By: Donald V. Watkins
Copyrighted and Published on January 10, 2025
An Editorial Opinion
On July 28, 1994, former Auburn University football player Eric Ramsey testified in Congress before the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Consumer, and Competitiveness in favor of legitimatizing cash payments for college student athletes. At the time, most major college football programs paid their athletes cash money "under-the-table" for their performance on the football field.
In 1987, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) imposed the death penalty on Southern Methodist University for its notorious pay-to-play scheme for student athletes and recruits, in violation of NCAA rules.
Eric Ramsey, who graduated from Auburn University in 1992, pushed Congress to make colleges and universities pay their future student athletes above-the-table in a process that was fair and dignified to the participating schools and athletes. Ramsey's request would be met with massive resistance for the next 27 years.
The national media coverage in 1991-92 of Eric Ramsey's student athlete experience, together with his featured interview on “60 Minutes” in 1992 and his Congressional testimony in 1994, eventually paved the way for colleges and universities to make legitimate "above-the-board" payments to student athletes today.
In 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled in National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Alston that student athletes could be paid for the use of their name, image, and likeness in endorsement deals.
Thanks to Ramsey's brave efforts in the 1990s to reform college sports and the Alston case, student athletes are finally getting paid the money they deserved.
Today, Eric Ramsey owns and operates Ramsey Security, LLC, the top private security firm in Los Angeles, California. He is also an award-winning movie producer and owner of Team Ramsey Entertainment, LLC. He is married to Hollywood filmmaker and producer Nicole Nicke (Ramsey), who serves as Vice President of Team Ramsey Entertainment.
Eric Ramsey has been a close Watkins family friend since 1991. In the photo below, Eric and his family visited my mother's home during the Christmas holidays in 1991.
Thank you, Eric Ramsey!