National Collegiate Athletic Association

The NCAA News - Briefly in the News

Fund-raiser hits close to home

"Beat the Commish" was the challenge issued by Western Athletic Conference Commissioner Karl D. Benson at a recent conference meeting -- and $15,000 for breast cancer research was the result.

Benson, at a dinner gala celebrating the conference's expansion to 16 teams, issued his challenge to raise money for a cause dear to his heart and was rewarded with 148 challengers the next morning.

Benson's wife, Sharon Ryan-Benson, was diagnosed with breast cancer in December. After six months of treatment, Ryan-Benson's prognosis appears good.

Ryan-Benson and the couple's 4-year-old daughter, Jessica, were on hand when Benson met his challengers during the league's annual football kickoff golf tournament.

Each golfer pledged an amount to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. If Benson lost the closest-to-the-pin contest on the par-3 No. 11 at Inverness golf course in Denver, the WAC doubled the pledge and Norwest Bank tripled the original amount. Benson lost to 40 of his 148 challengers.

"I thank the WAC and Norwest for their trust in the commissioner not to put the ball in the lake every time," Benson told the Denver Post.

Ryan-Benson had surgery followed by chemotherapy and radiation treatment. During her long recovery, she was overwhelmed by the flowers, calls, letters and cards from administrators and coaches throughout the conference. The wife of a former athletics director at a WAC school was in constant contact, providing medical referrals and support.

"We were really lucky Karl has the type of job where we can try to do something to give back to everyone who has given to me and make it possible for us to give to others," Ryan-Benson said. "We all have our causes. I hope when Jessica reaches the age when breast cancer is a concern, we will have a cure.

"We're extremely lucky we can do something to cause people to think about it. Everyone has moms, daughters, wives and sisters out there."

Indeed, California State University, Fresno, football coach Jim Sweeney stepped up to the No. 11 tee box with a generous donation. His youngest daughter recently was diagnosed. He beat the commish for a $1,500 combined pledge.

Screening guidelines issued

The nation's first set of standardized recommendations for screening young athletes for potentially fatal cardiovascular disease has been issued by the American Heart Association.

"When a superbly conditioned young athlete in seemingly perfect health dies while playing sports, it strikes to the core of our sensibilities," said Dr. Barry Maron, director of cardiovascular research at the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation.

Maron chaired a panel of leading cardiovascular and sports medicine specialists that created the recommendations, which were published in the American Heart Association's scientific journal, "Circulation."

Sudden death in competitive athletes is rare, he said, estimating that only one in 200,000 high-school athletes dies while on the practice or playing field. However, when such a catastrophe does occur, the athlete's parents, school administrators, parents of other athletes and the media raise the issue of whether the death could have been prevented by medical evaluation.

Totally eliminating sudden cardiac deaths among high-school and college competitive athletes is a practical impossibility, Maron stressed.

"There is no way that all potentially fatal heart conditions can be detected through preparticipation screening," he said. "The public must realize this and that, to a certain extent, participating in competitive sports is part of the risk of living."

The American Heart Association's recommendations include:

  • Making preparticipation cardiovascular screening -- including a physical examination and a complete and careful personal and family history -- mandatory for all athletes. Clues to potentially fatal inherited disorders that may not show up in a routine physical exam can sometimes be detected by taking a detailed medical history of both the athlete and his or her immediate family.
  • Conducting the screening before the athlete's first participation in high-school or collegiate sports and repeating it every two years.
  • Requiring all athletics screening to be performed by a licensed physician or another appropriately trained health care worker with the medical skills and background necessary to recognize heart disease.
  • Listening to hearts of athletes while they are standing and lying down to identify heart murmurs and other problems.
  • Including blood-pressure measurement in each physical exam.
  • Developing a national standard for preparticipation medical evaluations including cardiovascular screening.

    Happy birthday!

    Arthur J. Bergstrom, one of the first full-time staff members in the NCAA national office, celebrated his 90th birthday September 2 at his home in California. Bergstrom was a member of the NCAA staff from 1956 until his retirement as controller in 1976.

    Bergstrom is receiving birthday felicitations at his home at 633-B Avenida Sevilla, Laguna Hill, California 92653.

    -- Compiled by Sally Huggins

    Looking back

    5 years ago: Leaders of the Knight Foundation Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics say that progress is being made in overhauling collegiate sports, but they are concerned about an effort to derail some reforms. Commission cochair William Friday said September 25, 1991, that the panel is "heartened" by proposals for academic reform that will be sponsored by the NCAA Presidents Commission at the 1992 Convention. But the other cochair, the Rev. Theodore Hesburgh, criticized proposals dealing with permissible contacts with high-school athletes, visits to high schools and spring football practice, saying the measures represent a "clear and blatant effort to roll back some of the good legislation" adopted at the 1991 Convention. In other remarks, Friday and Hesburgh call on Congress to leave efforts to reform college athletics to the schools. (The NCAA News, September 30, 1991)

    10 years ago: The Association announces details of its new drug-testing program at a press conference September 24, 1986, in Washington, D.C. Two International Olympic Committee-approved laboratories (in Los Angeles and Montreal, Quebec) will handle testing conducted at the NCAA's 1986-87 championships, possibly beginning with cross country championships in November 1986. Addressing concerns about drug testing, NCAA Executive Director Walter Byers says "this program is legally defensible because it is intended to protect the health and welfare of the student-athlete and to assure equitable competition in NCAA championships and NCAA-certified postseason football games." (The NCAA News, September 29, 1986)

    15 years ago: The NCAA Council votes September 8, 1981, to call a special Convention in December 1981 to consider proposals by the Special Committee on NCAA Governance, Organization and Services to revise membership criteria for NCAA divisions, with emphasis on Division I and Division I-A football. Membership interest in a special Convention follows the College Football Association's announcement of a separate football television package. (NCAA News, September 15, 1981)

    20 years ago: A U.S. district judge in Alabama rules September 27, 1976, in favor of the Association in a case in which two University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, assistant football coaches challenged the Association's Division I coaching limits. (NCAA News, October 15, 1976)