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NCAA won't let Georgia fans pay for dad's trip to game

Thursday, August 11, 2005

A group of Georgia football fans took up a collection to pay for a Boise State player's father to fly from Baghdad to see his son play against the Bulldogs in Athens. But the NCAA rule book got in the way, according to The ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION.

Dan Miller, father of Broncos sophomore guard Tad Miller, is a retired police lieutenant who is training Iraqi police officers.

When Sam Hendrix of Signal Mountain, Tenn. — "suthndawg" to his fellow Georgia fans on the Dawgvent, an Internet message board — read a story in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution about the Millers, he started an online movement to raise the $2,700 it will cost Dad to make it to Sanford Stadium to see his son play in the home opener Sept. 3.

"Within moments of suthndawg's post, there were 25 to 50 people who offered to pledge money," said Ryan Crowe, a 25-year-old legal assistant from Atlanta who offered to collect and distribute the funds. "It just took off from there."

But when Crowe checked with the two schools, he was told the UGA fans' generosity would be a violation of NCAA bylaws regarding extra benefits and expenses for student athletes and their families.

"Ironically, by providing this money, these [Georgia] fans would in effect become Boise State boosters," said Amy Chisholm, UGA's assistant athletics director for compliance. The NCAA defines a booster as "a representative of an institution's athletics interests."

"Makes no sense to me," said Hendrix, a 56-year-old marketing consultant. "It just hits me that twice in a week, these people have lost touch with reality."