Editorial
Arizona Daily Wildcat
October 22, 1997

Worthy dedication

As the lure of money sinks its teeth further into the foundation of college athletics, the term student-athlete is becoming an oxymoron.

Athletes come to college with aspirations of pro contracts and shoe deals, not college degrees.

Who really cares about Miles Simon's grades? He came here to play basketball, not graduate.

Even fans who appreciate college athletics for the purity of the competition admit that they don't care about grades or test scores. The once revered student-athlete has faded from the hearts and minds of American sports fans.

Fair enough.

Degrees are not a high priority for many top college athletes. That's a choice some players make, and as fans we have no right to demand that our heroes hit the books. But we shouldn't forget to honor those who make the choice to take on classwork as well as their opponent.

The Tucson City Council yesterday voted to name the four-field complex at Lincoln Regional Park in honor of Julie Reitan - a University of Arizona softball player who died over the summer.

Reitan was a student-athlete.

As a left-fielder for the Wildcats, Reitan was an emotional and spiritual leader on back-to-back championship teams.

With a 3.31 grade point average and a constantly upbeat attitude, Reitan gave Arizona a reminder of the true meaning of "role model." She was on the Pacific-10 All-Academic team. She was valedictorian of her high school class. She was a joker and a stand-in cheerleader.

Naming a softball field after Reitan is a small honor, but well deserved. Julie Reitan was all that we hope for in a student-athlete - hardworking, talented and always thrilled to be in the game.

Student-athletes like Reitan deserve our praise.

All too often, though, praiseworthy academic and personal achievements go unnoticed. As pre-season basketball magazines debate the Wildcats' chances to repeat as National Champions, Miles Simon and Mike Bibby are thrust into the spotlight - as they should be.

In all the hoopla though, many of those publications fail to mention the soft spoken Michael Dickerson. He posted a 3.5 grade point average last semester and earned a spot on the All Pac-10 team.

Dickerson - like Reitan - is a student-athlete. While whole athletic programs, such as ASU's men's basketball team, have fallen in the public spotlight, student-athletes like Reitan and Dickerson remind us that the path of greater resistance is often the more rewarding.

We should pay tribute to these less-heralded athletes, because we risk losing sight of the real glory in the college game. Otherwise the money and glamour that have become synonymous with what is gradually becoming a farm system for professional sports, will blind us to the true heroes of college athletics.