sport he participates in.
The Kansan also found that of the 82 athletes who had received degrees since June, 1966, 29 received diplomas in education, with 27 of those in physical education. Twenty-six received liberal arts degrees, 14 in business, eight in journalism and five in engineering.
THE 82 ATHLETES earning degrees since 1966 substantiate Novotny's claim that an athlete at KU does have a chance to graduate from a "good, large college like KU." But he said he did not have records of graduation, so the 62 athletes who have reached senior status over the last four years without graduating go unaccounted for in his records, except for the 19 former athletes still working toward graduation requirements.
As previously mentioned, Novotny does have records of his outstanding athletes who made B averages or better, and there are plenty of them.
Among the outstanding scholastic athletes Novotny takes pride in are Mike Sweatman (2.2 GPA), a Scholastic All-American in 1968, Dave Morgan (2.4 GPA) Scholastic All-American last year, Bruce Peterson (2.5 GPA in chemical engineering) who gave up a year of football to do graduate work at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dale Evans (1.9 GPA), who Novotny says has a good chance for Scholastic All-American this year, and Mike McCoy, possible starting center on next year's football team, who has a 3.0 GPA.
In addition to individual achievements, KU teams have amassed an impressive list of team honors in the last four years. These honors include a Big Eight football championship, an Orange Bowl appearance, two NCAA basketball championship tournaments, two National Invitational Basketball Tournament appearances, two NCAA track championships, indoor and outdoor, two Big Eight swimming championships, a multitude of all-conference and All-American athletes, and many former KU athletes who are now well known professionals or amateurs.
NOVOTNY'S LIST contains a wealth of players in all sports who have achieved high academic marks. But Novotny did not mention that Dave Morgan is enrolled this semester finishing his requirements for graduation, and that Dale Evans will have to go to summer school to graduate.
Although some athletes earn good grades, they generally take longer to graduate.
In some instances, athletes who are drafted into professional sports take several years to earn
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a degree. Novotny explained that an athlete who knows he is to get a pro contract sometimes loses interest in school.
"The pro athletes later realize they need something to fall back on when their playing days are over," Novotny said. And yet how many pro stars graduated on time, and how many now have degrees?
Nevertheless, Novotny has no graduation statistics on his athletes. Even though he claims graduation rates are "quite good," and the athletes carry "a load similar to the normal student's load," the rate of athletes graduating in eight semesters is 31 per cent, while the University average is 80 per cent.
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