The Wilmington morning star., 1947-01-28
As Pegler Sees 1t
BY WESTBROOk PEGLER
copyright by King Features Syndicate, Inc.)

Copyright by King Features Syndicate, Inc.
Father Cayanaugh, of Notre Dame, ane
, other educators could promote understanding
and allay suspicion by explaining to the pub
lie just what they mean by amateurlSm II
sports, especially football, and revealing the
terms on which football players are engaged
Insinuati1as are out of my line so | do no
mean to inSinuate that Notre Dame hires OF
pays football players or ever did. But many
college presidents long ago adopted a distinc
ton between hiring and pay, on the one
hand, and ''encouras cement" and assistance"
on the other. which has seemed to smack Of
those tax-evasions which the late President
Roosevelt condemned as ''clever little
schemes having the "color of legality" 10
me, an amateur in spor S is a player who
completes, not solely for fun, as the dictior-
aries insist, but for fun and to prove his
hardy Insecurity, and courage. Finding my
self embarrassed just here as to the distin-
guished female amateurs such as Gertrude
Ederle, who swan the channel in a gale, !
shall have to sci aside a ladies-day at some
future time, to deal with them.
If Notre Dame does waive the cost Of the
tuition and--or board Of a football player in
return for his playing then, in my opinion. he
is working his way through school, football
is his job and he is not an amateur but a
professional. l hold the same if he must play
football to qualify for paid employment at a
working Job or a fake job. Father Cavandugh
may hold otherwise. although l do not assert
that he does or that Notre Dame engages
football players on these terms. l have no
doubt that if so he would be willing to say
so and defend his position. And he is one who
could do it in such manner as to estao''sh IN
the public mind a new conception OF anna
teurism, dispel GOSSIP and skepticism. and.
either persuade us fun" nentalists or seno
us on our way to the bean-bag and hop
scotch tournanen ts
confess that il a long career as a writer
of sport to which l came equipped with a
formidable set of doubts, l came across few
provable cases of professionalism, but l am
still convinced that professionalism was. as
we often said, rampant in collegiate football.
Our trouble then. as mine has continued to
be in the field Of cosmic commentary, that
the players, like the covert communists OF
our politics. took a negative position.
Many Of them, being young and OF pllable
mind. adopted a convenient and extreme DEF
milton OF professionalism and. because they
did not line up at some pay window and sign
the roll, could be technically pure in heart.
So. too, we have had in our government since
1888. and in the union movement, many indi-
viduals who accept a hair : line distinction,
drawn by the Supreme Court, which holds
that a person is not a communist until ne
openly advocates the destruction of the gov
eminent by violence. He is not a communist
even though he may advocate violence for
other purposes which might achieve that IL
licit end incidentally and, of course. uninten-
tionally. Both these amateurs and these non
communists are secretive. however, and put
the burden of proof on us.
The ensuing sentence is rather long but II
comes from a recent speech by Father CaVa-
naugh and seems to me to middle rather than
clarity the case:
''When we in American sports hold the win
ner under suspicion merely because he is a
winner" he said I'VE discredit many of the
fine qualities that have made football i1splr-
ing the will to win, extraordinary school
spirit and devotion. observance OF training
rules and indefatigable devotion on the part
of coaches and players to the game-then we
come sperilously close to the kind OF dismal
thinking that stigmatizes with suspicion the
man who achieves outstanding success"
don't believe, although Father Cavanaugh
seems to have reason to. that Notre Dame
has been suspect merely because Notre Dame
has been successful. I do agree, however.
that suspicion has existed and suggest that
it may be due to a possible difference be-
tween Father Cavanaugh's definition of anna
teurism and that of the purist or, If you
want to be rough. the prig.
We NAV be using the same term for two
different things.
If Notre. Dame does assist players in
ways that some of us would regard as incor.
rect, a statement of a few typical cases would
present the issue and this initiative would en-
courage the Other schools to make similar
disclosures and establish a new and modern
definition of amateurism. | doubt that it would
be necessary to go into the subject Of recruit
ing Or announcement as to Notre Dame
because ever since the end of the first war to
end war Notre Danes problem has been one
of selection rather than seduction.
Just what is the code of amateurism, any
way?
One evening years ago at the Mayelower
in Washington Huey Long boosted to Grant.
land Rice and me that in order to get a
tackle from a military academy in Missouri
to play on Louisiana State he had to take the
whole line of this extraordinary prep school
team. He brought them down to Baton Rouge
and gave them mock jobs for the summer. i'll
the State highway department and other bu'
reaus of his dictatorship and gave one Of
them Quarters in the official mansion then
occupied by his governor, oscar Allen. For
various reasons they failed to make good SO
the investment didn't pay out. This was flag
rant cynical professionalism. but Huev was
q good iswver and he made a good case for
he amateurisu of these athletes. | doTbt that
Fat, ~ Csvanaugh could have defeated his
arguments.
REMEMBER ROOVER?
Since all the talk in connection with the
lRepuhlicep nomination in 1948 seems to center
Fr-fs yy-- rho -N- - =-,