Collegians now may apply for eligibility in NBA Draft

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June 24, 1971

BOSTON -- A sports war between the National Basketball Association and the NCAA appeared imminent today with the NBA’s relaxing of a so-called “four-year rule” to permit hardship case collegians to join the pro ranks.

“It looks as if the NBA is declaring all-out war against colleges,” said University of Massachusetts coach Jack Leaman who recently lost junior Julius Erving to the American Basketball Association.

“The colleges have a free minor league system for pro basketball, but maybe now things will change,” Leaman said.

The NBA long has held it would not sign a player until after his class has graduated. However, in the face of a recent court ruling and actions by the rival ABA, the board of governors revised the league rule Thursday at the windup of annual league meetings.

Under the rule change, a college player who has not completed his education may request permission for NBA draft eligibility. The player must prove he is a hardship case based on what NBA president J. Walter Kennedy called “financial condition, his family, his academic record or lack of it, and his ability to obtain employment in another field.

Source: Associated Press,

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