"Just Like Professors"

The University of Louisville's new President John W. Taylor is a man of ideas. Unlike most college presidents, who are trying to hold down bulging enrollments, he has issued a come-one-come-all invitation to students (TIME, Sept. i). Last week he sounded off on the recruiting of beefy backs and linemen to do or die (at a price) on the football field, a subject which makes most college presidents look the other way. Taylor invited the presidents of 14 other urban colleges and universities to join the University of Louisville in an out-&-out professional football league.

Explained Taylor: "The players . . . would be hired, just like professors . . . [but] under rules as to age, salary, etc., to be agreed upon by the college presidents. It would work like this: suppose we find a great halfback, over in the Bluegrass, just graduating from high school. He wants a college education but he can't afford it. Maybe he prefers Xavier University to the University of Louisville. We sign him as a player on our professional team at, say, $4,000 a year and tell him he may go to school anywhere he likes, provided he is on time for all practices and all games."

Entertaining Idea. Under the Taylor-made plan, players would not have to go to college at all, if they didn't feel like it; in fact, some would be college graduates already, others too old for college. Regular students could compete for places on the pro team with the professionals, would draw salaries, too, if they made it. For those who didn't, but still wanted the exercise, there would be plenty of university-sponsored amateur, intramural athletics.

President Taylor thought the advantages were obvious: "We simply would be providing better football entertainment,* reaping more revenue from it, and through this enterprise expanding our intramural programs." Taylor announced that he would hire Elmo Roper to poll Louisville football fans to see what they thought of the idea.

Old School Try. Taylor's "blunt honesty" was admired by the Louisville Courier-Journal, which nevertheless found some practical objections: "Dr. Taylor overlooks some of the reasons for the sham of amateurism. Football players are less expensive when paid with [scholarships]. Besides the cash value . . . the prestige, popularity and coeducational opportunities of the successful campus athlete are premiums an honest system would find it hard to replace. And even if a team could be operated as cheaply with time-clock players, box-office figures prove that the old school try still outdraws the frankly professional game."

From educators, Taylor got even less support. The University of Houston snapped: "Not in favor." Said the University of Cincinnati: "Neither feasible nor desirable." Said the University of Chicago: "We got out of college football in 1939 and have no intention of returning." Kentucky's Transylvania College tartly replied: '"These are times when such boldness needs to be directed toward the harder, less spectacular task of educating, not entertaining, people."

* The University of Louisville last year won six of its eight games, but lost money at it.

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