by Ben Olson
On February 24th of this year, Silas Nacita met with a school compliance officer for Baylor University. Nacita was a walk-on running back on Baylor’s Big 12 Championship football team. The compliance officer informed Nacita that he would no longer be a part of the Baylor football program, pending a full investigation. The investigation was that Nacita received improper benefits, including housing. Nacita was homeless and had nothing. Last Christmas, Nacita would travel 1,500 miles from Waco, TX to his hometown of Bakersfield, CA. During this trip “he spent one night in a hotel lobby in El Paso, another in a ditch in New Mexico, and he would hitch hike rides from strangers” (Rodriguez, 2014).
Nacita walked on at Baylor this
past June. With only a few dollars saved
from waiting tables, he would sleep on the floor of friends’ apartments. He never missed a workout or anything that
was mandated by the football team. He
was working hard so he could receive a scholarship. Nacita would begin classes with a
financial-aid based package that included tuition, but he would receive no
money for books. So Nacita would occasionally
have to borrow a text book from a classmate.
Since Nacita slept on the floor of friends’ apartments, without giving
them any compensation for it, this made him ineligible in the eyes of the NCAA (Kramer,
2015). Nacita is still a student at
Baylor for the time being. His dream of
playing Division 1 football has been taken away from him. He is currently looking into transferring to
an NAIA program where he’d be allowed to play at.
I thought that this was an amazing
story when it first broke months ago. I
felt awful for the kid, who went through so much for the opportunity to be on
Baylor’s football team, only to have it taken away from him for sleeping on a
floor. Was the NCAA in the wrong for
their handling of Nacita’s situation? Is
there anything that the NCAA can do to help Nacita and other student-athletes
who cannot afford to live on their own?
There more than 100,000 homeless athletes in the U.S., which was
reported to S.I. in October (2013, Rodriguez).
References
Kramer, A. (2015, April 8). Ex-Homeless Baylor Football Player Finding Himself
After Losing NCAA Eligibility. Bleacherreport.com. Retrieved from
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2409721-ex-homeless-baylor-football-
player-finding-himself-after-losing-ncaa-eligibility.
Rodriguez, K. (2014, December 30). The saga of 'Salsa Nacho': How the once-
homesless Baylor RB found job. SI.com. Retrieved from http://www.si.com/
college-football/2014/12/29/baylor-runningback-silas-nacita-homeless-salsa-nacho.
The NCAA’s decision regarding Nacita’s eligibility absolutely boggles my mind. Not only is Nacita attending all required practices for the football team, but he is working hard academically to earn a scholarship. By prohibiting Nacita from playing football, it is basically punishing him for accomplishing all he has done to even get to Baylor in the first place. In the UNC scandal, the fact that “Michael Waddell had a low grade point average, no entrance exam score and was months past the deadline,” (Kane, 2015, para 1) yet was still sought after to play for the team is an insult to Nacita. While the NCAA is punishing UNC for their scandal, the principle of prohibiting an athlete who sleeps on people’s floors when other athletes were lying about their grades and what “classes” they were taking is unjust. The NCAA needs to get their priorities straight and punish those who deserve punishment and reward those who deserve praise. Nacita has done nothing worthy of punishment. His actions exemplify the bravery and dedication he encompasses to succeed in school and athletics while surviving on barely any income while sleeping on friends’ floors.
ReplyDeleteKali Morgenstern
References:
Kane, D. (2015, March 1). Former UNC official: Pressure led to improper graduate admission of athletes. The News & Observer.