{"id":34617,"date":"2011-07-05T09:24:34","date_gmt":"2011-07-05T17:24:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=34617"},"modified":"2011-07-05T10:25:41","modified_gmt":"2011-07-05T18:25:41","slug":"scholar-athletes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=34617","title":{"rendered":"Scholar-Athletes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe width=\"480\" height=\"390\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3IB37ocog6Y\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><A HREF=\"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=34605\">Watch the whole show!<\/a><\/p>\n<p><A HREF=\"http:\/\/baetzler.de\/humor\/athletes_as_scholars.html\">Link<\/a>: Basketball player Chris Washburn, commenting on his ability to drive  to the basket, <i>&#8220;Yeah, I can go to my right and my left. That&#8217;s because I&#8217;m amphibious.&#8221;<\/i><br \/>\n&#8220;I&#8217;m going to graduate on time, no matter how long it takes.&#8221; Senior  basketball player at the University of Michigan<br \/>\n&#8220;Nobody in football should be called a genius. A genius is a guy like  Norman Einstein.&#8221;  Football commentator and former player Joe Theismann, 1996.<br \/>\n&#8220;You guys line up alphabetically by height.&#8221;<br \/>\n<i>&#8220;You guys pair up  in groups of three, then line up in a circle.&#8221;<\/i>  Bill Peterson, a Florida State  football coach.<br \/>\nClemson recruit Ray Forsythe, who was ineligible as a freshman  because of academic requirements: <i>&#8220;I play football. I&#8217;m not trying to be a professor. The tests don&#8217;t  seem to make sense to me, measuring your brain on stuff I haven&#8217;t been through in school.&#8221;<\/i><br \/>\nBoxing promoter Dan Duva on Mike Tyson hooking up again with promoter  Don King: &#8220;Why would anyone expect him to come out smarter? He went to prison for three  years, not Princeton.&#8221;<br \/>\nStu Grimson, Chicago Blackhawks left wing, explaining why he keeps a  color photo of himself above his locker: <i>&#8220;That&#8217;s so when I forget how to spell my name, I can still  find my #%@# clothes.&#8221; <\/i><br \/>\nShaquille O&#8217;Neal on whether he had visited the Parthenon during his  visit to Greece: &#8220;I can&#8217;t really remember the names of the clubs that we went to.&#8221;<br \/>\nShaquille O&#8217;Neal, on his lack of championships: <i>&#8220;I&#8217;ve won at every  level, except college and pro.&#8221;<\/i><br \/>\nLou Duva, Veteran boxing trainer, on the Spartan training regime of  heavyweight Andrew Golota: <i>&#8220;He&#8217;s a guy who gets up at six o&#8217;clock in the morning regardless of  what time it is.&#8221;<\/i><br \/>\n1992 &#8211; Pat Williams, Orlando Magic general manager, on his team&#8217;s  7-27 record: &#8220;We can&#8217;t win at home. We can&#8217;t win on the road.  As general manager, I just can&#8217;t  figure out where else to play.&#8221;<br \/>\n1982 &#8211; Chuck Nevitt, North Carolina State basketball player,  explaining to Coach Jim Valvano why he appeared nervous at practice:  <i>&#8220;My sister&#8217;s expecting a baby, and I  don&#8217;t know if I&#8217;m going to be an uncle or an aunt.&#8221;<\/i><br \/>\n1981 &#8211; Tommy Lasorda, Dodger manager, when asked what terms  Mexican-born pitching sensation Fernando Valenzuela might settle for in his upcoming contract negotiations: <i>&#8220;He  wants Texas back.&#8221; <\/i><br \/>\n1966 &#8211; Darrell Royal, Texas football coach, asked if the abnormal  number of Longhorn injuries that season resulted from poor physical conditioning:  <i>&#8220;One player was  lost because he broke his nose. How do you go about getting a nose in condition for football?&#8221;<\/i><br \/>\n1981 &#8211; Mike McCormack, coach of the hapless Baltimore Colts after the  team&#8217;s co-captain, offensive guard Robert Pratt, pulled a  hamstring running onto the field for the  coin toss against St. Louis: <i>&#8220;I&#8217;m going to send the injured reserve players out for the toss next  time.&#8221;<\/i><br \/>\n1991 &#8211; Steve Spurrier, Florida football coach, telling Gator fans  that a fire at Auburn&#8217;s football dorm had destroyed 20 books:  <i>&#8220;But the real tragedy was that 15  hadn&#8217;t been colored yet.