College Sports

Deep into the nineteenth century, the United States of America industrialized rapidly. Because of this, American institutions diffused through competitive values of the marketplace. This ruthless environment attacked amateurism in American schools which was vital in collegiate sports. In 1905, The National Collegiate Athletic Association was created, which by this time, professionalism had flourished uncontrollably. As years went on, the “myth” of amateurism rose. This myth was created by the NCAA and quickly demoralized the American education. For my paper, I will support my argument by using former student-athletes Ellen J. Staurowsky and Allen Sack, who make an argument of their own in their book titled, College Athletes for Hire: The Evolution and Legacy of the NCAA's Amateur Myth that professionalism replacing amateurism has destroyed the educational value of college. Both believe the myth of being amateur began to exploit student athletes as employees to their school, because of the pressure from the NCAA to make sure schools were benefiting scholarship athletes. With both authors having their own college athletic experience, it helps support their argument towards the myth, also, stating valid points on why the NCAA has taken away the educational moral from student athletes by reminiscing on their time as athletes. Sack played football at Notre Dame, a Division I school, where everything was covered financially by the athletic department. On the other hand, Staurowsky, a female athlete, attended a small college by the name of Ursinus. She was misfortunate and received no athletic scholarships and even had to pay for traveling expenses at some points. Drawing upon the argument of Sack and Staurowsky in their book College At...

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...l of the code, major universities went shopping to buy teams that would win games. Within 1955 through 1956, colleges like Auburn, Georgia Tech, and Florida awarded over one hundred full scholarships.

Works Cited

Brown, Gary T. "The NCAA News - News and Features." The NCAA News: News & Features. N.p., 22 Nov. 1999. Web. 25 Nov. 2013.

John R. Thelin, Games Colleges Play: Scandal and Reform in Intercollegiate Athletics (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994), 28-31.

John T. Wolohan, Book Review: College Athletes for Hire: The Evolution and Legacy of the NCAA's Amateur Myth, 10 Marq. Sports L. J. 161 (1999)

Joseph K. Hart, “The Faculty Loses the Ball,” The Survey 49 ( 1 December 1922): 304.

Sack, Allen L., and Ellen J. Staurowsky. College Athletes for Hire: The Evolution and Legacy of the NCAA's Amateur Myth. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1998.