How Many Graduate Degrees?

[sport historian]

How many of today's NFL players are, for example, attending law school? Are there any attending medical, dental, or some other graduate school? Are there any who have graduated from law school? I just posted an item on the Mike Tomlin thread about the legend that Vince Lombardi was a law school graduate before becoming a coach.

During the early 1960's, a big selling point for pro football over baseball was that its players were "college men," unlike baseball players of the time. Around 1963, many pro football players were stockbrokers, investment bankers, and ran their own businesses. Others were in law school or other graduate schools. A player pretty much had to have some kind of off-season job to help support their wives and children.

Are there any players like that today? Cris Collinsworth is supposed to be a law school graduate. Former Falcon DL Tim Green tells of going through law school while a player in his autobiography.

 

[The Hock]

Uh, ah ha. ah ha ha ha ha ha. Excuse me. I think, mmff hee hee hee, ha ha ha HA HA HA HA HA...hold on. Okay, uh, hoo hoo hoo hoo HOO HOO HOO uhh. Oh my ribs...I'll get back with you on HUH HUH HUH, excuse me...this...hmff ha ha..Edited by: The Hock

 

[Cassiodorus]

I can think of only three, none of whom is a recent player. Frank Ryan: Ph.D. in engineering, Alan Page, JD and is a circuit court judge, the obscure Gary Cuozzo (old Vikings QB) now a dentist.

On the other hand, many current players are graduates of what's sometimes called Negro College, ie. the penal system.

 

[Deus Vult]

Did Steve Young graduate law school during his playing days? Or was it shortly thereafter?Edited by: Deus Vult

 

[Quiet Speed]

Tommy Casanova is another player from yesteryear who is now a doctor.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Casanova

NFL
In 1972, Casanova was drafted in Round 2, pick 29 by the Cincinnati Bengals. He played safety for the Bengals from 1972 to 1977, being selected to the Pro Bowl in 1974, 1975, 1976, and 1977. Known as a faster than average, hard-hitting free safety, Casanova also collected 17 career interceptions, in what is considered a short career.

Later life
While playing for the Bengals, Casanova began to pursue his M.D. at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. In 1977, he quit playing football early to pursue his medical degree full time. He graduated from the UC College of Medicine in 1980, and then began a three-year residency in ophthalmology in New Orleans. After completing his residency in 1983, Casanova went on to complete a specialization in Oculoplastic Surgery at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.

 

[Fightingtowin]

Current Lions GM Martin Mahew got his law degree from Georgetown while playing for the Redskins, without telling anybody. Nevertheless, I'll assume he's an idiot until proven otherwise.
Edited by: Fightingtowin

 

[Run Stuffing LB]

I'm pretty sure they don't have graduate programs at "Swaggin" or "Patterson, New Jersey."

 

[DWFan]

If I remember correctly, Robert Smith (former Minnesota RB) earned a medical degree...but the fact that I can't think of any current NFL player doing post-graduate work proves your point...

 

[OldSchoolBoy75]

Nowadays, even a player who gets minimum wage in the NFL (maybe $500K) doesn't need to have an off-season job. The money is too great to want to do anything that even slightly resembles a civilian. Usually a retired NFL player owns a restaurant or two, maybe a couple car dealerships. If you're an ex-player these occupations really don't require your intellect since you have other people doing your dirty work.

Think college football understands this logic? They're so hell-bent on stressing academics as opposed to athleticism that once the players gets into the pros anything in the past with regards to academics is ancient history.

Edited by: OldSchoolBoy75

 

[bigunreal]

The vast majority of black players, and probably a good number of white ones, in the NFL were not legitimate college students in the first place. Do you really think Marcellus Wiley passed the admission standards that every other student must pass at Columbia University? Do you actually think blacks like Jerome Bettis met the stringent academic requirements at Notre Dame?

NCAA college football and basketball programs are total shams. In reality, these college teams serve as minor leagues for the pros. Almost none of the players are "students" in any sense of the word.

 

[Freedom]

I wouldn't advise someone who wanted to try to play in the NFL to go to med school until their career was over. You wouldn't get out of med school until you were probably 26. Most graduate school is overrated, especially law.

 

[Freedom]

Craig Krenzel and Mike Vrabel were both pre-med students at Ohio State.

My pop used to talk about a "Bill Lencaitis" who supposedly was a dentist.

 

[DWFan]

Quite a few years ago, I read the book "The Hundred Yard Lie" by Rick Telander (I'm pretty sure that's right). Deion Sanders was allowed to play football without even attending some of his classes.
Barry Sanders, if I remember correctly, actually tried to apply himself as a student. According to the book he even turned down an invitation to the White House because he wanted to study. Though I think that's certainly commendable, his Wonderlic score (6 or 7?) suggests to me that he should not have been admitted in the first place.

 

[The Hock]

Vince Ferragamo started at QB for Los Angeles Rams in the 1980 superbowl. I remember them mentioning he had attended medical school. Bright obviously, but he was also known to trot halfway out to the huddle from a sideline conference, then have to go back because he forgot the instructions. He's in real estate now, so I don't know what happened to the doctor thing.

Alan Page is a judge.

