By Lynn Worthy
Associate Editor

Let’s all take a moment to thank former Notre Dame Heisman Trophy winner Paul Hornung for deciding to expound, profess, and enlighten us all on the nature of college admissions. He did us all a real service with the comments he made on a Detroit radio show. In case you missed it, Hornung said his alma mater needed to lower admission standards to get the “black athlete.”

So let us all thank him for speaking out. You see, Hornung serves as a prime example of how a top-tier academic institution with high standards can still produce some of the most ignorant and backward-thinking individuals of our time.

What Hornung,, who ironically broadcast Notre Dame football games on the radio,, didn’t seem to realize was that he was talking about a team that is comprised of mostly black players, 55 percent to be exact. Not to mention that Notre Dame football is headed by the first black head coach in the school’s history, and one of only four black head coaches in Division I-A college football last season. Hornung was just factually wrong.

Beyond that, Hornung doesn’t seem to realize the underlying assumptions implied in his comments. He’s assuming first of all, that black athletes are the key to Notre Dame’s either winning or losing games. With all the work, preparation, training, game planning, and skill development that goes into creating a powerhouse program Hornung is able to condense all winning and losing into one key: the “black athlete.” If this were the case than I don’t know how there are any white guys playing in Division I. I really don’t. According to the Hornung Theory of Football the white dudes should all be playing in Divisions II and III. The Hornung Theory also doesn’t tell me how Tom Osborne managed to win all those games (including National Championships in 1994 and 1995 as well as a share in 1997) behind what was mostly a bunch of big white farm boys straight out of the corn fields. It’s simply not possible because Hornung has told us that black athletes are the way you win. You gotta stock-pile them.

Another problem with Hornung’s way of thinking is that he said black players need lower standards to get into institutions like Notre Dame. As though to get a black athlete we need to make the bar a little lower, but a white athlete doesn’t need that help. Let’s be precise. He didn’t say standards need to be changed to get the best athletes. He said the “black athlete.”

Well, correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe that some of the best athletes in college football are, in fact, white. Eric Crouch won a Heisman Trophy and may have been the best option quarterback ever in the history of that program, which included players like Tommy Frazier at that position. USC’s Carson Palmer won the Heisman two years ago. Jeremy Shockey helped Miami to a National Championship. Brock Berlin was the most highly-touted quarterback in the nation when he came out of high school. The list goes on and on, but all of these guys could have gotten into Notre Dame. Damn, they could have gotten into Harvard or Yale; they don’t need lower standards. Those are only for getting black athletes into school. Isn’t that right, Mr. Hornung?

Furthermore, Hornung might find it informative to know that at nationally-renown institutions like those of the NESCAC there are advantages given to get the “white athlete” into school and on the football field. Former Williams College head football coach Dick Farley was quoted in a story in the Portland Press Herald on Sept. 26, saying,, “We do admit certain kids that otherwise would not get in if they didn’t play football.” In the article, the reporter, Jerry Lauzon, goes on to point out that Williams, Wesleyan, and Amherst entered into a pact that allows them 14 slots each year for student football players who would not be let in by regular standards. Each of those three schools traditionally field football teams that are as white as a country music video.

Now, I’m not calling Hornung racist because I don’t know if he is or not. What I’m saying is that the man is mistaken in his entire way of thinking. I know he has apologized, but come on now. All day television, radio, and newspapers rip into the comments he made and then all of a sudden the next day he’s sorry. That doesn’t tell me he’s sorry. That tells me he watched television, read the paper, or listened to talk radio, and heard all these people coming down on him. So he apologized. The fact is he made almost the exact same comments to a television station in an interview some time ago.

He’s not the only one out there thinking that way though. There are people who share his flawed reasoning and something needs to be done about it. Something needs to be done so that the Hornungs don’t control our perception of college athletics and the way we view student-athletes. These underlying myths in Hornung’s comments need to be dispelled or there will be a nation of Paul Hornung Theorists out there. Worst of all, they’ll be in prominent positions and we just won’t it know because they won’t be as overt as Hornung.


Respond to this article