The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1939-1949, 1940-01-18

Nv Cra,,tland Rice
The Danger Zone Pay for
College Football Players De-
hated Reasonable Bounds
And the Commercial Side.

800 of some 400 famous football
..a.. and athletic directors from
eU = svsr the map. I have been trying
!. s.t some group to answer one or
S,,e.tions-"Has football moved
w. w.. The danger zone Of PROSECUTING
% .nJ nav for athletes?" Has the
-. commercial side grown too impor'
tant?" An ,o, +heir mi.
..;t;e. give a certain number OF
,..,etic scholarships and try to pro
s;de iobs-but nothing more. Yet
~ !. : well-known fact that any
,, : Of universities or their ath-
, n. associations have from $4,000
.es,s 600 to help roundup, corral and
s.ntrre star high school talent from
coast to coast.
The pursuit of the elusive ball car
IL. The crack forward passer or
The big linemen emerging from
school play is the keenest I've ever
seen.
There Is another school Of thought
.,.t believes the football player
doesn't get nearly enough. They
81, Won he furnishes the battered
NV fer the billion-dollar industry.
rye found no coach who believes
!, having any football player any
form Of salary. Yet in one way or
another, know many are paid. 1t
!, entirely too complicated for my
limited brain. .....
Maybe there isn't any real danger
zone. But football is too great a
came. it affects directly too many
American kids, including the high
schools. to move along unguarded.
The count goes into the millions.
One answer may be the different
conferences. .:.....
As it is now the Ivy league has
cone into a covey Of its own. It
rarely leaves the fold. Try to slip
some outsider into an Ivy league
contest. The Big Ten has done
about the same, outside of playing
Notre Dame, and members of the
Big Six. ... ...--
As one Of the Ivy league coaches
told me, 1--WE have Harvard, Yale.
Princeton, Cornell, Pennsylvania,
Dartmouth, Columbia, Brown, Army
and Navy. Syracuse and Colgate
are O. K. Who else do we need?
We can't play everybody" #
The Pacific conference and the
Southwest are hanging together.
They play most of their games
among themselves. -
In spite of all this, I have found
q strong feeling Of distrust when it
comes to the matter Of PROSECUTING
and taking care Of star players.
In the last few weeks I've COW
cred several thousands Of square
miles through hot football territory
Today almost all territory is football
hot.
I've heard over 40 stories of high
school stars offered board, lodging,
scholarships, and fairly substan-
tial wage. l know part of this is
bunk. ! also know part of it is true
> Almost every high school kid likes
to boast of the offers he has had.
Most OF them are baloney. But not
all OF them. A kid likes to brag.
l asked one veteran athletic di-
rector just how much money he fig
ured colleges were putting out or
giving away for football talent, one
way or another. tEz5@.. IN
There are only about 100 colleges
Or universities" he said, (which can
AFFORD to meet the competition.
Their funds range from $4,000 year
70 s2O,OOO a year. My guess would
De around $l,0OO,0OO. This isn't so
much when you figure $1,000, 900 PEG.
PIE look at football each fall-that
football is easily a billion-dollar
game Tor all concerned-colleges,
noteis, railroads, planes, tickets and
20 on"
ane main fault goes back to the
eoneges and the universities. The
directing people are the ones who
nave turned football into a billion
oonar industry: They are the ones
VINO nave stood back of all the bowls
sno stadia. They are the respon-
sloie people. 1t is something border
s On a crime to start blaming the
coaches.
al give you one answer that will
.eip some." prominent athletic di-
.ec'or said. Pass a rule that no
Fan can play over two men who
nVe over 300 miles away from the
university they play for. Don't think
VS. get fooled when we see teams
M eight or ten players on the
suao Who come from 800 to 1,5oO
q these"
sun mink the main answer has
-: De on the scholastic or scholar.
ap SIDE. This is where the final
sresatlng will take place.
,;. "no run our colleges and univer.
- presidents and boards of
.ustees-or the football coaches and