19th Hole: The Readers Take Over

TIPOFF
Sirs:
Resentment dominated my first reaction to the statements regarding the Eastern College Athletic Conference and myself as its commissioner contained in your SCORECARD item, "In a Fix" (March 4). This emotion was quickly dwarfed by shock in the realization that a magazine of SI's reputability would print this information without giving opportunity for rebuttal to parties maligned.

I have never said to anyone that the ECAC is lax or frivolous or discriminatory in the application of its rules (such faulty stewardship definitely does not exist). I have never given permission for undergraduate athletes to participate in noncollegiate or outside competition (that is the function of the individual college athletic director, acting under pertinent ECAC regulations). Though readily available at office and home, I was not consulted by an SI representative concerning the accuracy of the damaging material published. I decline nomination as "Uncle Asa."
ASA BUSHNELL
New York City

Sirs:
This past summer I was league director for the YMCA's summer basketball program. On June 13, 1967, before our league was to begin play, I placed a call, person to person, to Asa S. Bushnell, ECAC commissioner. The purpose of the call was to find out if college basketball players with eligibility remaining could participate in summer basketball leagues and whether participation in the league with professional basketball players would affect eligibility. Mr. Bushnell told me of the rule in the ECAC bylaws on noncollegiate competition, Article 3, Section 6, governing off-season play. He indicated that although the rule existed it was not being enforced by the ECAC. Mr. Bushnell also said that college players with eligibility remaining would not be affected by the participation of professional basketball players in the same league, so long as the college players and professional players were not on the same team. Charles Fix played in our summer basketball league only after I told him of my conversation with Mr. Bushnell.
JOHN MARSH
Assistant Physical Director, YMCA
Binghamton, N.Y.

MARAVICH OR MURPHY?
Sirs:
Curry Kirkpatrick's article (The Coed Boppers' Top Cat, March 4) vividly describes "Pistol Pete" Maravich, but it fails to mention certain statistics that are vital in determining whether he is actually a budding superstar. LSU, by creating a team that revolves around one player, might win a national scoring title for Maravich, but it will win nothing close to a national championship.
PHILIP ISRAELS
STEVE SINGER
Berkeley, Calif.

Sirs:
Your article on Pete Maravich was a fine one. However, when Maravich does score 45 points, he makes a great deal of them from in close to the basket, whereas Calvin Murphy rarely shoots from closer than 20 feet. If both Murphy and Maravich were to play pro ball, which would you select? A man who at 6'5" would be just too short to play forward and not quick enough to be a shooting guard? Remember the pros are just a little bit bigger and faster than Maravich. Murphy, with his great speed, would be able to shoot from 20 to 25 feet out, while Maravich would not score as readily from that distance.
BLAIR J. CIKEIN
New Concord, Ohio

BLACK AND WHITE
Sirs:
If the purpose of Professor Harry, Edwards' NYAC boycott (Boycott Now—Boycott Later? Feb. 26) was to protest separatist policies of the New York Athletic Club and if South Africa's apartheid really upsets him so, why does he make such equally racist remarks as, "We're here to keep the blacks out, not go in and join the damn whites," and "I think we should go up to Harlem and be with our brothers"?

Harry's logic seems inconsistent. He appears to be advocating the same thing he's protesting. How does one advance the cause of integrated athletics by preaching separatism?
AL WARD
Glen Cove, N.Y.

NORTHERN LIGHT
Sirs:
Re Mark Mulvoy's story (If You Love Me, Tell Me So, Feb. 26), please be advised that northwestern Minnesota's cultural, educational, commercial, social, religious and political center is pleased to be given recognition by so eminent a publication as SPORTS ILLUSTRATED. We accept with appropriate modesty the appellation of hockey capital of the U.S. The graduates of our hockey program have graced the ranks of U.S. Olympic and Ivy League teams and have brought prestige and honor to those teams, not only with their superior athletic skill, but also with their obvious cultural and educational endowments. We are distressed by the inference in the article that we articulate in ungrammatical terms and are less than fashionably attired, either at home or abroad. Long ere this the vernacular suffered demise through innocuous desuetude, and gaudy adornment has succumbed and been replaced with impeccable good taste. Even Minneapolis displays more provincialism than does this friendly city of the north country.
DR. A. E. JACOBSON, Mayor
Thief River Falls, Minn.

PROFESSIONAL AGENTS
Sirs:
We read with interest your SCORECARD article on March 4 titled, "Taking a Cut."

Before agents entered the picture, college football players were usually represented by themselves or people with no previous experience in dealing with pro clubs. When Pro Sports negotiates a contract, we take several factors into consideration: how high on the list the player was drafted; the position for which he was drafted in relation to the club's need for a player in that position; and the player's ability and potential drawing power.