19th Hole: The Readers Take Over

Sir:
Around here, 22 is not Elgin Baylor; 22 is Charlie ( Choo Choo) Justice.
FRANK B. AYCOCK III
Charlotte, N.C.

Sir:
As a high school quarterback at St. Joe's Prep in Philadelphia in 1951, I requested and received No. 41. This was a tribute to West Point superstar Glenn Davis, my boyhood idol—not because of his Heisman Trophy, but because he had dated Elizabeth Taylor.
JACK SCANLAN
Philadelphia

KEMP AND CREMINS
Sir:
Jan Kemp's story (This Case Was One For The Books, Feb. 24) should inspire all those educators who struggle daily to instill high academic standards in their students. At the same time, the University of Georgia's attitude toward her and her cause is yet another indication that there is a long, sorry list of institutions of higher learning that have prostituted themselves and sacrificed their standards in favor of winning teams, TV exposure, money and happy alumni.

Congratulations for taking a deep look behind the headlines. There are many of us out here in the hinterlands who are watching closely to see how other colleges and universities respond to this clear call for reform.
EUGENE J. SZATKOWSKI
South Burlington, Vt.

Sir:
Jan Kemp's court victory reminds us of what our colleges and universities should be: institutions of higher learning, not farm teams for professional sports. Of course, the onus still falls on our elementary and secondary schools for allowing so many of our young people to emerge from the system without a fundamental education.
JIM WHITTAKER
Utica, N.Y.

Sir:
The articles on Jan Kemp and Georgia Tech basketball coach Bobby Cremins (Keeping Cool Amid The Heat, Feb. 24) were obviously meant to be read in sequence.

As a North Carolina fan with a yearlong memory, I am not one to use "dumb" and " Cremins" in the same phrase. I also was not one to seriously consider the plight of a marginally admissible college athlete. It has been easier to believe that the kid from Sticks, Ala. or the streetwise kid from New York had truly received an "opportunity" when he was recruited by a major school. The picture Frank Deford painted of freshman Cremins not understanding "college" and wandering into "any" English class for freshman English, followed by the image of the recently graduated Cremins, with "no money, no car, nothing," finding "himself at a crossroads, sitting on his luggage, pondering whether to hitchhike north or south," brought home the real limits of this so-called opportunity. Cremins truly is a remarkable, capable man. He is also lucky.

What kind of satisfaction can there be for a coach or administrator who takes such an unprepared kid under his wing for athletic development, places him in a strange, unmanageable academic environment, allows him to fail and then, after four years of "college," turns him out, penniless and prepared only for an unreachable NBA or NFL? Success stories like Cremins's are obviously rare.
CHRISTIE PRICE
Raleigh, N.C.

Sir:
After reading the article, I wondered if Bobby Cremins ever received a degree from college.
JOHN L. CELICH
Aberdeen, Wash.

? Cremins was graduated from the University of South Carolina in 1970 with a B.S. degree in marketing.—ED.