Playing for Pay

For U.S. athletes it was a week of remarkable candor on the issue of sportsmanship v. the profit motive. Gathered in Manhattan to attend a dinner in their honor, a clutch of All-Americas gave a New York Times reporter their jaundiced views on the drawbacks of "amateur" college football. Items:

P: Pittsburgh End Mike Ditka: "We draw about $80,000 into the stadium every Saturday, and we should get at least $30 a month for toothpaste and clean shirts."

P: Iowa Guard Mark Manders (a married man): "You're doing a job for them, and married guys should receive fair play. We should get halfway decent expense accounts. I receive 87 bucks a month for room and board like all the single players, and it's not enough."

P: Duke End Tee Moorman: "College football is a business. After you find out the facts, the fun wears off. They give us pencils and paper at Duke, but no hair tonic or gasoline. A fellow needs that stuff in college."

Talk of this sort was right down the back alley of Ike Williams, onetime (1947-51) lightweight champion and now a $46-a-week New Jersey state employee. Appearing before Senator Estes Kefauver's hearings on the ills of boxing, Williams complained that he, too, had been underpaid throughout his career (during which he grossed $1,000,000), never had got his cut of $40,000 for two big fights from Manager Frank ("Blinky") Palermo. What seemed to nag at Williams most was that he had turned down more than $180,000 in bribes to throw fights, including one offer of $100,000 to go in the tank for Kid Gavilan. Concluded Williams with bitter hindsight: "I should have taken the money."

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