Mink's College Career Didn't Have To End This Way

One of the fun stories of the 2008-09 college basketball season ended last week, and it’s a shame.

Ken Mink, the senior citizen of the Roane State Community College men’s basketball team, was ruled ineligible to participate in the Raiders’ final four games.

It was the second time – though the occasions are separated by more than 50 years – that Mink, a former Bristol Herald Courier managing editor, was not allowed to conclude his college basketball
career.

The first time, he was kicked off the Lees Junior College team in his native Kentucky and expelled from school with no chance to appeal because of accusations that he says were false. The experience left Mink bitter and having what he described as “a little hole in my heart” that nothing he subsequently did in his life could fill.

This time, almost certainly evaluating the situation with the wisdom of his 73 years, Mink was philosophical rather than angry, saying he’d accomplished what he’d set out to do. He’d demonstrated that his skills were still good enough to compete against players young enough to be his grandsons, and he’d proved that age doesn’t have to be a deterrent to being athletic and having fun.

Still, it’s hard to consider this final chapter of Mink’s basketball career – a comeback story that was chronicled by the national media many times during the past five months – and not wonder if he didn’t get another raw deal.

Why, for instance, did National Junior College Athletics Association officials stick to the letter of the law in his case, rather than judge it with reason and compassion? What harm would it have done to junior college basketball to allow Mink, who had played about 15 minutes and scored five points in seven games, to finish the season?

The NJCAA ruled last week that Mink failed to receive proper permission to take a course from a school other than Roane State. Mink had enrolled in a sociology course through Strayer University when he realized during the fall semester that he might fail a Spanish course.

He continued taking the Spanish course, though he did not pass it, but he finished the semester with the NJCAA minimum 12 hours of credit that included the Strayer University sociology course. Mink and Roane officials insisted in an appeal to the NJCAA that he had the necessary credit hours and the appropriate grade point average to play.

The NJCAA disagreed, saying in a statement: “It is unfortunate that during the course of each academic year failure to comply with NJCAA guidelines results in some student-athletes being ruled ineligible.”

The Roane State team also was ordered to forfeit a game against Hiwassee, one in which Mink scored two points.

In one respect, it’s impossible to disagree with the ruling. It sends the right message: Academics, not athletics, must come first.

Still, this isn’t about a student-athlete trying to skirt or cheat the system. Mink had no ambitions to play beyond this season. All he wanted to do was finish it.

And in that respect, the penalties appear to be unnecessarily severe. Where is the justice in them?

Still, Mink told The Associated Press last week that he had no regrets. He had gotten his chance, he said, and he believed he’d made the most of it.

“For a 73-year-old guy, I felt I played very well and very competitively,” he said. “The coaches were happy with it. My teammates were happy with it. They regard me as a player, not as some old guy.”

That’s a story the NJCAA should have been celebrating, not penalizing.

JIM CNOCKAERT is the Herald Courier sports editor. He can be reached at jcnockaert@bristolnews.com and (276) 645-2572.