Unless you’re of a certain age, you may not remember Dick DeVenzio, who played basketball at Duke more than 50 years ago.
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But what DeVenzio once said about college athletics should be remembered, given its foresight. His words also should have been heeded.
DeVenzio, who died in 2001 at age 51, was an outspoken proponent for athletes’ rights, for them being compensated for their play in college, for them being unionized.
“A players union is the only meaningful solution I can see for constructive change,” DeVenzio said. “I have no confidence in going through the typical channels, namely the NCAA. The NCAA is so bureaucratic and unwieldy that change is virtually impossible.”
DeVenzio said that in an interview with the News & Observer — in 1986.
One has to believe DeVenzio would have been enthused and encouraged by all that has gone on of late in college sports: suddenly empowered athletes taking legal action, revenue-sharing, athletes being paid for their name, image and likeness, talk of union chapters on college campuses.
DeVenzio was a sports activist and self-styled crusader for athletes’ rights, but also an author. He published a book titled “Rip-Off U: The Annual Theft and Exploitation of Major College Revenue Producing Student-Athletes” in 1985 that detailed the problems in college sports. It first proposed a players’ association that would make a unified stand against what he called the “plantation owners” running the athletic enterprise and enriching themselves.
DeVenzio noted that when a school such as Penn State or Miami plays in a major bowl, it brings in millions of dollars for the schools.
“The athletes are getting just room, board and tuition (and) we’ve given new meaning to the term ‘dumb jock,’” he said in 1986. “What they’re doing is playing these games and others are getting a lot of money. It is money that is supporting minor sports and building programs, but the athletes won’t see any of it.”
DeVenzio, a Pennsylvania native, was a star athlete in high school and college. The 5-10 point guard played at Duke from 1968-71 along with big man Randy Denton of Raleigh, setting the school’s then-career record for assists, and was named an Academic All-American.
An English major at Duke, he authored seven books, most on basketball strategies, and founded Point Guard College (PGC), which has development camps scattered throughout the U.S. and in Canada — two were held in Raleigh this summer.
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DeVenzio wrote a booklet called “The Bowls — Not Good for College Football” and sent them out to athletes at schools involved in bowl games. He urged the players to delay the start of bowl games or have a ceremonial handshake at midfield before the opening kickoff to display their unity and a demand for change.
DeVenzio formed the College Players Association, based out of Charlotte, and tried to convince former Oklahoma All-America Brian Bosworth in 1986 to help delay the start of the Sooners’ nationally televised game against Nebraska. DeVenzio was hoping for a 30-minute sitdown strike before the opening kickoff, but couldn’t pull it off. Some players did kneel in a circle at midfield and joined hands, DeVenzio said.
“It was very positive in that the players had the courage to do something when the pressure was on them not to act. And that’s what’s needed, courage,” DeVenzio said.
In the 1990s, DeVenzio began another Charlotte-based organization, Student-Athlete Incentive Gifts, and mailed $100 checks to 100 senior athletes around the country.
In a letter promoting the move, he wrote the deferred-payment checks were to “effect reform of obsolete, oppressive restrictions on student-athletes.”
One of the checks went to a UNC football player. UNC later reported itself to the ACC, saying the player, who was not named, cashed it after the Tar Heels had played in the Gator Bowl.
DeVenzio said athletes at more than 20 schools cashed the checks.
“He was way ahead of his time,” Dave DeVenzio, Dick’s younger brother, said in an interview Monday. “About 40 or 50 years ahead of his time. It was his cause, his crusade. At times, he’d be on four or five talk shows a week.
“I don’t know what he’d say about what’s going now. It was his cause. But I’m sure he’d be happy things have happened because he was looking for this kind of thing to happen, for players to be compensated. Because things didn’t go the athletes’ way for so many years, he’d probably be happy the switch has flipped.”
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This story was originally published August 3, 2026 at 12:15 PM.