The Big Chew-Out

Meeting on foreign ground (Vancouver, B.C.), officials of the Pacific Coast Conference wrathfully studied the semi-amateur sins of P.C.C. members and let fly with a spate of decisions that should surely qualify as a new world record in a neglected area of intercollegiate competition: the longterm, free-style chew-out. After dusting off its half-forgotten rule book for the recruiting of athletes, the P.C.C. read the riot act to every one of the nine schools in the conference except Washington State, and punctuated the unprecedented bawling-out with the heaviest fines on record. Items:

The University of California at Los Angeles had winked at so many regulations that the Bruins were 1) put on three years' probation, 2) forbidden to participate in conference or N.C.A.A. championships, and 3) deprived of their Rose Bowl receipts to the tune of some $80,000. All last year's football players, freshman and varsity alike, lose a year of eligibility unless they can prove that they have not been paid under the table. And because Chancellor Raymond B. Allen did not cooperate with the conference investigation. U.C.L.A. was fined an additional $15,000. Because of the relatively minor transgression of its careless campus labor program for athletes, U.C.L.A. was nicked for another $350.

High-class corner-cutting in the issue of complimentary tickets, plus a casual attitude toward campus jobs and off-campus activities for athletes cost the University of California $1,550.

Because the money was raised "by methods possibly not conforming to conference rules," the University of Southern California was ordered to return to an unnamed donor a $25,000 "grant-in-aid" contribution. Letting ineligible students play in conference games cost the Trojans $500.

For an unsavory list of similar offenses, Idaho, Oregon, Oregon State and Stanford were hit with fines up to $1,000.

Just two weeks earlier the P.C.C. had warmed up by putting the University of Washington on two years' probation and had also taken away the Huskies' Rose Bowl receipts during the punishment period. Ever since, athletes and alumni all over the conference had been breaking out in a rash of righteous confessions. Only U.C.L.A.'s handsome halfback, Ronnie Knox, seemed certain to beat the rap. After ordering Ronnie to quit California for U.C.L.A. two years ago, stepfather Harvey Knox had blown the whistle on Cal's illegal recruiting tricks. And he had been too shrewd to get Ronnie involved in similar shenanigans at U.C.L.A. "We get only the 75 skins [a month] the P.C.C. allows," announced Harvey. "And we can prove it."

U.C.L.A. Alumnus J. Miller Leavy, a member of his alma mater's athletic advisory board, suddenly remembered out loud that he knew all about an organization called the Southern California Educational Foundation, which had slid $71,235 under the table to U.S.C. athletes. The foundation's books had been a matter of public record for years. Assistant District Attorney Leavy presented his evidence at this time, he said, because he felt that good old U.C.L.A. had been unfairly singled out for punishment.

U.C.L.A.'s All-America End Rommie Loudd also tried to take the heat off his school by pointing his finger elsewhere--a move now known in amateur circles as "the Santee Gambit." "I was offered large sums of money and far more per month to enter other schools," said Loudd. "But I came to U.C.L.A. because I felt they were fair in what they were doing for all athletes. California offered me $1,600 cash and $50 over and above the allotted $75 permitted by the conference. U.S.C. arranged special entrance examinations for me to get in. They offered to place money in a bank account in my name ... In addition they offered $75 a month over the $75 allowed."

Exactly how these accusations cleared the accusers of guilt, no one said. Most of the culprit schools were resigned to a few seasons of athletic mediocrity--at least until the conference cools off.* Said a West Coast fan of purged U.C.L.A.: "Next fall the brave Bruins will probably have to play Michigan, Southern California and California with Ronnie Knox and some students."

*A situation that seemed quite all right with the well-manned teams of the Big Ten Conference, which last week decided to renew its Rose Bowl contract.

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