European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 30, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                \ cackling coaches miss the Point graduation Clarence Page wish the Black College basketball coaches who Aye been raising such a fuss Over How Man scholarships they can offer aspiring athlete would aim some of their rage at a More disturbing Point How few of their student ath letes graduate. With the support of some White coaches the Black coaches association became enraged Over a recent decision by the National collegiate athletic association s College presidents and athletic directors not to Back Down on the Cost cutting move to reduce the number of basketball scholarships from 15 to 13. That s a loss of 660 scholarships nationwide. The coaches threatening a Boycott or other dra Matic action wanted half of those scholarships Back. Otherwise they argued 330 students would be robbed of a Chance to get a decent education. At a time when we re talking about helping kids avoid a life of crime we should be talking about More scholarships not less i heard one basketball coach plead on television one night. Of but let s not Stop there. Let s not just talk about How Many players get into College but also How Many have diplomas in their hands when they leave. " the number who Don t is appalling. Even while the coaches moaned sports fans could find the other Side of the Story on Newsstands in emerge a nation Al Black oriented news Magazine which lists in its december january Issue the Bottom 50," a Dishon or Roll of the 50 Large Mcaa division i universities that graduated the fewest Black basketball players within six years. A and guess what a startling 44 out of the 50 schools did not graduate a single Black basketball player who started his freshman year Between 1983 and 1987. Three of them Akron Hawaii and Texas at Elpaso failed to graduate any Black players while graduating 100 percept of their White counterparts. For the record 15 of the 50 schools did not Grad uate any White players either not counting historically Black colleges. \ the tragedy is that it does t have to be this Way. The Honor Roll of exceptions at the other end includes North Carolina s Dean Smith who saw 83 percent of his Black players and 88 percent of his White players graduate while his men s basketball team maintained the most wins of All time and won last year s Mcaa championship. It also includes Georgetown s John Thompson who ranked 14th in wins while 80 percent of his Black players received degrees within six years. Most Black kids that Are athletes Are very competitive people and if you put them in a competitive academic situation they re going to compete there As Well the University of Mississippi s Rob Evans told emerge. He saw 100 percent of his men s basketball team Black and White graduate in six years  so so Many robust americans scoff at the notion that student athlete like cheerleader scholarship needs to be anything More than an oxymoron. The coaches Are tickled to Trot out Blue rib Bon squeaky clean colleagues like Georgetown s Thompson whenever they need to show off their Best and brightest. Thompson was there dutifully to meet with the congressional Black caucus to avoid a coaches Boycott. But we make a mistake when we let coaches or anyone else Praise scholarships As if they were some kind of social do gooder program. Actually scholarships Are used to recruit unpaid Talent that earns millions for colleges in return for a shot just a narrow shot at the pros and megabucks even though the Odds of their making that pantheon of sports stardom Are about As Good As those of winning a state lottery. Of the 13,000 players in the Mcaa there Are John Thompson s hoyas do land degrees. Some 2,600 eligible seniors competing to fill Only 64 professional slots in the National basketball association. Those who Don t plan ahead to have a fall Back career of some sort besides parking cars or stealing cars Are sadly fooling themselves. Emerge found former Creighton University player Kevin Ross working As a janitor and living with his parents in Kansas City. You May remember How Ross startled the world be revealing How he had been passed along through Public school and College despite being functionally illiterate. He eventually graduated from Marva Collins Westside preparatory school in Chicago attended College for a while As a student not a student ath Lete and settled a suit last May against Creighton for $30,000 for allegedly denying him the Opportunity to participate in the school s academic program. Here we see a Good example of How Power group politics can crowd and eventually overwhelm the Best interests of the group. For All their High minded talk about rescuing kids from the ghetto today s coaches Black and White sound More interested in improving their teams than in preparing team Mem Bers to participate fully in society not just in sports. It s a foul Ball players. Don t be fooled. Open a few books while you re in school besides playbooks. The Chicago Tribune searching for moral leadership beyond Clinton Andy Rooney in California a while Back president Clinto told Hollywood movie makers that they had a obligation to Cut Down on sex and violence be cause Young people were doing what they saw actors on the screen doing. Everyone s after television and the movies for violence. In response movie makers and television producers say hey listen. We Aren t leaders. We re just a Mirror of  i Don t know whether television makes people Vio Lent or whether people make television violent but i do know that we Don t seem to have the kind of moral authorities that anyone listens to anymore. There used to be parents teachers politicians and clergymen who acted As sort of moral dictators. They decided what was right for us to do and what was wrong. We listened. They had the same authority Over our behaviour that Emily Post had Over our table manners. Most of them have lost their credibility. Have you seen the Way some parents arc behaving who wants to leave the behaviour of kids to them any idiot can have a baby. What it takes does t make them what we think when we use the word  politicians in general have fallen into disrepute. There Are a few Good apples in the barrel. Even the president does t seem holier than us. He goes to Church and says things that seem right but we Don t accept him As a moral authority because even if we like him or voted for him we re less than certain that he has always done what s right we Don t have any one Leader who sets a style of behaviour for us. Catholics have a Pope but he says a lot of things catholics Don t believe or abide by. It has become apparent in recent years that clergy men and women of ail faiths Are just people with shortcomings. Some of the clergy in the news the last few years Aren t even that Good and anyway there does t seem to be much evidence that the right Way to behave has any Universal theological base. Because no one is setting standards there s a vacuum and the worst leaders in our society and they Are leaders Are taking Over. I m thinking of Rock group heroes rappers and entertainment will known of questionable virtue. A lot of partially educated big talkers in the entertainment business Are. Talking about the first amendment and about protecting their right to say and do anything they want. I saw a rapper who specialized in foul and violent language being inter viewed on a news show last week and he was talking about the first amendment As if he d read it. I doubt if half the people claiming first amendment Protection could name it if it were read aloud to them on a quiz show for a prize of $100,000. I Don t know what we do about standards of Hon esty decency and respect for others. I m not even sure How free speech ought to be. Years ago we tried to avoid a lot of things by not talking about them. In some ways that head in the Sand approach seems to have worked better. Can you imagine my saying the word Penis in this column 14 years ago when i started you see the word and hear it every Day now. The radio and television talk show people love it. I guess it does t do any harm to say the word we All know what one is but it seems Tike an unnecessary breakdown of civility. I m All for free speech but there Are things that it s better not to speak about in any but technical terms. And for All the value of free speech it s easy to confuse it with hot air. Tribune Media service Andy Rooney is a former stars and stripes reporter. 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