Seventy-three-year-old college basketball player disqualified

[Ivan Seeking]

...because he bombed in a Spanish class! Bummer!

Fifty-three years after getting the collegiate boot as the fall guy on a prank-gone-bad, 73-year-old college basketball player Ken Mink is again on the suffering side of a controversy.

Mink says he has been ruled ineligible to play by the National Junior College Athletic Association; and Roane State, the junior college team in Harriman for which he plays, will have to forfeit his last game...

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2009/feb/20/73-year-old-basketball-player-ruled-ineligible/

 

[hypatia]

I saw him on the news a few nights ago, I was giving him the mental "You go dawg", so this news is disheartening. I hope he gets to play again soon.

 

[BobG]

This could only happen in the NJCAA. Or maybe the NAIA.

In the NCAA, you only have 5 years to complete 4 years of competition from the time a player first enrolls in college. If a person hasn't attended college, they start losing 1 year of eligibility for each year over 21. Wasn't that an issue with a Florida St quarterback several years ago? (I think he only lost one year of eligibility, but he was in his mid-20s, making him worth less in the NFL draft)

As a result, you never see 73-year-olds playing in the NCAA Tournament, much less playing for a championship team.

Personally, I think the NCAA could be sued for age discrimination.

Note: There is an exception for military service and I remember an article from years ago about a placekicker playing on the same team as his son.