&#8221; <\/i><br \/>\n1986 &#8211; Jim Finks, New Orleans Saints G.M., when asked after a loss  what he thought of the refs: <i>&#8220;I&#8217;m not allowed to comment on lousy officiating.&#8221;<\/i><br \/>\n1991 &#8211; Alan Kulwicki, stock car racer, on racing Saturday nights, as  opposed to Sunday afternoons: <i>&#8220;It&#8217;s basically the same, just darker.&#8221;<\/i><br \/>\n1996 &#8211; Lincoln Kennedy, Oakland Raiders tackle, on his decision not  to vote: <i>&#8220;I was going to write myself in, but I was afraid I&#8217;d get shot.&#8221;<\/i><br \/>\n1991 &#8211; Jim Colletto, Purdue football coach and former assistant at  Arizona State and Ohio State, on his 11-year-old son&#8217;s reaction after he took the job with the  Boilermakers: &#8220;He said: &#8216;Gosh, Dad, that means we&#8217;re not going to any more bowl games.&#8221;<br \/>\n1986 &#8211; LaVell Edwards, BYU football coach and one of 14 children: <i>&#8220;They  can&#8217;t fire me because my family buys too many tickets.&#8221;<\/i><br \/>\n1991 &#8211; Frank Layden, Utah Jazz president, on a former player: <i>&#8220;I  told him, &#8216;Son, what is it with you? Is it ignorance or apathy?&#8217; He said, &#8216;Coach, I don&#8217;t know and I  don&#8217;t care.'&#8221;<\/i><br \/>\n1991 &#8211; Torrin Polk, University of Houston receiver, of his coach,  John Jenkins: <i>&#8220;He treats us like men. He lets us wear earrings.&#8221;<\/i><br \/>\n1987 &#8211; Shelby Metcalf, basketball coach at Texas A&amp;M, recounting  what he told a player who received four Fs and one D: <i>&#8220;Son, looks  to me like you&#8217;re spending  too much time on one subject.&#8221;<\/i><\/p>\n<p><A HREF=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Chris_Washburn\">From Wikipedia<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p>A 6&#8217;11&#8221; <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Center_%28basketball%29\" title=\"Center (basketball)\">center<\/a>, Washburn was one of the top  three high school recruits in the country in 1984 along with <a class=\"mw-redirect\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/John_Sam_Williams\" title=\"John Sam Williams\">John Williams<\/a> (LSU) and <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Danny_Manning\" title=\"Danny Manning\">Danny  Manning<\/a> (Kansas). He signed with <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/North_Carolina_State_University\" title=\"North Carolina State University\">North Carolina State University<\/a>  in <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Raleigh,_North_Carolina\" title=\"Raleigh, North Carolina\">Raleigh<\/a> along with future NBA stars <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Vinny_Del_Negro\" title=\"Vinny Del Negro\">Vinny Del Negro<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nate_McMillan\" title=\"Nate McMillan\">Nate  McMillan<\/a> to form one of the best recruiting classes in the nation  on a team that also included <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Spud_Webb\" title=\"Spud Webb\">Spud  Webb<\/a>. An incredibly gifted athlete, Washburn combined incredible  size with blazing speed for a big man with soft hands.<br \/>\nAccording to some of his former teammates, however, Washburn was a  student in name only. It is alleged that he almost never attended  classes. Even so, Washburn remained eligible to play. During his time at  N.C. State, he was caught stealing a stereo, which resulted in his  being sentenced to 46 hours in jail, a five-year suspended <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Prison\" title=\"Prison\">prison<\/a>  term and five years of probation. During his trial, the <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Wake_County,_North_Carolina\" title=\"Wake County, North Carolina\">Wake County<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/District_attorney\" title=\"District attorney\">district attorney<\/a> introduced as evidence Washburn&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/SAT\" title=\"SAT\">SAT<\/a> scores,  which were below 500 (out of 1600, with 400 being the starting score).