An offer by a group of KU swim team alumni illustrates the true spirit of college athletics.
This is what college athletics should be about. During March Madness, we're overwhelmed with win-loss records, tournament seedings, hiring and firing of coaches and speculation about which players have professional basketball careers ahead of them.
But the true ideal of college athletics was vividly illustrated last week by a group of former Kansas University swimmers who stepped forward to try to save their team. KU officials had announced that funding shortfalls in the athletics department had forced them to eliminate men's swimming and tennis from the university's roster.
Current team members and their parents were stunned; many KU fans were disappointed. One group of four swim team alums decided they wanted to do something about it, so they went to Athletics Director Bob Frederick with an offer to raise money and start an endowed fund to defray the expense of maintaining the swimming program and possibly other non-revenue sports. They told Frederick they believed they could raise $100,000 by July and enough additional money after that to cover half of the swim team's budget of $400,000 a year.
University officials are considering the offer. They may find arguments against setting such a precedent for alumni support, but it's hard to argue with the sentiment behind the former swimmers' offer.
The four men involved aren't professional athletes. College swimmers may compete as amateurs or pursue Olympic goals, but they're never going to make a living off their sport. The four alums have other careers now. One is the chief operating officer of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas; another is a dentist. But they still treasure their experience on the KU swim team so much that they are willing to lead a fund drive and undoubtedly support it with their own contributions so that other athletes can share that experience.
What could be better than that? Many KU alumni have other special memories of the university that they choose to support with financial contributions. It can be an endowed scholarship for a student with a specific major or from a specific town. It can be a contribution to a living group or funds to preserve a university building that has special meaning for them. For these four men, the swim team has that kind of pull, not because it was their stepping stone to a professional athletic career but because it helped them develop into the successful people they are today.
Isn't that the real goal of college athletics? To give student athletes the experience of working as a team, supporting one another, pushing toward a goal and graciously accepting both victory and defeat? Preparing athletes for professional careers and inspiring more alumni contributions to a university may be side benefits, but isn't the basic goal to build character and prepare students for life?
If it isn't, it should be. The KU swim team apparently provided those benefits for a group of alumni that now is seeking to pass it on to others. Hopefully, the KU administration will find a way to accept their generous offer and use it not only to support the swim team, but other non-revenue sports at KU.
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