Making Sense of Amateurism: Juxtaposing NCAA Rhetoric and Black Male Athlete Realities

Abstract

In the 1980s, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) passed several eligibility rules to address concerns about the academic and personal development of its participants (Gaston-Gayles, 2009). Despite garnering publicity, fostering school pride, providing entertainment, and generating billions of dollars in revenue for the Division I-affiliated institutions they attend (Sylwester, M., & Witosky, T. (2004). Athletic spending grows as academic funds dry up. USAToday.com , February 18. Retrieved from http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/2004-02-18-athletic-spending- cover_x.htm), student-athletes are prevented from receiving compensation beyond athletic scholarships by the NCAA’s amateurism principle. Consequently, the ethical question at the center of college sports is: how do participants benefit from the college experience relative to their non-sport peers? While the NCAA typically reports benefits, research that disaggregates the data by sport, division, race, and sex reveals long-standing and pervasive inequities (Harper, Williams, & Blackman, 2013). Accordingly, this chapter juxtaposes NCAA’s rhetoric, principles, and espoused goals with the lived realities of the most populous demographic group within high revenue-generating collegiate sports, Black male student-athletes.

Citation

Williams, C.D. (2015), "Making Sense of Amateurism: Juxtaposing NCAA Rhetoric and Black Male Athlete Realities", Black Males and Intercollegiate Athletics: An Exploration of Problems and Solutions (Diversity in Higher Education, Vol. 16), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 151-174. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-364420140000016008