Professor Ronald A. Smith on the NCAA and Gymnastics

This week on The Roe Show, I sit down with Professor Ronald A. Smith, a leading sports historian. We talk the NCAA and how it came to be and the not so well known strategies behind used to create it. We also learn from Prof. Smith about the controversial NCAA uprising of the athletes who began to sue because they felt they were technically 'working' as athletes, yet not getting paid. He explains how they were not compensated if they were hurt, even though through their scholarships they were under contract to 'work' for the University.

Ron is a professor emeritus of sports history at Penn State University and the author of several books, including Sports and Freedom: The Rise of Big-Time College Athletics and Play-by-Play: Radio, Television, and Big-Time College Sport. The former is an examination of the controversy over paying men and women college athletes, which persuasively argues that, for all the NCAA’s insistence on amateurism today, college sports have never been amateur. We discuss many of the strategies that the NCAA has used and why and it's controversial history. Ron also talks about how the NCAA has come under scrutiny for the way they treat their athletes and a few of the ways they are changing for the better. I thank him for this insightful interview and his candid comments and discussions.

To read some of Ron's books go to: https://utpress.utexas.edu/books/smith-myth-of-the-amateur

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