THE PROBLEM of unfairness and unequal opportunity for potential participants in college athletics doesn't lie in the minimum eligibility standards set by the NCAA.

It's not that easy.

The problem lies in the failure of this nation's high schools to adequately educate students so they can meet the admission requirements at the colleges and universities where they want to compete. Oh, and hopefully get an education at the same time.

It lies with the universities that would be more than happy to turn a blind eye, if they could, to a potential star's dismal academic record in order to get him in pads and cleats and on the field.

It lies with a nation so obsessed with sports that it instills in too many minority and low-income children the misguided belief that the only way up and out is to become a professional athlete.

The recent ruling by U.S. District Judge Ronald Buckwalter to throw out the National Collegiate Athletic Association's system of using standardized test scores, grade-point averages and a prescribed list of 13 core courses as criteria for athletic eligibility has the collegiate world once again struggling with what yardstick to use to ensure that more student athletes graduate.

Money machines

"Student athletes" -- now there's an oxymoron on far too many college campuses these days. Let's face it: For many universities, "student athletes" are little more than money machines wearing Nikes. Earning a diploma ranks behind yards gained or dunks slammed in the revenue-producing sports. A winning football or basketball team means money.

When the NCAA created Proposition 48 in 1986, which metamorphosed into Proposition 16 in 1992, the organization had the best of intentions. Graduation rates for NCAA participants were unacceptable, and the association looked for a method to help ensure that more student athletes finished their college days with a degree.

But Judge Buckwalter, whose ruling should not have come as a surprise to the NCAA, determined that the system "disproportionately impacted" African-American students and those from low-income families.

Frankly, I get heartburn over the idea of a sports association, which has become something of a profit-making athletic cartel in these days of multimillion-dollar broadcast contracts, dictating which courses my kid has to take as a high school student before she can play ball and receive a scholarship.

If the state of Texas determined that my child did the course work necessary to earn a diploma, and a college somewhere accepts her based on the academic records it received from her, that should be more than sufficient for the NCAA's purposes of granting eligibility.

But what do I know? I was a walk-on freshman to the volleyball team at the University of Kansas in 1974. The NCAA eligibility requirements then were a high school diploma and a 2.0 GPA. No 13 core courses, no minimum SAT score.

This nation is not bereft of universities that are doing the right thing and still creating strong sports programs.

The bottom line for whatever eligibility standard is finally set by the NCAA is that honorable institutions are going to do the right thing, and the not-so-honorable ones are going to find a million ways around the rules.

Cheating's origins

And it isn't just the universities finding ways to circumvent the rules. The cheating starts back in high school for many students -- and their parents.

An underground railroad exists for talented athletes who may not live in the right attendance zone to play for the winning high school that's going to attract the eye of the right recruiters. So Johnny moves in with his cousins to get around eligibility rules.

There's a bigger problem in America than who's getting college athletic scholarships and whether an academic non-qualifier has to sit out his freshman year and is only eligible to play for three years.

As a culture, we perpetuate the fairy tale that everyone who wants to be Michael Jordan has more than a gnat's chance of making it.

The fantasy starts as early as Little League, where playing for the sake of playing is replaced with win-at-all-cost pressure. We glorify the increasingly younger players who go from high school into the pros. We make heroes out of professional athletes, some of whom in all honesty aren't very decent human beings.

A 1997 survey taken by the Center for the Study of Sport in Society reported that 66 percent of all African-American youth believe they will become professional athletes.

Although I would never advocate crushing a child's dream, somebody is failing these kids by not opening up their minds to a back-up plan, like getting an education on the off chance that they aren't the next Michael Jordan.

That is the unfairness and inequity in athletics today.

Jill "J.R." Labbe is senior editorial writer and columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Pub Date: 3/22/99