Wake Forest baseball coach Tom Walter donated a kidney to one of his players Kevin Jordan. In the heart felt story, the freshmen outfielder learned he suffered from ANCA vasculitis, which can lead to kidney failure. Jordan had to be placed on dialysis and struggled to complete his first semester. After no one in his family was a match, Walter volunteered to be his donor…. but had to get it cleared with the NCAA first.
Under NCAA Manual, Article 16.03.3: “any special arrangement by an institutional employee or a representative of the institution’s athletics interests to provide a student-athlete or the student-athlete’s relative or friend a benefit not expressly authorized by NCAA legislation.”
According to Wake Forest Associate Athletic Director Todd Hairston, “The possibility crossed our mind, so we did our due diligence… When you look at the definition of an extra benefit I can see how that can cross someone’s mind. But it’s a student well-being issue, and that supersedes any concerns that people might have had.”
Walter calls the opportunity “divine intervention,” and college sports fans can rest easy that receiving a kidney or $100,000 to sign with a school’s football team is okay by the NCAA.
Posted in NCAA
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Tagged NCAA, Wake Forest
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Calling all non-athletic students… the University of Maryland has formed a competitive eating team. The club was formed last week by Keith Solomon who told AOL, “We are completly serious about this.”
Solomon founded the club in his freshmen year, and now in his junior year it has become official. Already, the club has 30 members. It is the first collegiate competitive eating team, but Solmon hopes it will soon be a scholastic sport.
“The University of Maryland motto is ‘Fear the Turtle,’” Solomon said. “Our motto is ‘Feed the Turtle.’”
Former NFL agent Josh Luchs dropped a bombshell in a recent Sports Illustrated article, admitting he paid college athletes money in hopes of signing them.
Luchs names over 30 players he allgedly bribed including Super Bowl MVP Santonio Holmes and New Orleans Saints tight end Jeremy Shockey. Ohio State opened an investigation on Holmes, who played for the Buckeyes from 2003-2006 . The college consulted with the NCAA and chose not to pursue the matter further.
While NCAA violations grab the headlines, veteran sports agent Ralph Cindrich said it is not as uncommon as you think. Cinrich told Pittsburgh’s 93.7 the Fan that 70% of college athletes take bribes.
I always had people around me telling me that I was highly naive, but I would suggest at this point that better than 70, 75 percent of the players have broken the rules
Cinrich remains adamant he has never violated any NCAA rules and believe the college recruiting culture must change.
I don’t think you can clean it up unless the whole system changes. I think it’s here and it’s always going to be here and it always was there. It just wasn’t as bad when I was coming through. Certainly, you didn’t have it in the same manner or fashion as you have it right now. … It does all start in college. It starts with coaches like [Nick] Saban out there, like [Urban] Meyer out there and the promises. Look, you don’t have to be a Rhodes scholar to know that when you go out into the parking lot of college players and you start seeing Range Rovers and Mercedes and all the rest that these guys didn’t pick it up in their summer employment.
