EDITOR
Craig T. Greenlee
PRODUCTION
Mike Henderson
Mary Fleming
Use Raines
PUBLISHER
Ernest H. Pitt
STAFF WRITERS
Rolando Simmons
Roacoe Nance
Steve Zimmermen
PHOTOGRAPHERS
J.D. Schwalm
Joe Daniels
Max Dun hill
War of verbs - the sequel
The NCAA Presidents Commission is putting everyone
on notice that athletes will have to do the job academically if
they want to compete and have a college scholarship.
Well, geez, what more can they already do? Proposition -
48 has been in place since '86 and doesn't show any signs of
becoming an endangered NCAA by-law. The presidents, how
ever, are going a step further. They're calling for a new and
improved version of Prop 48. They plan to convince NCAA
members that they should approve the changes when the
NCAA has its annual convention in January.
The presidents have developed a system that they feel is
fair. Instead of a set requirement (2.0 GPA in core curriculum
courses and 700 SAT/15 ACT is the current minimum), they're
calling for a sliding scale. The commission proposes a three
tiered arrangement to determine freshman eligibility. With a
higher GPA, you can have a lower SAT score and vice versa .
(see article on page 14 for specifics). . - ^ V
If this measure passes in January, it becomes effective in *
August *95! Youngsters who will be high school freshmen this
fall will be the first class to be governed by the proposed rul
ing.
It's somewhat ironic that in light of this proposal, the
NCAA has released some interesting statistics regarding black
athletes and the current version of Prop 48.
Last year, for example, blacks comprised 83 percent of '
non-qualifiers in football and 65 percent of non-qualifiers in
all sports. But the most telling set of numbers is that of all the
non-qualifiers in football, 69 percent failed because of
SAT/ACT scores, while only 10 percent failed because of GPA.
As the months pass before the start of the next conven
tion, all that's likely to happen is another full-scale, war of
verbs debate about standardized test scores, which have proven
to be culturally biased against minority students. But at least
this plan gives student-athletes more options than they present
ly have. Under the presidents' guidelines, student-athletes have
some leeway because of grade point averages. And let's face it,
some people perform better in the classroom than they do on a
gest
What this all comes down to is that like it or not, jocks, if
they want to play and be on scholarship, will have to make sure
they can handle college-level work. And since the high school
class of *95 will have three years to make sure they're ready for
it, it's up to parents, students and school systems to get the
message across.
But mostly, it's on the kids. You can't make them go to
class and you can't make them study. But they can be taught
what thev need to know in order to hold their own in academia.
Back CcAege Sport* Review it pufclshed by Oat* Sports me.. 617 N. Liberty Si. Wmton
Satem, N.C. 27102. Unsoicfted menusotots end photographs wi not be retrned. Inquiries
should be addretsed to Ernest H. Pttl Publsher. Bledi Sports Review, P.O. Box
1636. WnetofrStfem. NX. 27102.
PHOTO CWEOrrS: Cover phcto ? LA Radars coach Art She! by Messerschmidt; Vfcharrv
madAI photo by CfaigT Greenlee; John Holey photo by E.L Saunders.
A
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