Athletic coach and university professor John LeBar and bestselling writer Allen Paul have joined forces to alert Americans to the rapidly spiraling costs of college sports, citing possible dire consequences and proposing some ways to avert them.

In the economic equation that now typifies high school and college athletic policies, with particular focus on football and basketball, there is a human concern that should give readers pause, whether they are hardcore sports fans or thoughtful students of American history. In the years following the Civil War and reaching well into the 20th century, an idealistic model emerged of the scholar-athlete, someone who was well-endowed and well-trained both physically and intellectually.

"Combining fact and fair-minded fervor, MARCHING TOWARD MADNESS was constructed with extensive input from numerous authorities in the realm of college sports history, a heretofore little researched subject that its authors have now brought to light."

Throughout this intriguing exploration, LeBar and Paul give many sterling examples of such paragons, both male and female, beginning with William Henry Lewis. The son of former slaves, Lewis played football in college, first in Virginia and then at Amherst where he became the first African American to captain a mixed-race team. He was chosen for the All-American team while at Harvard, where he later became a coach. Practicing law, he was appointed Assistant Attorney General by President Taft, and was the first African American to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme court. And win in that, as he had so often won on the football field.

The notion of the scholar-athlete has gradually morphed into something quite different. The student-athlete --- the current model --- is, many would say, little more than a poorly rewarded slave to whatever institution he or she has been drafted to, with little time for real scholarly endeavor and a very miniscule chance of attaining the goal that has become a goad: a professional sports contract. Yet this goal is in itself questionable, as the authors point out that those with full academic credentials will on average earn more over the long term than most athletes, and do not stand the pervasive sports-related risk of serious, permanent injury.

But how can this now thoroughly entrenched custom of perks and promises, which is such a magnet for young people in poverty who long for a road to fame and fortune, be derailed before it evolves, as it seems to be doing, into a direct pay system? LeBar and Paul have assembled “21 Reasons Why Paying College Players is a Bad Idea,” from questions of where such funding would come from and how it would be overseen, to whether fans would turn their backs on non-amateur competitions. The well-chosen case histories collected here will attract readers from a wide range of disciplines, offering lore and personal commentary that make the issues readable as well as comprehensible.

Combining fact and fair-minded fervor, MARCHING TOWARD MADNESS was constructed with extensive input from numerous authorities in the realm of college sports history, a heretofore little researched subject that its authors have now brought to light. The book suggests strategies to create a new, more vocal movement to keep college sports as free as possible from the corruption of the marketplace, while giving underprivileged students the inspiration to excel in the classroom as well as on the football field or basketball court. LeBar and Paul conclude that putting education first would restore a sense that our colleges and universities are creating heroic men and women, “true avatars of excellence.”