Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-10-16
Big Ten Study
Cites Danger in
Offer System
SeIfCriticOl Report
Warns Athletic Aid
Gets Out Of Hand

Gets Out Of Hand
CHICAGO, Oct. is DIN
Ia frank and self critical report
which was meant to be a secret
within the Big Ten, a special
conference committee ripped
into athletic aid practices with
la warning that the Western
Conference could some day be-
come a farm system for profess
|sional sports.
The report. disclosed yester-
day, was drafted by q committee
|set up last December and headed
by Commissioner Kenneth l..
(Tug) Wilson. It called work.
aid programs for athletes ian
invitation to hypocrisy and de-
|ceit."
Financial help to athletes
has reached Staggering pro-
portions" it said.
The two-part, 24-page report
half dealing with facts and
half with opinions of the COM
mittee - was put together by
Wilson, Assistant Commissioner
Bill Reed: Michigan Athletic
Director Fritz Crisler: Wiscon-
sin Athletic Director Ivy VIII
|liamson and Faculty Represen-
tatives Leslie w. Scott of Michi-
gan State and Verne c. Free
man Of Purdue.
Warns Of Misunderstanding
Wilson warned the report
could easily be misunderstood
without full appreciation Of its
purpose and background"
He said the report was in
tended for private distribution
within the Big Ten and its gem
eral release had been decided
upon because Of a proposed
publication Of a paraphrase In
a national magazine.
Under the facts section the
report criticizes the ''offer" sys-
tenn and runs right on through
recruiting and subsidization.
Each conference school," the
report states, sis on a definite
offer basis, meaning that the
recruitment activity is ac-
companied by financial assist
ance (promised work and /or
scholarship.
Staggering Rise
1.-THE scope of financial SUBJ
sides to conference athletes,
earned and unearned Scholar
ships, has increased In stagger-
ing proportions in the past dec
ade /. from SAT in 1913 to-
$3.50 in 1855 average amount Of
aid per athlete) -.
THE work-aid program has
developed purposefully as sub
sidization device under the
offer system and limitations
upon unearned aid AS such
it is an invitation to hypocrisy
and deceit unless there is COM
plete insistence upon full work
for compensation received, and
there is not
The report goes into detail
concerning recruiting practices
in which athletes actually are
shopping in their campus visits
Also coming under criticism
was reliance upon alumni to-
contacts and arrange
campus visits for athletes. The
report said entertainment of
prospective athletes for the cur
rent year averages nearly $1,000
and runs as high as $13.600 per
school.
Could Become Pro Farms
And this, in part, is the COM
mittee's opinion of what might
come about if the practices are
not curtailed:
1.-THE Big Ten may well form
a functional arrangement in the
nature Of q farm system with
professional sports.
1.-THE distinction between inter-
collegiate sports and professional
sports viii become so invisible
that public support will shift to
The latter because its caliber Of
competition and spectacle does
not suffer from even the limited
upon intercollegiate
sports. and the resulting H.
chaos will force aban-
donment of the intercollegiate
program :"
In his comment on the report,
Wilson called the "offer system"
the core of athletic problems.
Back Change In Rules
1.-THE system" he said, sis to-
day universal and involves in
tense recruitment Of prospective
athletes accompanied by prom
ises of financial assistance. The
assistance may be entirely legal,
but the competition for prospects
which goes with the offer system
also creates pressures for irn-
proper aid"
Wilson said Big Ten faculty
representatives and athleGic di-
rectors Endorsed in principle oil
change in financial aid regula-
See BIG TEN, Page ca