There is so much uneasiness about college football today. While I am comfortable with paying the players, I cannot help but ask, shouldn’t there be some guardrails and respect for the grand ole game’s traditions? Some structure and an overseeing body to bring about common-sense regulation?
One of the greatest tradeoffs in the history of this great nation is being able to play a sport for free education in return. College football truly was an amateur sport a little over a half-century ago. For the longest time, college players did not even know if a National Football League team had drafted them until they received a phone call or form letter from whatever team did so.
In the early spring of 1958, Jimmy Orr, who would become the NFL’s rookie of the year that fall with the Pittsburgh Steelers, stopped by the downtown Varsity in Athens for a couple of chilidogs and a frosted orange. A fellow student told him he had been drafted.
America was about to be swept up in the excitement of NFL drama. Soon, there were pre-game and postgame shows on television. We couldn’t wait for the games to begin. We knew the popular jingles when CBS went to breaks.
The Baltimore Colts’ announcer was Chuck Thompson, and Colt games were brought to us by Blatz Beer: “I’m from Milwaukee, and I ought to know; it’s draft-brewed Blatz beer wherever you go.
Smoother, fresher, less filling, that’s clear, Blatz is Milwaukee’s finest beer.”
CBS was in its heyday, with the New York Giants winning or contending for conference championships every year. Chris Schenkel called the Giants games, and Johnny Lujack was his original color man. Who remembers Schenkel briefly attending the Statesboro school called Georgia Southern Teachers College at the time?
Now look at what we have with the NFL today: wealthy owners are getting richer by streaming services, bringing them more money than they can count. Have you ever thought about what the NFL does for college football in the way of financial support? It’s the same amount you contribute to Vladimir Putin’s retirement fund.
Yet those NFL owners are the beneficiaries of what amounts to what baseball calls its farm system, where the big-league teams have to underwrite the cost of their minor leagues. Meanwhile, our colleges develop and train football players at no expense to NFL teams.
Over the years, I have enjoyed friendships with countless NFL coaches, scouts, administrators, and players. They enjoy excellent relations with the colleges, which have only been eager to train talent for them. However, this arrangement is not equitable. Some of the NFL’s riches should “stream” into collegiate coffers.
Kids are so eager to get to “The League” that they no longer appreciate the value of their scholarships, which will give them a degree if they truly want it. And in all too many cases, a large percentage of college football players will need that degree at some point.
We all hear about the players who do both—achieve a degree and bank their NFL income into a nice nest egg; however, so many others fail to take advantage of the classroom experience, which means that when their NFL riches subside, they often don’t have any future means of survival.
The college experience is such a wonderful sojourn. Walking to class in the spring when the flowers are in full bloom, and the environment is exhilarating in October. When the leaves turn, the environment is exhilarating. I still enjoy walking from UGA’s Arch to the South campus while remembering the days when I was a student earning a degree and the beneficiary of a partial athletic scholarship.
I had to supplement my scholarship with odd jobs back then, but it was so much fun I couldn’t imagine what my life would have been like if that had not come about.
There was no NFL in my future, and there was no NIL income, but I obtained a degree and had a wonderful and meaningful experience. Life on campus and in Athens was so alluring and addictive that I found a way to make my home in the Classic City.
I don’t begrudge the current kids who need saddle bags to carry around their money, but I do lament they often miss out on an electric and fulfilling campus experience.