Making a statement about the way we play

Sporting News, The, Sept 12, 1994 by Steve Hamilton

Does it bother you to see a Little League batter charge the pitcher when hit on the foot with the bases loaded? Or see a young man or woman yelling at an opponent, taunting them with gestures or cursing at them? Are we bothered that style is becoming more important than substance? It has bothered me for quite some time. Amateur athletics are too important and have too many good qualities to be degraded by trash-talking, taunting and fighting.

As a former high school, college and professional athlete and as a college athletic administrator, I am concerned with the direction that athletic contests are taking. As an athletic director, I am in a position to ensure that my coaches and athletes abide by the principles of sportsmanship.

My institution, Morehead State University, and the other members of the Ohio Valley Conference decided to do something. The directors of athletics and faculty representatives, at the direction of the conference presidents and Commissioner Dan Beebe, formed a committee to explore what could be done to ensure that our players, coaches, administrators, spirit groups, game officials and fans would adhere to proper principles of sportsmanship.

We have created a league sportsmanship statement. We intend to make our athletic events more enjoyable for participants and fans. This statement may not be perfect, but it is a start. We can always make improvements.

No one wants to eliminate hard, emotional play by our athletes, nor do we want to curb the enthusiasm of our fans. We will encourage our fans to be vocal and support our teams, but we will eliminate those fans who are vulgar and abusive.

Coaches can control the behavior of their athletes. Each coach knows what is happening during a contest and how his or her team members are responding. Coaches must demand the proper attitude and responses from their athletes, and they must be supported by their administrations. If coaches were evaluated by the values they teach rather than victories and losses, they would be more willing to teach proper attitudes and responses.

A problem occurs when a team is observing good sportsmanship principles but its opponent is not. The prevailing attitude is, "If they are going to do it, then so are we." This attitude must cease. The chief executive officers and athletics administrators must see that it does.

Conference commissioners and supervisors of officials can demand that officials enforce the principles of good sportsmanship. Ohio Valley Conference officials will notify coaches and team captains before the contest that sportsmanship principles will be enforced. There will be no warnings during play. Officials who fail to enforce these principles may be suspended from further conference games.

It has bothered me for some time that many college athletes do not have an understanding of the history of their sports. It is difficult to have the proper respect for a game if you don't know its origins. Those athletes who feel they must make spectacles of themselves should study the great participants in their sports. Few Hall of Famers have found it necessary to resort to unsportsmanlike behavior. The game really is more important than the individual.

A general lack of respect has caused many problems and put a destructive premium on intimidation and vocalization. I believe that athletes should intimidate by ability and hard work.

If we can eliminate the penalties, technical fouls, ejections and fighting that result from unsportsmanlike conduct, we will be putting athletic contests in the proper amateur context. We can't control the actions of professional athletes, but we can attempt to portray at institutions of higher education the values of proper sportsmanship.

In these times of inner-city violence, a breakdown of family values and growing disrespect for authority, it is important that athletes perform with discipline and class. We owe it to our athletes to give them the proper guidance to help them learn lifetime values. To do less would be to shirk our duties as educators.

Steve Hamilton, a major league pitcher from 1961 through '72, is athletic director at Morehead State in Morehead, Ky.