My involvement in college sport spans thirty-five years, and my experiences as
an athlete, an advocate for athletic reform, a college professor, and an NCAA
faculty athletics representative have focused my attention on the issue of sport
in higher education. In the mid-1960s I attended the University of Notre
Dame on a football scholarship. As a member of Ara Parseghian's 1966 national
championship football team, I had opportunities that most young athletes can
only dream about. ¹

My last football game was against the University of Southern California
before a sellout crowd of over 100,000 spectators in the Los Angeles Coliseum.
We won 51 to 0. The night before the game, the team was invited to a private
screening of a film that was about to be released by Universal Studios. Robert
Mitchum, one of the stars of the movie, joined us in the screening room and
talked with the players as if we were old friends. I leaned back in the soft leather
seats, watched the movie, and marveled at how well football players are
sometimes treated.

During my four years at Notre Dame, I traveled first class and stayed in
luxury hotels. I remember meals on the road where the choice was steak or
lobster. Wherever we stayed we were treated as celebrities. During one trip the
pilot even altered our flight plan just so that we would get a better aerial view
of the Grand Canyon. I can well understand why other college students,
especially female college athletes, who often carpooled to games at their own
expense, resented what they perceived to be the privileged lives of big-time
college athletes.

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