2008 Woodie Awards
Professor's Perception: Christianity, character & competition
John Reist
Issue date: 9/27/07 Section: Sports
- Page 1 of 1
It is, perhaps, more difficult today to continue to say good things about athletics, with name after name of star athletes appearing again and again on TV and in the press about their "inappropriate" or "unprofessional" or "unacceptable" behavior. My 25 years as a football and basketball official have taught me these three words - inappropriate, unprofessional, unacceptable - are euphemisms for such words as immoral, wicked and unconscionable behavior.
And yet, we are not the first.
Remember the 1919 Black Sox scandal? "Say it ain't so, Joe," the little boy pleaded to Joe Jackson of the Chicago White Sox (lifetime batting average, .358). Shoeless Joe may not have actually taken the money as his teammates did, but he was involved or at the least he knew about it.
'Twas ever thus. Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight champion is supposed to have taken a fall in Havana in 1915 against Jess Willard. We have pictures: he is lying on his back, allegedly shading his eyes from the blazing hot sun!
And in 1951, back in the days when the Army had national champions and three Heisman award winners, the entire Army football team was dismissed, except for end Ed Weaver, for violating the honor code. This, at West Point, where General Douglas McArthur's statement is displayed at the athletic complex: "Upon the fields of friendly strife are sewn the seeds that upon other fields, on other days, shall bear the fruits of victory."
And there is Leo "the Lip" Durocher, who was suspended from major league baseball in 1946 for the year; and Paul Hornung, winner of the 1956 Heisman award for Notre Dame and quarterback for the great Green Bay Packers teams of the 60's, who was suspended for gambling (back when the Super Bowl was a football game and not just a side show to pagan pre-game and halftime spectacles!)
Nonetheless, as a sport official who also has served on the Kansas City and state of Michigan board of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, it is my convinced opinion that athletics are vital to our liberal arts college and to life in general.
Why?
Because they both reveal and build character. Did you see Alissa Hall run last year? Did you watch Nickie Wustman go to the board? Do you remember, in 1985, when we were down 22-0 against Grand Valley, how we came back in the fourth quarter to win 25-22? Do you recall our last ditch fourth quarter goal at the line in the national championship game that preserved the tie and secured the co-championship?
Let the José Conseco's and Mark McGuire's cheapen themselves; they cannot cheapen the game, for character and competition express, build and complement each other.
John Kitna, Detroit Lions quarterback, has recently declared, "God uses football to shape me." And senior Mark Nicolet, our own quarterback, is leader of Athletes in Action. Go Chargers!
And yet, we are not the first.
Remember the 1919 Black Sox scandal? "Say it ain't so, Joe," the little boy pleaded to Joe Jackson of the Chicago White Sox (lifetime batting average, .358). Shoeless Joe may not have actually taken the money as his teammates did, but he was involved or at the least he knew about it.
'Twas ever thus. Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight champion is supposed to have taken a fall in Havana in 1915 against Jess Willard. We have pictures: he is lying on his back, allegedly shading his eyes from the blazing hot sun!
And in 1951, back in the days when the Army had national champions and three Heisman award winners, the entire Army football team was dismissed, except for end Ed Weaver, for violating the honor code. This, at West Point, where General Douglas McArthur's statement is displayed at the athletic complex: "Upon the fields of friendly strife are sewn the seeds that upon other fields, on other days, shall bear the fruits of victory."
And there is Leo "the Lip" Durocher, who was suspended from major league baseball in 1946 for the year; and Paul Hornung, winner of the 1956 Heisman award for Notre Dame and quarterback for the great Green Bay Packers teams of the 60's, who was suspended for gambling (back when the Super Bowl was a football game and not just a side show to pagan pre-game and halftime spectacles!)
Nonetheless, as a sport official who also has served on the Kansas City and state of Michigan board of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, it is my convinced opinion that athletics are vital to our liberal arts college and to life in general.
Why?
Because they both reveal and build character. Did you see Alissa Hall run last year? Did you watch Nickie Wustman go to the board? Do you remember, in 1985, when we were down 22-0 against Grand Valley, how we came back in the fourth quarter to win 25-22? Do you recall our last ditch fourth quarter goal at the line in the national championship game that preserved the tie and secured the co-championship?
Let the José Conseco's and Mark McGuire's cheapen themselves; they cannot cheapen the game, for character and competition express, build and complement each other.
John Kitna, Detroit Lions quarterback, has recently declared, "God uses football to shape me." And senior Mark Nicolet, our own quarterback, is leader of Athletes in Action. Go Chargers!
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