Reconnecting College Athletics to the University - Gerry Medina

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the word ‘Amateur’ as an admirer, “one who engages in a pursuit, study, science, or sport as a pastime rather than as a profession,” and as “one lacking in experience and competence in an art or science”(www.merriam-webster.com). The same dictionary defines the word ‘professional’ as someone “participating for gain or livelihood in an activity or field of endeavor often engaged in by amateurs,” and as “having a particular profession as a permanent career”(www.merriam-webster.com). Indeed they are complete opposites, as an amateur is someone who might dabble in a number of things but never really focuses their entire life’s efforts towards mastering them, as opposed to a professional, who picks one thing they might be particularly good at and perfects their skills at it, potentially creating a life-sustaining career from it. The history of college athletics is marked by a transition from an amateur style of play, to a seemingly professional style of play.

The earliest history of the American university came equipped with some form of sport. As early as the 1800’s, Harvard held Football games between their 1^st and 2^nd years (Sack & Staurowsky, p.17).  In those times, the management of sports on college campuses “was totally in the hands of undergraduates. Participants generally paid for their own expenses”(Sack & Staurowsky, p.18), and sports were pursued solely for “recreation and diversion”(Sack & Staurowsky, p.17). This was the true nature of an amateur spirit; playing solely for recreation and for one’s physical health and well-being. If a student wanted to witness a sporting event, they had to participate in one. Staying true to the competitiveness of American culture, soon enough schools began to pit their teams against each other; still the spirit was amateur and no real practice or preparation for sporting events ever took place. The first intercollegiate sporting event was a rowing match in which Harvard beat Yale in 1852 (Sack & Staurowsky, p.17). 1869 brought the first Football game, in which Rutgers won over Princeton (Zimbalist, p.20). The industrial revolution, and the advancement of railroads, allowed for this match to happen. It also allowed for growing cities, and the working people that lived in them, who began to see a rise in their expendable income and leisure time, to travel to attend sporting events. Certainly, sports promoters saw an opportunity for profit, and the commercialization of college athletics began (Sack & Staurowsky, p.18-19). Competition created the need for practice, and the need to focus on one sport, and the move from amateurism to professionalism was underway.

So what happens when college athletics moves from an amateur spirit, to a more professional style of play like we have today? First, we lose mass participation. When students used to attend sporting events to participate, now students attend sporting events to watch. Second, we lose the focus on the student. Sports on college campuses were initially meant for recreation and for students to better their health. Now the focus in college athletics, most frequently in the revenue sports of Basketball and Football, can often turn to the institution or the coach, as “television announcers commonly frame a game in college football as a battle between two brilliant football coaches. The student-athletes are essentially replaceable cogs in a program built by the football coach”(Toma, p.247). Finally, we overemphasize the importance of college athletics on a university campus. This is justified by the kind of spending that occurs in athletic departments, especially when it comes to paying coaches. The two highest salaries for state employee’s in California are UCLA’s Men’s Basketball coach Ben Howland and UC Berkeley’s Head Football coach Jeff Tedford, at 2.1 and 2.8 million dollars a year respectively (sacbee.com).

The question here is not whether sports belong on a college campus. We are too far into a very important and rich tradition of sports on college campuses to question that. The question is, how do we reconnect college athletics to the mission of a university? We don’t have to necessarily bring college sports back to the true amateur ideal, but we must bring the focus back to the students. Moving outside the box for a bit, large sporting events where hundreds of students gather to watch are a great opportunity to give information on bettering ones health. Whether that be through tips throughout the game, or participation in a half-time aerobics class for the crowd. It is important participation is brought back to the general student population. It is also important that we question how money is being spent, especially for coaching salaries that create overly powerful coaches. Where do we go from here? College sports as they are will be permanent fixtures on campuses for ages to come, but we must do a better job at reconnecting them to the missions of our universities. 

Sack, A., Staurowsky, E. (1998). The Decline of the Amateur Spirit. College Athletes for Hire:   The Evolution and legacy of the NCAA’s Amateur Myth. (pp.77-111).

Zimbalist, A. (1999). The Student as Athlete. Unpaid Professionals. (pp.16-53).

Toma, J.D. (2003). Amateur Ideals and Commercial Realities: Understanding the American University and the Future of College Sports. Football U: Spectator Sports in the Life         of the American University. (pp.245-279).

(2012). Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com

(2012). Search for State Worker’s Salaries. The Sacramento Bee. Retrieved from        http://www.sacbee.com/statepay/