Today's bunch? Much less likely than thirty or forty years ago, I'm thinking. Just a hunch.

 

[Fightingtowin]

Quite a few years ago, I read the book "The Hundred Yard Lie" by Rick Telander (I'm pretty sure that's right). Deion Sanders was allowed to play football without even attending some of his classes.

Barry Sanders, if I remember correctly, actually tried to apply himself as a student. According to the book he even turned down an invitation to the White House because he wanted to study. Though I think that's certainly commendable, his Wonderlic score (6 or 7?) suggests to me that he should not have been admitted in the first place.

To give you an example of how much academics is discouraged in college
football, I present you former running back Mike Hart and U of M. He
scored something like a 1300 on his SATs and pretty much raised his 6-7
brothers and sisters on his own with no real parent figure. He wanted
to have a real major, but was convinced by Michigan to be a "General
Studies" major so not to take too much time away from football. This
guy is currently barely hanging on the practice squad of the Colts. Former U of M quarterback great Jim Harbaugh called Michigan out for this practice. Just disgusting really.

 

[white is right]

The vast majority of black players, and probably a good number of white ones, in the NFL were not legitimate college students in the first place. Do you really think Marcellus Wiley passed the admission standards that every other student must pass at Columbia University? Do you actually think blacks like Jerome Bettis met the stringent academic requirements at Notre Dame?

NCAA college football and basketball programs are total shams. In reality, these college teams serve as minor leagues for the pros. Almost none of the players are "students" in any sense of the word.

Holtz was driven out of Notre Dame because of his leaning on the brothers (that run Notre Dame)to bend the stringent academic requirements. After a while the brothers feared Notre Dame was becoming FSU light/north and they ran him out of town. So many of the top inner city recruits like Rocket or Bettis were probably closer to FSU/Miami recruits. As for Wiley I suspect Columbia bent the rules for him. But he wasn't anything close to a prop 48 case.

 

[white is right]

Also back in the 50's through the 60's the money was in baseball and boxing. Guys that weren't academically inclined played those sports. Money and the corruption that followed destroyed the student athlete.

 

[DWFan]

To give you an example of how much academics is discouraged in college
football, I present you former running back Mike Hart and U of M.  He
scored something like a 1300 on his SATs and pretty much raised his 6-7
brothers and sisters on his own with no real parent figure.  He wanted
to have a real major, but was convinced by Michigan to be a "General
Studies" major so not to take too much time away from football.  This
guy is currently barely hanging on the practice squad of the Colts.  Former U of M quarterback great Jim Harbaugh called Michigan out for this practice.  Just disgusting really.   

"General Studies", and, especially, "Communications" seem to be the only majors affletes have any interest in. I wonder if he was pushed into this category simply because his recruiters didn't want to spend time talking to academic departments they weren't accustomed to.Edited by: DWFan

 

[OldSchoolBoy75]

"General Studies", and, especially, "Communications" seem to be the only majors affletes have any interest in.

I remember looking at old Pittsburgh Steeler media guides from the '70s and according to the bios of many of the players, they were a lot of Phys Ed. majors. I don't recall seeing many guys dabbling in General Studies. As for communications, that was my major in college and if lots of affeletes are going for it, then I don't see how they'll survive classes like Voice and Diction.

 

[white is right]

Didn't Emmitt Smith do a Shakesperian commercial for Right Guard in the 90's?

I wonder how big were the Q cards.....

 

[OldSchoolBoy75]

Didn't Emmitt Smith do a Shakesperian commercial for Right Guard in the 90's?

I wonder how big were the Q cards.....

And I think Charles "I Hate Whitey Even Though I Was Married To One" Barkley did one too.

 

[DWFan]

No offense to serious Communications majors, OldSchoolBoy75. I certainly don't have anything against the program in itself, it just seems that at many colleges people with athletic scholarships seem to gravitate towards it as an area that requires little work. Serious students of Communications command as much respect from me as from any other discipline.

 

[OldSchoolBoy75]

No offense to serious Communications majors, OldSchoolBoy75. I certainly don't have anything against the program in itself, it just seems that at many colleges people with athletic scholarships seem to gravitate towards it as an area that requires little work. Serious students of Communications command as much respect from me as from any other discipline.

DW--Apology accepted!

I hear you. If I went to college again, I would major in French. But I digress... Anyhow, I am not surprised that athletes take the easy route when it comes to their studies. All that talk about "dumb jock" being a stereotype--yeah right! I am sure that if I were a football player at a university, my counselor would be able to work my class schedule around my football duties.

 

[DWFan]

You're right man. Some "dumb jock" types are among the most thoughtful and intelligent people that I've met. And--most important in how I evaluate people--some of the least pretentious.Edited by: DWFan

 

[bigunreal]

When ex-Redskin Dexter Manley came out and publicly acknowledged that he was illiterate some years ago, there was a great hue and cry in the media. All of it was sympathetic towards Manley, but curiously no one asked the most obvious question. How could any university (in this case, Oklahoma State) admit a student who was illiterate? Every college, from small community ones to the Ivy League, has some kind of entrance exam. There is no way that someone illiterate could pass any entrance exam. Shockingly enough, no one brought up this point.

Dexter Manley was much more articulate than most of today's black NFL players.