Ah, the NJCAA — a bastion of academic integrity in this blogger's time at the Collegium Excellens when the Collegium was a member of the WACJAC, the Western Junior College Athletic Conference. So much chicanery and skulduggery were present among WACJAC schools that went unnoticed by the National Junior College Athletic Association that its ruling that a geezer living his dream at some juco in Tennessee was guilty of an academic infraction was astounding. This calls to mind hypocrites who swallow camels and strain to gulp down a gnat. If this is (fair & balanced) pharisaism, so be it.
[x AP]
Career Ends For 73-Year-Old Juco Player
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His college basketball career apparently over, 73-year-old Ken Mink says he accomplished what he set out to do.
Mink played about 15 minutes in seven games this season for Roane State, scoring 5 points along the way.
"For a 73-year-old guy, I felt I played very well and very competitively," he said in a phone interview with The Associated Press from the junior college campus. "The coaches were happy with it. My teammates were happy with it. They regard me as a player not as some old guy."
His season was cut short by four games after being notified last week that the National Junior College Athletics Association had ruled him ineligible to play. Mink and Roane State officials appealed the decision but were notified Wednesday the appeal was denied.
The NJCAA ruled that Mink had failed to receive proper permission to take a course from a school other than Roane State.
Mink had enrolled in a sociology course through Strayer University when he realized during the fall semester that he might fail a Spanish course.
He continued taking the Spanish course, though he did not pass, and finished the semester with the NJCAA minimum 12 hours of credit that included the Strayer University sociology course.
"It is unfortunate that during the course of each academic year failure to comply with NJCAA guidelines results in some student-athletes being ruled ineligible," a statement from the NJCAA said.
Roane State was ordered to forfeit a game against Hiwassee, one in which Mink scored two points.
Mink had decided to pursue his dream of a second season of basketball last year after shooting baskets at a neighbor's house. He wrote to several area colleges, and Roane State coach Randy Nesbit agreed to give him a chance before it ended Wednesday.
This not the first time Mink has been told he couldn't play college basketball. Fifty-two years ago, Mink was coming off a solid freshman season at tiny Lees College in Kentucky and eyeing a Division I scholarship.
But when the coach's office was "soaped" — shaving cream filled his shoes and covered the walls — Mink was accused. He pleaded innocent but was expelled.
Mink's not planning on pursuing any more college eligibility. His main concern is that people understand he passed enough credit hours and had an appropriate GPA to play.
"This was just a one-time thing. I reached my goals. I've been able to show that age is not necessarily the determinant factor in what you can do in life," he said. ♥
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press
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Copyright © 2009 Sapper's (Fair & Balanced) Rants & Raves
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