Butler’s Biggest Triumph Found Beyond the Field

Used primarily as a kick returner this season, Washington senior cornerback Toure Butler, a third-stringer on the defensive depth chart, has yet to make a tackle this year.

Yet even if he has no impact on Monday’s Rose Bowl game against Purdue, Butler has the satisfaction of knowing his impact will be felt long after he has turned in his Husky uniform--in the classroom.

Butler has a a form of dyslexia, although he doesn’t like to use that word.

“I have to go over stuff three or four times to understand the material,” he said. “I need tutors and extra help sometimes from the staff to get through. But I didn’t think that would be a problem at Washington.”

It turned out to be a big problem.

A star defensive back-running back in high school, Butler, one of six children in a single-parent household, was depending on a scholarship to go to college. And he got one from Washington.

Or so he thought.

Things seemed to be going well in his first few days as a Husky back in 1996. He was second on the depth chart at his position and taking part in two-a-day drills when the NCAA clearinghouse revoked his scholarship because some of his grades had been earned in special-education classes.

With the Americans With Disabilities Act at the core of his argument, Butler took on the NCAA in court.

And won.

In 1998, the organization, rather than testing the validity of Butler’s legal case, backed down and agreed to allow special-ed courses to figure in awarding scholarships.

“The NCAA is supposed to help people get into school, not take their education away,” Butler said.

He redshirted his first year, but expects to graduate this spring as a sociology major and hopes to work in a juvenile detention center.

“I will always have the learning problem,” Butler said. “I required a lot of tutoring, but my teachers were all willing to help out.

“It was a big old relief to have this off my chest. I’m glad I helped pave the way for other people in the same situation.”

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Asked why the odds favoring the Boilermakers have dropped from 3 1/2 points to one in the last few days, Washington Coach Rick Neuheisel shrugged and said, “I don’t know. Maybe the people in the Midwest place their bets earlier than the people in the West.”

Husky offensive coordinator Keith Gilbertson used the betting line to fire up his troops with the old no-one-respects-us appeal.

“A lot of people didn’t think we could win against Washington State,” Gilbertson said. “We did. We just show up. We don’t care what people think.”

Unless, of course, he thinks he can use it to stir up his players.