The Double Life of Egghead Jocks

In order to be eligible to play it was necessary for him to keep up in his studies, a very difficult matter, for while he was not dumber than an ox, he was not any smarter.

That was how James Thurber described Bolenciecwcz, his quintessential dumb jock, in My Life and Hard Times. Though a caricature, Ohio State Tackle Bolenciecwcz was not entirely ludicrous. Sport and education, particularly higher education, have never been a common combination.

Until recently, that is. Many professional athletes today do not simply have college diplomas. They have master's degrees or doctorates as well, or are working toward them. Opportunities for fame and money in sport have expanded so radically that many young men with the brainpower to succeed in a profession find that it makes sense to take time out first to get rich in the arena.

Law and business administration are the most popular specialties. Indeed, it is hard to find a pro football team without at least one player scholar or administrator. Nick Buoniconti, the Miami Dolphins linebacker, runs a law practice (Garber & Buoniconti), as does inactive Packer Center Ken Bowman. Blaine Nye, who plays guard for the Dallas Cowboys, has a University of Washington M.A. in physics and a Stanford master's in business administration that he plans to apply to a career in corporate banking or business marketing. In hockey, a game not noted for the intellect of its players, Montreal Canadien Goalie Ken Dryden holds a law degree from McGill. Last year Dryden abandoned hockey and his $75,000 annual salary to work in a Toronto law office. This season he is back in the nets.

Pro athletes also follow more exotic pursuits. Earlie Thomas, a cornerback for the New York Jets, spends his off seasons chasing bugs as he works toward a master's in entomology at Colorado State. The subject of his thesis: "The Different Effects of Cultural Methods on Bathyplectes Curculionis and Its Host," a study of one species of parasite wasp. "I've always been curious about insects," Thomas says. "You could spend one full year on one insect and still not know all there is to know about it." Thomas' fascination has been an abiding one; he took up football only to get a scholarship. After completing his doctoral requirements, he plans to specialize in agricultural or medical entomology.

Morris Mott, forward for the California Golden Seals and another erudite athlete, is a doctoral candidate in history at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. Then there is Mike Marshall, the Dodger relief pitcher and winner of the Cy Young Award. He retreats to Michigan State every winter to work on his Ph.D. in motor development in children (TIME, Aug. 12). Denver Bronco Quarterback Charley Johnson has a 1971 doctorate in chemical engineering from Washington University in St. Louis. Johnson, who specialized in the expansion characteristics of plastics, works in the offseason as an engineer and salesman for a firm that builds natural gas compressing stations.

On the playing field, the egghead jock can be a source of enlightenment as well as amusement to teammates. Several years ago, when Atlanta Braves Second Baseman Dave Johnson, a mathematician, was playing for the Baltimore Orioles, he gave some valuable advice to Pitcher Jim Palmer. "Jim, you're in an unfavorable chance deviation," said Johnson. When Palmer seemed mystified, Johnson explained that Palmer was minimizing his chance to pitch strikes by trying to hit the corners.

For the Yankees, the counsel offered by Pitcher George ("Doc") Medich is probably even more worthwhile. Medich, a 19-game winner last season, doubles as a third-year medical student at Pitt. "A lot of guys ask me for advice," says Medich. "Last year Elliott Maddox had a bulge in his abdomen. I told him it might be a hernia or a ruptured pyramidalis" (a small rudimentary muscle). Medich's diagnosis was correct; Maddox had a hernia.

Counting Bugs. The double life of the egghead jock can cause plenty of problems. Medich is taking seven years to complete a four-year medical course. When Dryden was both law student and Canadien goalie, he spent one frantic day taking two long exams, then racing to the Montreal Forum to play in a game. Earlie Thomas has a different difficulty: completing his research in the off-season while staying in condition. "I really get into my research," he says. "I spend as much as 14 hours a day in the field, usually on my hands and knees counting bugs. Then I still have to go work out, plus check on my lab work. I usually hit the lab about midnight."

For Morris Mott, the difficulty was focusing on one pursuit. "When practicing, I'd be thinking of writing a paper," he says. "When I was in class, I'd be thinking of being on the ice. It took me about four years to work it out."

Despite such troubles, most academic athletes get a kick out of both worlds. Says Dave Johnson: "There's just as much challenge in hitting that baseball and trying to figure out what they're gonna throw you as there is in solving differential equations." There is also the security of having a second profession. "They can always take that football away from you," says Thomas, "but they can't take away that knowledge."

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