Tony Buffa asks about scholarship possibilities for the RPI walkons...
 
The question of scholarships for walkons is always a sticky one.  I
believe that kids walking on should act as if they may never get a
scholarship.  Many kids can't afford four years of an expensive school
like RPI but they go hoping to get money after one or two years.  If
it doesn't come, they may be in trouble.  I believe this is a reason why
some kids transfer.
 
A very good friend of mine went to a school about 8 years ago and was
told he'd get money if he made the team.  He played himself into a
regular third line role as a sophomore and was listed in the league
media guide as one of his team's key players for what would have been
his junior year.  Problem was, he never got to play that junior year.
In the offseason, he went to the coaches and asked about money, and he
was told no.  His family had already sacrificed quite a bit to send
him there, and he could not afford to stay, so he had to drop out and
never got his degree, though he did take classes for a little while
afterwards at two other schools.  The sad thing was that he was a
talented and hard-working player who would have been an asset to any
team.  In fact, in recent years he played for a local men's league
team and was one of the league's top scorers, outscoring a couple of
guys some folks here may have heard of - Cal Ingraham and Andy Heinze.
 
He's doing okay now though, he owns his own insurance agency and with
his determination, I'm sure he will be a success.
 
I don't believe that Fridge and Dunc have made promises like that to the
RPI walkons, but I obviously know that some coaches do that.  Possibly,
they told them that they'd revisit the issue of money in upcoming
years.  Sometimes when kids do well, a coach will choose to give him a
quarter or half scholarship (or more) as a reward.  This is what the
RPI kids can aspire to.  The right answer is that they *could* get
money in the future.  There are too many factors involved to be able
to project right now how or if that could happen.  But as I said, I
believe it would be a mistake to count on that.  Kids have to look out
for their best interests.
 
Also, it is very possible that some of the players received academic
scholarships unrelated to their hockey-playing, making an athletic
scholarship unnecessary or less necessary than for some of the other
players.
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Mike Machnik                                            [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc.                                    *HMM* 11/13/93