McDonald v. National Collegiate Athletic Association

370 F. Supp. 625, 1974 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12293
CourtDistrict Court, C.D. California
DecidedFebruary 11, 1974
DocketCV 74-87-LTL
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 370 F. Supp. 625 (McDonald v. National Collegiate Athletic Association) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, C.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McDonald v. National Collegiate Athletic Association, 370 F. Supp. 625, 1974 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12293 (C.D. Cal. 1974).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

REAL, District Judge.

Plaintiffs Glenn S. McDonald and Roscoe Pondexter are basketball players who have during the 1973-74 academic year been competing in basketball on behalf of defendant California State University Long Beach (hereafter Long Beach.)

On January 8, 1974 McDonald and Pondexter were notified by Frank Bowman, University Athletic Representative at Long Beach, as follows:

“. . .1 have no alternative but to declare you ineligible for further participation in intercollegiate athletics.”

This declaration of ineligibility of McDonald and Pondexter on behalf of Long Beach arises out of its membership in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (hereafter NCAA) and further out of a decision of that association imposing sanctions on Long Beach for the violation of its rules, which sanctions include, but are not limited to, Long Beach’s declaration of ineligibility of McDonald and Pondexter.

McDonald and Pondexter have filed their Complaint For Injunction and Declaratory Relief alleging: (1) the unconstitutionality of NCAA Bylaw 4-6-B-l, commonly known as the 1.600 Rule, and (2) the violation of due process guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, in light of the NCAA’s failure to afford them notice and hearing on the claimed violations.

McDonald and Pondexter are now before the Court on their Order To Show Cause Re Preliminary Injunction, requesting the Court to enjoin the defendants NCAA and Long Beach from employing the 1.600 Rule and further from declaring them ineligible without a full and fair hearing on the charged violations of NCAA rules.

The parties concede that McDonald and Pondexter have not been afforded any hearing before any committee or *627 council of the NCAA, nor by Long Beach, pursuant to Long Beach’s own student disciplinary procedures. 1 This concession limits the issue before the Court to the determination of whether the activities of NCAA and/or Long Beach amount to “state action,” thereby invoking the entire panoply of constitutional limitations imposed by the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Long Beach is a publicly owned, accredited University of the State of California and part of the State of California’s university system. As such, little need be said about the actions of Long Beach except that they involve state action. The failure of Long Beach to invoke its own student disciplinary process is violative of due process, thereby making it subject to the injunctive relief sought by McDonald and Pon-dexter.

The NCAA is a voluntary, unincorpotion, however, requires somewhat different considerations.

Declaring NCAA action to be state aerated association of approximately 769 members, consisting of colleges and universities, conferences and associations, and other educational institutions. Its active membership is comprised approximately equally of privately endowed and state financed and controlled four year colleges and universities.

The purpose of the NCAA is found in Article Two of the NCAA Constitution and Interpretations of The National Collegiate Athletic Association. 2 Central to all of its purposes'is the NCAA’s dedication to the maintenance of ath *628 letics as an integral part of the educational programs of its members.

The purposes of the NCAA are accomplished by the promulgation of rules and regulations established at annual conventions with each member exercising its right to vote upon the proposed rules and regulations for the conduct of the association’s membership. These rules and regulations are executed by a Council of eighteen members elected by the membership at the annual Convention of the NCAA.

Enforcement of the rules and regulations and supervision of the investigation of complaints of violations are entrusted to a five member Committee On Infractions, created under the Official Procedure Governing The NCAA Enforcement Program. 3 It is pursuant to this Procedure that the disciplinary measures — -which precipitate this litigation to this Court — were imposed upon Long Beach and consequently upon McDonald and Pondexter.

The Official Procedure Governing The NCAA Enforcement Program provides for a hearing at which the member institution may present evidence. It also provides for a written report, including findings, to be submitted by the Committee to the Council with the right of appeal to the Council.

Presumably these procedures were followed in the instant ease. (We say “presumably” since no complaint has been forthcoming from Long Beach to the effect that it was not afforded a hearing and since the affidavit of Warren S. Brown, Assistant Executive Director of the NCAA, clearly indicates that it was.)

Other violations found by the Council and the Committee on Infractions— which, though not strictly relevant here, do pertain to McDonald and Pondexter— are summarized as follows: 4

“25. NCAA Bylaw 4-6-(b)-(l) — (i) A student-athlete was permitted to practice and participate in intercollegiate basketball as well as receive athletically-related financial assistance while ineligible under the prediction requirements of the NCAA 1.600 rule; (ii) an assistant basketball coach arranged for two prospective student-athletes to be credited with fraudulent test scores which were erroneously utilized by the University to certify both young men eligible for practice, participation and athletically-related financial assistance under the prediction requirements of the NCAA 1.600 rule; (iii) a student-athlete practiced, participated in intercollegiate basketball competition and received athletically-related financial assistance while ineligible for such benefits under the prediction requirements of the NCAA 1.600 rule on the basis of a fraudulent test score credited to him; (iv) an assistant basketball coach arranged for a prospective student-athlete to be credited with a fraudulent test score which was actually utilized by the University to establish the young man’s eligibility for athletically-related financial aid, practice and participation.”

Although not naming McDonald and Pondexter, it is this infraction which resulted in their declaration of ineligibility by Long Beach. 5

The penalties imposed as a result of this and other enumerated infractions— 26 in number — are directed against Long Beach and not personally against McDonald or Pondexter. Among the penalties levelled against Long Beach by the NCAA were the imposition of a term of probation and a prohibition from Long Beach’s participation in NCAA-sponsored, post-season championship *629 competition. Long Beach was further barred from appearing on NCAA-sponsored television programs for the period of its probation.

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Bluebook (online)
370 F. Supp. 625, 1974 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12293, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcdonald-v-national-collegiate-athletic-association-cacd-1974.