Way back in 1905, 18 red-blooded American kids died from playing college football. In response, President Teddy Roosevelt — a member of the boxing team at Harvard who had commanded 10 former football players in the Rough Riders regiment — summoned representatives from football powerhouses Harvard, Yale and Princeton to the White House and told them to fix a sport that had gotten too rough. Roosevelt, a no-nonsense leader, gave the Ivy Leaguers a choice: Implement reforms, or Washington would get involved.
After two White House conferences, 62 schools formed the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States to try to make football safe. The forward pass was introduced. Mass formations and gang tackling were prohibited. Then, in 1910, the IAAUS became the NCAA.
So why is all this relevant nearly 100 years later?
Because kids are dying again on the gridiron. Just last year, two players — Eraste Autin of the University of Florida and Rashidi Wheeler of Northwestern — died after participating in summer conditioning drills. In the last two years, football has had a role in the deaths of seven young men (one professional, two college and four high school players).
The problem of safety in football has resurfaced, and if history is a guide, it’s time to do something about it.
The NCAA doesn’t seem to think so. All’s been quiet on the bureaucratic front as the governing body founded to preserve safety seems willing to let the issue slide by. In the Wheeler case, the only “action” taken by the NCAA was to acknowledge NU’s self-imposed penalty for committing a secondary NCAA violation. One has to wonder if the big wigs would have acted if NU hadn’t handled the issue internally.
But the folks in Indianapolis ought to take note: This problem isn’t fading away. Wheeler’s mother, Linda Will, has embarked on a crusade to prevent any more deaths. In addition to demanding the resignation of NU’s director of athletics and head football coach, Will is trying to make colleges legally obligated to ensure the safety of their student-athletes. Crazy? Perhaps, but ambition goes a long way in this country.
Rather than trying to get the NCAA moving, Will has taken her case to the political arena, beseeching U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., to help craft and promote the Rashidi Wheeler Bill. Will also has two of America’s most recognizable blowhards, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and attorney Johnnie Cochran, in her corner. When Cochran comes to Chicago to depose NU football coach Randy Walker, safety in college athletics will be back in the news.
Perhaps the NCAA will act when the case — one with no winners — is more sensationalized.
But there is hope. The hiring of former Indiana University President Myles Brand as NCAA president on Oct. 10 might be a prelude to addressing the safety issue. Brand knows a thing or two about standing up to intimidating coaches and alums. He was the one who pink-slipped Bob Knight after he violated a no-tolerance policy by grabbing an Indiana freshman who had addressed him disrespectfully. Brand is not afraid to draw the line to maintain safety. In short, he could be exactly what the NCAA has been missing.
In a letter to Boxer regarding the Wheeler Bill, Will advocates “background screening for coaches and trainers,” something that would be next to impossible for the NCAA to implement.
“What could the NCAA do with screening? What could you pick up about Knight?” said Paul Haagan, co-director of Duke’s Center for Sports Law and Policy. “It seems like an institution’s individual responsibility to pay attention to.”
Haagan is right. The truth is that several of Will’s proposed guidelines, such as mandatory safety equipment for practices and measures to ensure “appropriate physical and psychological treatment” of student-athletes, only can be settled by each school. But that doesn’t mean the NCAA can’t put heat on athletic directors.
Now is the time for the NCAA to preserve safety in college sports. It’s still a problem, and Jackson and Cochran shouldn’t be the ones trying to solve it. The authorities in Indy might want to recall what Roosevelt once told a high school football team: “In doing your work in the great world, it is a safe plan to follow this rule — a rule that I once heard preached on the football field — ‘Don’t flinch, don’t foul and hit the line hard.'”
Right now, the NCAA seems content to hide on the sideline.
Adam Rittenberg is a Medill senior. He can be reached at [email protected].
