Nine Points For Survival

In concluding their survey on the college football crisis, the editors of SPORTS ILLUSTRATED and Herman Hickman carefully weighed all the facts and opinions which came in as a result of their interviews and questionnaires. Beyond that, we have tried, as we promised at the beginning of this series, to consider football's problems in the context of the game. We believe that these are changes which are necessary and can be practically accomplished; changes that will serve the cause of college football as it is played in America today and help to preserve it in the name of the sportsmanship which should always be associated with it.

1 Each prospective football player in order to obtain an athletic scholarship must be qualified for admission the same as any other student.

Some suggestions have been made that a national test should be given, such as the college board examinations, in order to standardize admissions. We feel that this is completely impracticable because of the varying degree of secondary school standards in different sections of the country and also the wide range of requirements for admissions at different institutions. Admission standards must be left to the individual institution, and in any case be no lower than the conference level.

2 The applicant must show economic need.

It should be the duty of each institution to check thoroughly the financial status of the athlete's family and their ability to pay his college expenses. In no case should he be given more aid than needed.

3 Each player should receive through regular institutional channels, and only through these channels, sufficient financial aid to take care of his normal college expenses such as board, room, tuition and fees, books, laundry and dry cleaning.

The individual college should make up a budget of necessary expenses of a regular student, and this criterion should be the amount of the athletic scholarship awarded. The amount in dollars and cents will vary from institution to institution and from conference to conference, but in any case it must not be above the actual expenses as certified by the college. If this procedure is followed it will do away with much of the bickering such as is going on in the Pacific Coast Conference about the difference in the cost of living in Los Angeles and Corvallis, Oregon.

4 All other financial aid, except that outlined in No. 3, is prohibited.

The prohibition includes promise of financial aid beyond the minimum time required for a student to complete his allowable athletic competition, and outside aid and outside jobs, except jobs during the summer and during the school vacations, for which the pay is not greater than that received by other people doing the same kind of work. Any outside rewards or inducements to athletes or prospective athletes, such as gifts of money, clothes, lavish entertainment, loans or acting as sureties for loans, shall be considered as excessive financial aid and be prohibited.

5 The acceptance of any aid, except that outlined in No. 3, shall result in immediate expulsion of the student involved.