When did the NCAA get a heart?

Today is a good day.  Better than good…..it’s a day to be long-remembered!  It was going to be good, anyway, because tonight’s the night I do my taxes.  EASILY my favorite day that falls between my anniversary and the opening round of the NCAA Tournament every year.  I’m weird like that.  Don’t judge me.

But what makes this day TRULY special is that, for one of the very few times in my history of following such things, the NCAA has shown a SHRED of decency and humanity. 

Don’t get me started on the NCAA.  On the “value of creation” scale between a single-celled amoeba and the angel with the shiniest harp in the choir, I generally rank the NCAA somewhere between the slime mold and the tapeworm.  They’re greedy, selfish, hypocritical, self-righteous and answer to NO ONE for their actions.  They can do whatever they want, and they don’t have to explain why they do it.  They fear one group and one group only—a few powerful college presidents and conference heads who can take their football toys and play elsewhere if the NCAA ever tries to force them into a legitimate national championship process.

But for once, the NCAA is doing the right thing. 

If you’ve followed the Big 12 or college basketball at all the past few weeks, you’ve heard about what’s going on in the family life of Kansas sophomore, Thomas Robinson.  There has not been a dad in Thomas’ life.  There was his mom, Lisa, and her two parents, doing the best they could to raise Thomas and his 9 year-old sister, Jayla, in a tough part of Washington D.C.  In the past three weeks, ALL THREE of the parent-figures in Thomas and Jayla’s life have passed away.  Most recently, it was Lisa.  Thomas got the news in a personal phone call from little Jayla last Friday.

The outpouring of offers for support overwhelmed the Kansas Athletics office.  Officials begged fans and friends to hold off on doing anything for Thomas or his family until they got the all-clear from the NCAA—an all-clear that I, frankly, never thought would come.  But it DID come.  Through a series of one-time waivers from the NCAA office, the following are all now being done with the NCAA’s blessing:

• Kansas is allowed to pay for Lisa Robinsons’s funeral expenses.
• They are also allowed to fly the entire team to D.C. at university cost to attend the funeral and support Thomas.
• Kansas will pay for Jayla to ride back to Lawrence with Thomas, where she will live with him under his guardianship until (and IF) a more-suitable arrangement can be made.
• Kansas has been allowed to help Thomas set up a scholarship fund for Jayla’s benefit, and anyone who wishes may make non-deductible contributions to the fund.

I have to give credit where credit is due, and the NCAA absolutely made the right call in this instance.  Thomas now carries the burden of being a full-time student, full-time college athlete, and full-time daddy figure to a poor little girl who doesn’t have anyone else in the world.  It’s a heavy burden, and I’m sure they can use all of our prayers.

If you’d like to help, the way the family asks you to do so is by contributing to Jayla’s scholarship fund at the address below.  I, personally, am going to use a small portion of my tax return to make a contribution, and I hope it goes at least part of the way towards securing a little better future for someone who can use a break.

Lisa Robinson Scholarship fund,

For the Benefit of Jayla

C/O SNR Denton US LLP

1301 K Street, Suite 600, East Tower

Washington, DC, 20005-3364