Gary Walters’ Legacy

Thanks for your piece (however brief) on sprint football, one of the few teams left that really can be shown to be playing completely for the love of the game (On the Campus, Oct. 9). I was surprised you alluded to the elephant in the room as summed up by our athletic director: “The team foundered after the University cut all slots for recruited players,” and yet failed to follow this stunner with even a little more in-depth analysis. Who do we think made the decision to cut the slots, if not Gary Walters as the A.D.? Why was this decision made?

You could have reported how P.J. Chew ’95, the longtime president of our alumni group (responsible for raising tens of thousands of dollars), was asked to resign by Mr. Walters for embarrassing him over the University’s chronic lack of support. Of all the varsity programs at Princeton, why has sprint football been singled out for removal of a few preferred slots in the admission process? Because it isn’t a big moneymaker? It isn’t nationally famous?

You might find it interesting to dig deeper into how the University’s policies toward this small but courageous group have resulted in the most impressive losing streak since records began. Perhaps once Mr. Walters has retired, we can start recruiting and playing some folks who played football for 10 years in places like Landon, St. Albans, and other small schools still cranking out bright, experienced (if body-mass-challenged) men who would like to be counted among the ranks of winning Tigers.