Walter Byers and the NCAA - (Sport & Popular Culture) by Ronald a Smith (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Walter Byers long played a role in college athletics, initially with the Big Ten Conference and then as the first executive director of the NCAA. This new study examines Byers's term as executive director, from 1951-1988, a time when collegiate sports, especially football, saw a rise both in popularity and in coaching and administrative salaries. But Byers held fast to the ideals of amateurism upon which the NCAA was originally founded. Historian Ron Smith explores the duality of a rapidly growing NCAA in a collegiate context previously defined by the student-athlete and an ethos of amateurism. Smith focuses on Byers's guidance of major cultural shifts in the NCAA during his tenure, including the long integration of collegiate sports, the passage of Title IX, which saw women's sports placed, at least legislatively, on an equal playing field with men's athletics, and the development of major television deals for NCAA sports, especially football and basketball. All in all, Smith's study of Walter Byers and his leadership of the NCAA sheds light on a tumultuous time in the organization's history and presents arguments against an amateurism that is still present despite recent NIL rights and the reclassification of the student-athlete"-- Provided by publisher.

Book Synopsis

Walter Byers, the first executive director of the NCAA, oversaw the organization's transformation from a small rule-making body into a billion-dollar enterprise that wielded immense power over collegiate athletics. In Walter Byers and the NCAA, historian Ronald A. Smith delves into the complexities of Byers's leadership during a period of great cultural and institutional change. Under Byers's guidance, the NCAA navigated significant milestones, such as the racial integration of college sports and the passage of Title IX, which mandated gender equality in athletics. At the same time, the commercialization of college football and basketball during his tenure led to skyrocketing coaching salaries and television contracts, pushing the NCAA into a new, profit-driven era.

Smith provides a nuanced portrait of Byers, showing him as a man who remained committed to the ideal of the nonprofessional athlete, even as college athletics evolved around him. Yet Byers's perspective shifted later in his career, as he began to question the fairness of this system. In his book, Unsportsmanlike Conduct, Byers publicly criticized the exploitation of student athletes, a stance that foreshadowed today's debates about athletes' rights and NIL compensation.

Smith's work not only offers an in-depth look at Byers's role in the NCAA's expansion but also critiques the institution's long-standing emphasis on amateurism. The book underscores how the tension between amateur ideals and the increasing commercialization and professionalization of college sports has persisted, both during and after Byers's tenure. Ultimately, Smith provides a compelling study of one of the most influential and controversial figures in the history of American sports governance.

About the Author

RONALD A. SMITH is professor emeritus at Penn State University. A renowned historian of college sports, he is the author of ten books, including The Myth of the Amateur: A History of College Athletic Scholarships. He initiated the amicus brief that was cited in the U.S. Supreme Court decision to allow NIL payments to college athletes.