There is so much uneasiness about college football today, and while I am comfortable with paying the players, shouldn’t there be some guardrails and some respect for the grand ole game’s traditions?  Some structure and some overseeing body to bring about common sense regulation.  

One of the greatest tradeoffs in the history of this great nation is being able to play a sport for a free education in return.  Football was truly an amateur sport a little over a half century ago.  College players for the longest time did not know they had been drafted by a team in the National Football League until they got a phone call or a form letter from the team which had drafted them.

In the early spring of 1958, Jimmy Orr, who would become the Rookie-of-the-year that fall with the Pittsburgh Steelers, stopped by the downtown Varsity in Athens for a couple of chilidogs and a frosted orange; a fellow student told him he had been drafted.

America was about to be swept up in the excitement of NFL drama. Soon there were pre-game and post-game shows on television.  We couldn’t wait for the games to begin.  We knew the popular jingles when CBS went to breaks.

The Baltimore Colts announcer was Chuck Thompson and the Colt games were brought to us by Blatz Beer.

I’m from Milwaukee and I ought to know,

It’s draft brewed Blatz beer wherever you go,

Smoother, fresher, less filling, that’s clear,

Blatz is Milwaukee’s finest beer.

CBS was in its heyday with the New York Giants winning or contending for conference championships every year.  Chris Schenkel called the Giant games and Johnny Lujack was his original color man.  (Do you remember that Schenkel briefly attended the Statesboro school which was, at the time, called Georgia Southern Teachers College.)

Now look at what we have with the NFL today with rich owners getting richer with streaming bringing them more money than they can count.  Have you ever thought about what the NFL does for college football in the way of financial support?  The same amount that you contribute to Vladimir Putin’s retirement fund.  

Yet they are the beneficiaries of what amounts to what baseball calls its farm system.  The Big-League teams have to underwrite the cost of their minor leagues while the colleges train the players at no expense to NFL teams.

Over the years, I have enjoyed friendships with countless NFL, coaches, scouts, administrators, and players.  They enjoy great relations with the colleges who have been eager to train talent for them.  It is not, however, an equitable arrangement.  Some of the NFL’s riches should “stream” into the collegiate coffers.

Kids are so eager to get to the “League” that they no longer appreciate the value of their scholarship which will give them a degree if they truly want it. In all too many cases, a large percentage of college football players will need that degree at some point.

We all know about the many kids who do both—achieve a degree and bank their NFL income into a nice nest egg.  So many fail to take advantage of the classroom experience which means that when their NFL riches subside, they often don’t have any means of survival.

The college experience is such a wonderful sojourn.  Walking to class in the spring when the flowers are in full bloom, and in October when the leaves turn.  This environment is so exhilarating.   I still enjoy walking from the Arch to South campus and remembering the days when I was a student who was earning a degree and was the beneficiary of a partial athletic scholarship.  

I had to supplement my scholarship with odd jobs, but it was so much fun that I can’t imagine what my life would have been like if that had not come about.

There was no NFL in my future.  There was no NIL income, but I obtained a degree and had a wonderful and meaningful experience.  Life on campus and in Athens was so alluring and addictive, I found a way to make my home in the Classic City.

I don’t begrudge the current kids who need saddle bags to carry around their money, but I lament that they miss out on the electric and fulfilling campus experience.