Thanks To NCAA, Dorsey Can't Help UW

College athletics needs Chester Dorsey. It needs a lot of Chester Dorseys. It needs former athletes who have made it in the athletic afterlife.

It needs adult role models, mentors who can help young athletes bridge the gap from their old neighborhoods to their new, unsettling environments.

It needs successful adults to teach the athletes the new rules in their new world. It needs teachers for the other, rougher game off the field, off the court, out of the spotlight.

"When I first came out here (from Indiana), I didn't know anybody," said Dorsey, an outstanding Washington point guard from 1974 to '77. "But the thing that was good for me was that we did have some type of mentoring program. Jim Nordstrom was my mentor, and it really helped me a lot. I had a guy to go to, who I could communicate with when I had some down times. His home was open to me. That made me feel comfortable."

Dorsey found a second family in Seattle. He had a place to go for Thanksgiving dinner. He had a friendly ear, other than his coach, to talk about a problem in class, a problem with a girlfriend, a problem with a teammate.

College athletics needs Chet Dorsey and Dorsey wants to help, but because of the NCAA's Draconian rules, Washington can't use Dorsey. Alumni are prevented from contact with athletes. This is one of those lead-us-not-into-temptation rules that has to be changed.

"I don't care what color they are," said Dorsey, who is African

American. "I don't care if the mentors are black, white, purple or green, that doesn't matter. We just need more people who understand that some of these athletes are coming from unstable environments and they just need someone they can talk to and maybe work with.

"I was kind of disappointed when the NCAA put in the ruling that no alumni can have any association with players. I think that was the best thing that happened to me when I was a player. It helped me become successful in business because I had those friendships outside the campus."

The no-contact rule was put in to keep the zealots out of the program, to keep boosters with deep pockets and grandiose dreams from infecting athletes.

But by punishing the zealot, you punish the athlete. Washington wide receiver Jason Shelley might have stayed out of trouble if he could have talked regularly with Dorsey. Guard Prentiss Perkins might still be playing basketball if he had an older friend outside the program.

A mentor system has to be re-established. Make the mentors register with the NCAA. Make them pass a test, sign an oath, whatever. Maybe make them file a monthly report. But get the Chets back in athletics.

And pay the players. Eliminate the temptation to follow the zealots by giving the athletes a meaningful stipend. The athletes make money for the university and they deserve some cash in return.

"I can name some NFL and NBA players who came through the University of Washington and came there with only one pair of pants," said Dorsey, owner of several successful car detailing shops and a limousine service. "Their families couldn't afford to subsidize their living at the university. These guys need to be taken care of. If you're representing the university, you should be compensated.

"They aren't normal students. They're in the public eye. If other students had gotten in trouble like Jason Shelley and Prentiss Perkins would it have been sensationalized like it was? No."

If you're 18, chances are you don't know how it feels to be in the public eye. You don't realize every mistake is magnified. You don't know the new rules.

Shelley and Perkins needed mentors, a couple of people to explain these new rules.

"They need some kind of program to help these kids readjust to the university atmosphere," Dorsey said. "A lot of people say the guys come up here and they should know better.

"But here are kids who have been stars in their respective high-school programs and they come here and people are catering to them. They get used to that. And, plus, they might have grown up in communities where their friends were gang members.

"So how do you expect them to come out there, after spending 17 years in one community, and adjust quickly to another, much different community? It doesn't work. You have to have somebody, a mentoring program, that would help these kids. You have to have guys who can come in and be a continuing part of their lives."

Athletes need guidance away from the glitter and the Chet Dorseys are willing to help.

It seems so simple. Change the rules. Save some kids.

Get Chet.