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Why Do Student Athletes Get Paid?

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When the term student athlete was created by Walter Byers and the NCAA in the 1950’s, its purpose was to protect itself from lawsuits pertaining to worker’s compensation. The term was and still ambiguous enough to keep the roots of the NCAA grounded and have leverage to gain the benefits of student athletes without necessarily having to pay them. In the sports documentary Schooled: The Price of College Sports, the history of the word student athlete comes to the forefront. Way before the NCAA was the big billion dollar company it was today; it was a mere filing cabinet in an office with its one worker: Walter Byers. Back then he was concerned with the fact that schools wanted to classify their football players as employees due to the fact that …show more content…
During a game in 1974 against Alabama’s Crimson Tide, as Kent Waldrep was running with the ball, an opponent went to tackle him but what resulted was Waldrep flipping over where he had a head collision with the ground (Schooled: The Price Of College Sports).He says, “all the sudden, I’m seeing a bunch of faces over me and they’re all saying ‘Don’t move’. And I want to say “Hey, don’t you see, that’s the problem?” (Waldrep). While heading to the hospital he is told he would be paralyzed for the rest of his life. Soon after, Texas Chrisitian University told the Waldrep they were not responsible to pay his medical costs. They also cut his scholarship so his dream of completing his dream was shot. Kent Waldrep then sued the university to receive worker’s compensation. His claim was they enrolled him to play football for their school and the fact that the contract between him and the football department was a contract for work while the coached has total control of schedule as well as pay (Schooled: The Price Of College Sports). These were the same accusations Byers prepared for with the term student athlete. The lawsuit ended up being in the court system for years “so if workman compensation claims were being filed, the colleges would have a far better position to take than if they did not use this terminology and this recommended language”. Texas Christian University used the student

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