Dropping the Ball

After reading your article on SDSU’s basketball program losing its special admission for athletes (“San Diego State Basketball Program Could Lose Special Admissions,” June 26), I felt compelled to write.

As the wife of a former Aztec player (Eddy Gordon), I have watched several years’ worth of illiterate and semi-literate players come and go in Smokey Gaines’ program.

Smokey claimed that it was not his fault, that three players had graduated and that many come back to finish their degrees. I beg to differ.

At least two of the three graduates came to the program under the previous coach and were well along with their academics before Smokey took over. My husband is the only player I know who has actually returned to finish his degree. Current occupations of many other players still in San Diego range from janitor to unemployed.

My husband’s experience with Smokey’s program is not too different from that of many of the other players. When he was admitted to the program, he could neither read nor write at more than a sixth-grade level. A counselor told him he would never make it past his first semester.

Miraculously, he did. It certainly was not due to the quality or the quantity of his academic performance. He was playing well . . . that was what mattered.

The very moment his four-year tenure (athletic eligibility) expired at SDSU, a letter came that disqualified him from the university.

Smokey is certainly not a good academic role model. His terrible English and coarse language are nothing short of embarrassing.

Through hard work and much recouping of lost education, my husband has managed to bring his work up to college level and is now in his last semester. He is lucky. He has a family who cares about his education. He had nearly 40 units to complete at the “end” of his college career.

I truly hope that SDSU and Smokey Gaines are forced to clean up their acts. Their lack of attention to academics is a disservice to the university, the community and most of all to the players themselves.

SHELLEY GORDON

San Diego