<sup class=\"reference\" id=\"cite_ref-1\"><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Chris_Washburn#cite_note-1\"><span>[<\/span>2<span>]<\/span><\/a><\/sup>  &#8220;The coaches over there told me, \u2018You already signed, you\u2019re already in  school, you just have to take the test just to get into college,\u2019 \u201d  Washburn said later. When they told me it didn\u2019t matter what score I was  getting, I went in for about 22 minutes. I just marked down [answers] \u2026  mark, mark, mark.&#8221;<sup class=\"reference\" id=\"cite_ref-2\"><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Chris_Washburn#cite_note-2\"><span>[<\/span>3<span>]<\/span><\/a><\/sup><br \/>\nHis <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Work_ethic\" title=\"Work ethic\">work ethic<\/a> was also called into question.<sup class=\"reference\" id=\"cite_ref-3\"><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Chris_Washburn#cite_note-3\"><span>[<\/span>4<span>]<\/span><\/a><\/sup>  Recruiting analyst <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Bob_Gibbons\" title=\"Bob Gibbons\">Bob Gibbons<\/a> claimed that Washburn was &#8220;never as  good as his reputation,&#8221; even as a high-school All-American. Gibbons was  blasted by many N.C. State fans for suggesting that Washburn was going  to break the Wolfpack basketball program, in response to coach <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Jim_Valvano\" title=\"Jim Valvano\">Valvano<\/a>&#8216;s  claim that Washburn would make the program.<sup class=\"reference\" id=\"cite_ref-4\"><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Chris_Washburn#cite_note-4\"><span>[<\/span>5<span>]<\/span><\/a><\/sup><br \/>\nThe one full season Washburn played with the Wolfpack demonstrated  his potential. He averaged 17.6 points a game and 6.7 rebounds, sharing  time in the front court with future NBA players <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Charles_Shackleford\" title=\"Charles Shackleford\">Charles Shackleford<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Chucky_Brown\" title=\"Chucky Brown\">Chucky  Brown<\/a>. Washburn&#8217;s best outing was against future top NBA draft pick  <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Brad_Daugherty_%28basketball%29\" title=\"Brad Daugherty (basketball)\">Brad Daugherty<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/North_Carolina_Tar_Heels_men%27s_basketball\" title=\"North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball\">UNC<\/a> on Feb. 23,  1986. Before a nationally-televised audience, Washburn scored 26 points  as the Wolfpack upset the then-ranked #1 Tar Heels 76-65.<br \/>\nWashburn&#8217;s case was one of many detailed by <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Peter_Golenbock\" title=\"Peter Golenbock\">Peter Golenbock<\/a> in his book, <i>Personal Fouls,<\/i> that  effectively ended Valvano&#8217;s career in 1990. While several errors in the  book eventually led publishing house <a class=\"mw-redirect\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Simon_and_Schuster\" title=\"Simon and Schuster\">Simon and Schuster<\/a> to drop the book,  (it was finally published by Pocket Books), no one disputed Washburn&#8217;s  poor status as a student. In January 1989, Richard Lauffer, a former  chair of the physical-education department at N.C. State, claimed  Washburn&#8217;s grades had been altered to maintain the player&#8217;s eligibility.<sup class=\"reference\" id=\"cite_ref-5\"><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Chris_Washburn#cite_note-5\"><span>[<\/span>6<span>]<\/span><\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<p>Washburn left N.C. State after the 1985-86 season and was selected by  the <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Golden_State_Warriors\" title=\"Golden State Warriors\">Golden State Warriors<\/a> with the 3rd  overall pick of the <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/1986_NBA_Draft\" title=\"1986 NBA Draft\">1986 NBA Draft<\/a>. Washburn was the third consecutive <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Atlantic_Coast_Conference\" title=\"Atlantic Coast Conference\">Atlantic Coast Conference<\/a> player  taken in the 1986 draft, following UNC center <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Brad_Daugherty_%28basketball%29\" title=\"Brad Daugherty (basketball)\">Brad Daugherty<\/a> (Cleveland  Cavaliers) and Maryland forward <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Len_Bias\" title=\"Len Bias\">Len Bias<\/a>  (Boston Celtics).