December 28, 1977

Sports Stars Must Meet Higher Standards

Watch the Orange Bowl football game next Monday to see whether big-time sports is to begin an over due cleansing or continue a shameful white washing.

As a former sports writer, I have been sickened this past year with criminal violence and misconduct by athletes - on and off the field.

Hopefully, Lou Holtz, coach of the University of Arkansas, will stick to his guns and forbid three of his starters from playing against Oklahoma.  It would be a valuable example for coaches, college officials and team owners throughout the country.

Holtz suspended his players for a serious offense he will not name, although he is fully supported by the university administration.

It has become a sticky situation because the three players are black, and the American Civil Liberties Union has threatened to intervene legally on their behalf.  Nine other players threatened for a time to "with hold their participation" but finally agreed to play when an attorney for the suspended athletes "released them from their commitment."

The syndicated news services rather bluntly point out that a university co-ed was raped a few days before the suspensions but refuses to swear out a warrant.  This implies that the coaches and reporters are convinced of guilt but lack legal grounds for indictment.

The players assert that until there is a formal complaint, arrest and conviction, their civil rights are infringed.

And thereby hangs a moot issue.

Is participation in an athletic contest a right of the individual, or a privilege granted by a college?

If it is a right, then is that right conditional upon non-athletic conduct?

The liberal viewpoint is that behavior and personality - no matter how anti-social - is a matter of opinion; and boorish individuals can not be discriminated against simply because someone in authority disapproves.

Conservatives hold that athletes who perform in public, invite large audiences, and charge admission subordinate some personal rights in return for the opportunity to gain fame and fortune.

I say both contentions are technical and miss the main point - that sports figures have an obligation for decency beyond that of ordinary entertainers.

We teach sports in schools and colleges because we feel it instills important traits of character.  If sports does not build character then we should abolish school sports instantly.

Coach Holtz, therefore, has an obligation to suspend any player suspected of serious wrong doing while the matter is decided one way or the other.  He says the Razorbacks will play, with or with out the starters.

It is unfortunate that the press has speculated about the reasons for suspension.  It puts both the coach and players in awkward positions they may not deserve.

Nevertheless, the coddling of super-stars has got to come to an end, and it might as well start in Arkansas.

We have let name athletes get away with outrageous conduct the rest of us go to jail for.  They have been given free scholarships, soft jobs, spending money, easy grades, ego building and permissive rules.  It doesn't take much of this to convince any mortal he is divine.

Earlier this year Randy Crowder and Don Reese, former Miami Dolphin football starters, were busted for selling cocaine.  They received only a one-year jail sentence though they were caught red-handed selling a pound of the hard drug.  "Racial discrimination" blubbered the high salaried football stars.

Bernard King, an All-American basketball player at the University of Tennessee, was caught carrying a television set out of a dormitory late at night.  Previously he had been arrested for speeding and reckless driving and, on another occasion, for possession of marijuana.  In all three incidents, the charges were dropped, and King waltzed on to a professional career in the National Basketball Association.

Marvin Barnes ended a five-month jail term recently by playing the next day for the Detroit Pistons.  He had been placed on probation for beating up a team mate with a tire iron but was given a summer job as a youth counselor.  He lost that job and got the short jail term when he was caught carrying a gun in violation of his parole.

Jim Pettis, an American Hockey League player, was arrested just a few weeks ago for involvement in a naked, drunken brawl.

The sorry record of misdeeds by prominent athletes could be extended.  But the point is clear, the atmosphere for calm consideration of allegations is long gone.

There has been an epidemic of nasty, violent, criminal actions overlooked by indulgent sports authorities.

The ability of apes to lug a football, or of freaks to stuff a basket, is fast losing its entertainment appeal.

The preponderance of blacks on sports teams belies any charge of discrimination.  On the contrary, blackness seems to be a crutch justifying favoritism.

The issue is not one of black versus white, but of good citizenship versus intimidation.  Those aspiring to a special place in public esteem must meet the special responsibilities that go with such recognition.

The Orange Bowl could be an expression of determination to meet such higher standards.

Author: Lindsey Williams