January eighth, nineteen seventy two changed the game college sports forever when freshmen were now allowed to compete in varsity football and basketball. Now, let's find out the story behind this iconic sports moments. Welcome to Daily Sports History. I'm Ethan Reese, your guide to all the sports history you need to know every day. In January nineteen seventy two, the world of college sports witnessed this a dramatic shift as the UNC Doubla made a monumentous decision granting freshmen eligibility to play varsity football and basketball. Mark you a huge turning point in college athletics. Nineteen sixty eight, though all other in CAA sports were allowed have freshmen play, but now football and basketball were ready to make the chain. Until this point, freshmen had only been allowed to compete in JV sports, which is not a common still to this day. Most freshmen don't have the ability to compete, but higher level teams have players that have talent that transcends their age and can actually compete at the varsity level in basketball. Basketball was a main force behind this change, as u Sela had two stars that were really show me that freshmen compete lou Al Sinder, later known as Krimo d Dubbar, dominated the college ranks even as a freshman couldn't compete on the varsity team, and Bill Walton after him was doing the same. Although many college coaches and administrators were not overly pleas by the ground breaking moon, saying if your freshmen have to play, you're probably not a very good team, and many referring to as just a recruiting gimmick that will lasts for a few years and show no change, Though there was president for this change to happen. During the Korean War in nineteen fifty, freshmen were given temporary status to play on football and basketball teams due to many young men being drafted into the war, and in nineteen seventy a tragic event when the University of Marshall lost some majority lost a majority of their team due to a plane crack where Marshall University where Marshall University's football team lost almost all of their team in a plane crack, and the only way they could build their team was to allow freshmen to play. They were granted they were granted temporary allowance for freshmen. Two years later, the whole country was granted that right, this was a monumentous decision that transcended the college game, especially in the sport of basketball, where freshmen every year to this day changed the landscape of the college basketball season. Without this change, we wouldn't have seen great freshman season such as Greg Odin leading Ohio State to the national championship, Derreck Rose leading Memphis to the national championship, Kevin Durant leading the country and scoring, and Carmel Anthony leading his team to a national championship. And in football, although not having as much of an impact, freshmen still to come, we would have missed out on Herschel Walker's freshman season, Adrian Peterson, Jameis Winston, and Johnny Manziel. It's forever change the sporting world as the college sports continue to change every day. Thank you for listening to today's daily sports History. If you like this, please rate and review wherever you're listening. We can't wait to hear it back from you. We'll come back tomorrow for more sports history.