<br \/>\nThe Warriors brought in center <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Joe_Barry_Carroll\" title=\"Joe Barry Carroll\">Joe Barry Carroll<\/a> to help with Washburn&#8217;s development, but  it was to no avail. The highlight of Washburn&#8217;s career may have come  during an October exhibition game in his rookie season against the  Knicks. During a 23-point loss, Washburn scored 16 points. Tendinitis in  his knee resulted in Washburn taking anti-inflammatory medicine which  led to a kidney infection in January 1987. On January 28, 1987, Washburn  checked into a <a class=\"mw-redirect\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Van_Nuys,_California\" title=\"Van Nuys, California\">Van Nuys, California<\/a> drug  rehabilitation clinic, admitting he had a cocaine problem. After  returning to the Warriors in late March, Washburn was still ineffective.<br \/>\nHe played 72 games over two seasons (one and a half with the Warriors  and part of another with the <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Atlanta_Hawks\" title=\"Atlanta Hawks\">Atlanta  Hawks<\/a>), averaging 3.1 points and 2.4 rebounds per game. He is  widely considered to be one of the biggest busts in NBA draft history.  In 2005 <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sports_Illustrated\" title=\"Sports Illustrated\">Sports Illustrated<\/a> named him the  second-biggest NBA <a class=\"mw-redirect\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Draft_bust\" title=\"Draft bust\">draft bust<\/a> of all time.<sup class=\"reference\" id=\"cite_ref-6\"><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Chris_Washburn#cite_note-6\"><span>[<\/span>7<span>]<\/span><\/a><\/sup><br \/>\nDuring his time with the Hawks, Washburn was asked by the media how  he felt about the team playing an exhibition game in The <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Soviet_Union\" title=\"Soviet Union\">Soviet  Union<\/a>. Washburn snarled &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Russia\" title=\"Russia\">Russia<\/a>? I  ain&#8217;t going to no Russia!&#8221;<sup class=\"reference\" id=\"cite_ref-7\"><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Chris_Washburn#cite_note-7\"><span>[<\/span>8<span>]<\/span><\/a><\/sup><br \/>\nWashburn was banned from the NBA for life in <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/1989#June\" title=\"1989\">June 1989<\/a>  after failing three drug tests in three years. By the mid-1990s,  Washburn was still trying to scrape together a basketball career in  various minor professional leagues.<br \/>\nWashburn has reformed from his drug habit since 2000, and working in  the mortgage business in the <a class=\"mw-redirect\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Dallas-Fort_Worth\" title=\"Dallas-Fort Worth\">Dallas-Fort Worth<\/a> area.<sup class=\"reference\" id=\"cite_ref-8\"><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Chris_Washburn#cite_note-8\"><span>[<\/span>9<span>]<\/span><\/a><\/sup>  He speaks to addicts weekly at the Dallas Life Foundation Center.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Watch the whole show! Link: Basketball player Chris Washburn, commenting on his ability to drive to the basket, &#8220;Yeah, I can go to my right and my left. That&#8217;s because I&#8217;m amphibious.&#8221; &#8220;I&#8217;m going to graduate on time, no matter &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=34617\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[27028,27027,27029,27026,27030,27025],"class_list":["post-34617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports","tag-chuck-nevitt","tag-florida-state-football","tag-lou-duva","tag-promoter-don-king","tag-shaquille-o-neal","tag-stu-grimson"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34617"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34617\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34645,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34617\/revisions\/34645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}