Some Rules Need To Be Broken Sometimes » Brats & Beer

February 19, 2008
posted under: Badgers football, James Kamoku

I’ve been reading the posts on the Journal Sentinel’s Badger Blog about Wisconsin fifth-year senior linebacker James Kamoku and his family, who have been going through a pretty rough time lately. His mother cannot work because of back problems, his grandmother suffered a heart attack recently, and he has an uncle on disability. Worst of all they are close to losing their home because of their financial difficulties. (The JS says they family was supposed to have been evicted from their home on Feb. 1 but they have been given a reprieve for now.)

Apparently quite a few fans and Badger supporters have contacted the paper and others about offering assistance, financial and otherwise, but the really sad part about this tale is Kamoku’s family cannot accept any of help from individuals because of his status as a student athlete. If a group set up a support fund or they took any sort of donations, the NCAA would see it as a violation of rules limiting gifts that athletes can receive and UW would probably face sanctions of some sort or another.

Now there are very good reasons for the NCAA to have these rules in place to prevent schools with well-heeled alumni and boosters from having an unfair advantage in recruiting and whatnot, but you’d think there might be some situations — like this one involving Kamoku’s family — where the NCAA could look the other way or grant some kind of exemption. It’s just a real shame that those rules designed to keep college athletics clean could prevent this kid’s family from receiving needed assistance from people willing to provide it.