The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1905-12-15

professional athletes. That is, they are
in the college not for education, but fol
what they can make out of the game
taking their pay in cash or notoriety, OF
both.
Through the ingenuity of non-acad,
mic professional coaches, rank outsid-
ers,' so far as university standards
ire concerned, through the patriotism of
alumni and interested citizens largely
gamblers, saloonkeepers and promoters)
good many Inducements can be Of
Tered to the husky boys OF the high
schools, and even to the still huskier fel
lows of no school at all. If the profes
'or in the college assumes an attitude of
bleacher' set has its way; the more
scrupulous of the student body are
swept aside, although usually in the ma
ority, and the team is fixed for vic
tory.
The evil is not in professionalism it.
self There is no crime in being a paid
lthlete; it lies in the trickery by which
professionals masquerade as amateurs,
md by which vulgar cads and their vul-
gar ways are made objects of worship
20 college students, and of tender con-
'ideration by college faculties.
"The real remedy is this: 1t is the
luty of the college to stand for intel
lectual work and intellectual excellence;
for the manners and instincts we at
tribute to the gentleman. If the college
has parasites from which it cannot free
itself, if it maintains snap courses and
departments unworthy of its best ideals
let it debar the students of these de-
partments from the football teams. 1t |
nay be useful charity to maintain a
night law school, open to all Corners. 1t
IS wrong to admit this class of students |
to university privileges, and especially
in athletics. To do so opens the door
to all abuses"
The faculties of the various universe
ties, are said to be partly responsible
for the present day conditions by the
college president:
"Above all, it must be insisted that
the final responsibility for university
standards, for standards of behavior and
standards of honesty, as well as stand
ards of scholarship, must in America
rest with the university faculty. To de-
ny this responsibility is not to escape
from it. The student body is our own
creation. The athletes are represent
alive students. In view of this resron
sibility our attitude in matters of ath-
i've. 1t serves little to pile up restric-
i've legislation, to be ignored in proper
ton to its severity or its complexity. 1t
counts little to funk out an occasion
Il illiterate foot ball hero To reject
I man now and then because he got a
lollar in his boyhood for base ball
rame helps make a liar of the next man.
Sc sure that he is a professional INF
spirit before you bar him out"
In concluding President Jordan de-
lares that the evils of football today
est in codes of college honor and if af-
airs are to remedied it lies with the in
'titutions themselves:
"The evil in current foot ball rests
,ot in the hired coaches and hired men,
,ut in academic lying and in the falsi-
ication of our own standards as asso
cations of scholars and of men of honor.
No real interest would suffer, because
Nobody would need act a lie. !
Football is rough, virile, unsparing,
man. making contest, with a distinct /
essen in courage, patience, self-control /
md cooperation. When played by gen |
,lemen it tends to strengthen the in /
,tincts of a gentleman. When it falls i
lmong mucksters, no doubt it shows |
Ill the features of muckersm. Such 4
tate is not perculiar to foot ball. 1t t
,vertakes literature, for example, the j
lrama, and even religion. Those who {
nave played straight foot ball in honest {
.eams with honest opponents, all testi- {
" to it's value in teaching the many (
lrtueS implied In successful work. ii