The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-02-20

who is permitted to make a business OF
his sport to the neglect of his studies,
on the mistaken assumption that ne IS
thereby serving his institution, is wrong
ing himself his parents, and the lns1l-
tuition Barring any element Of decep-
ton, the man who is paid by friends or
the game and does full and honest
work as student, is a better factor OF
student life than one who, without pay
spends most of his time either on the
field or on the bleachers-
Football Takes Too Much Time.
ITO play the game successfully in
the intercollegiate leagues under pres
ent conditions a man must make a
business of it. The time demanded
for training together with the time
spent in games and trips, and what is
more incompatible with serious study,
the absorption of the man and his
companions in this one interest make
it impossible for the average student
to carry full, regular work and hold
place on the team. The fact that an
exceptional man now and then does
it should not blind college authorities
and parents and students to this sit
uation.
Either the conditions of the game
must be changed or the colleges must
recognize professionalism in student
sports Which shall it be2 I do not
consider either alternative a cafamit-
Gus evil; but I am very strongly of the
opinion that the public which sends
youth to school will demand that sport
remain sport and that it be not rec
ognized as a business. If college au-
thorities take this view of the matter
they must insist on such notifications
of the game and its surroundings as
win enable a good average student to
carry full work, at his best capacity as
a student, and also occupy a place on
the team. This is a matter of gradual
pairing down of those elements which
lead the student to regard playing the
means Stiffening of responsibility
and honesty in college faculties until
/ they cease to connive at and conceal
/ lax work or utter neglect of work in
the heroes of the team.
1t means a reduction of the number OF
/ outside games, with their attendant great
/ loss of time. 1t means a reduction of the
/ pomp and circumstances surrounding
! football especially and some modification
/ of the sentiment that the members of the
/ team who play honestly and wen are
/ serving their college more conspicuously
I than members of the debating clubs or the
| Greek classes who make especial attain
ment. Tt Is all these things together, and
/ especially the last that encourage the
| student to think he is warranted in max
| ing a business of his sport
Must Abolish All Coaching.
Finally, and in my Judgment most Vi
I tai, it means the abolition of the coach,
! hired or not hired. It is the coach who
sport Whether the players receive pay
or not, the coach is engaged to devote his
whole time to the work. to train them to
( devote their best energies to the play.
and to feel and make them feel that all
| are failures if they lose the games. Tt is
no reflection on the coach to say this.
We. know and he knows that this is what
he is hired for He may be, and in the
/ case Of Coach Kennedy am fully con-
WINGED that it is so, a gentleman and a
| clean handed sportsman. But he is judg-
ed by the winning losing of games. If
his team loses he is a failure
THE differences between amateur and
/ professional sport are largely those of de-
gree, yet in the average, and combined,
they are vital. Professionalism is bad for
college athletes because 1t demands an
undue amount of their time, because it
/ is usually attended by gambling and I'M
gentlemanly associations, because, through
the inOrdinate desire to win, it often leads
! to deception of the authorities, to unman-
" and ungenerous treatment of rivals, to
| cruelty and brutality. For instance. it
| was rumored that a visiting official had
| learned the secret of a rivals signals and
reported it to his friends. The profession
Al spirit unhesitatingly takes such an adj
/ vantage The amateur spirit would lead
| the captain to whom the secret was be
/ and allow him to change his signals. How
many who read this would consider such
captain a fool?
In the character of the game played
and the general spirit of the team. I be-
lieve that the University of Kansas has
reason to be much encouraged over the
season Just closed. But I believe that
most members of the team will agree
with my observations in regard to the ex-
cessive time and attention required by the
game as at present conducted"