Quitters Never Win

Originally published March 8, 2003:

Theodore Roosevelt once said that one who competes, even in the face of adversity, could be certain that, “his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

It’s a concept that athletes have always followed. No matter how difficult the circumstances, no matter how much the odds are against a competitor, quitting is out of the question.

That’s why when the Saint Bonaventure University men’s basketball team announced last week that they were forfeiting the remaining games on their schedule, it was shocking, disturbing and amusing, all at the same time.

On March 3, the Bonnies were forced to forfeit their six Atlantic-10 Conference victories and were banned from the conference postseason tournament and the national championship tournament after center Jamil Terrell was declared ineligible for failing to meet National Collegiate Athletic Association transfer requirements.

The next day, the team literally took their ball and went home, boycotting the final two games of the season.

They quit.

From the moment we learn to swing a bat, shoot a basket or throw a football, we learn that being called a quitter is just as bad as being slapped in the face. We are taught that even if we aren’t very good, we still compete and we never quit.

Yet the players at St. Bonaventure did just that.

In 2001, Oklahoma State University lost 10 people associated with their basketball program — including two players — in a plane crash. Although games were initially postponed, the team finished their season.

In 2000, San Jose State University football player Neil Parry had a foot amputated after an accident in a game. Two years later he was back playing football.

Cyclist Lance Armstrong was given a 50 percent chance to live after testicular cancer spread to his lungs and brain. Not only did he beat the cancer, but he’s won the last four Tour De France races.

Each of these are examples of competitors who could have made a case for quitting, but none of them did. St. Bonaventure did, and as far as I can tell their only explanation is that they got their feelings hurt.

“There was anger at the university, anger at the conference, anger in general as to what was happening to them,” St. Bonaventure spokesperson Dave Ferguson told ESPN.com.

Give me a break.

Let me recap. This team used an ineligible player because of an oversight by the athletic department. They were discovered using that ineligible player and were properly disciplined for the infraction.

Rather than accept their punishment like men, like competitors, they quit. They quit on their school, they quit on their fans and they quit on their sport.

The Atlantic -10 has stated that they might discuss the possibility of kicking St. Bonaventure out of the conference because of the embarrassment the school caused. The school’s boosters have begun calling for the jobs of the president, athletic director and coach. And thus far, the boosters’ wishes have been answered.

The Board of Trustees unanimously voted for school president Robert Wichenheiser’s resignation which he has complied with. Athletic director Gothard Lane has been put on administrative leave and has already been told his contract, which expires at the end of May, will not be renewed. Head coach Jan van Breda Kolff is also on leave.

For the immediate future, the St. Bonaventure basketball team will be the butt of jokes, along with the likes of Buster Douglas, the Los Angeles Clippers and France. There are, however, more permanent consequences. Those players have lost the chance to represent their school on basketball’s grandest stage.

From now on, they’ll have to live with the fact that a simple, yet short-sighted and egotistical act may have assured them of their place alongside the coldest and most timid souls in sport’s history.