Compiled by Leslie Brown-Bray and Edward Thiebe, Edited by Gale Wiedow

“One of the most ambitious and significant programs ever undertaken by the NCAA and its member institutions is rapidly taking shape for the summer of 1969 – a National Youth Sports Program,” was the headline of the NCAA News in February of 1969. This announcement was one of the biggest moves on the part of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to reach out to the youth in poverty areas across the United States. The plan – to offer boys and girls, ages 12 through 18, the opportunity for summer sports competition in exceptional facilities with highly-trained personnel from NCAA member institutions.

The Federal Government and the United States Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) initiated an idea in 1969 to launch a unique program for children from low-income households. The idea was to provide these children with an educational opportunity on college and university campuses through programs in nutrition, sports, drug education and academia.

The selected NCAA member institutions would conduct the program in cooperation with the United States Government. The NCAA would provide the facilities, the training and the personnel, while the Government would provide funding necessary for the program. In his January 3 announcement of the program, NCAA President Marcus L. Plant stated, “The combining of Federal funds with collegiate facilities and know-how provides an inspiring challenge for the educational and the athletic leaders of the nation to perform a needed service they are uniquely qualified to provide.”

The original committee responsible for supervision of the program and approval of budgets (of sponsoring institutions) included Richard C. Larkins, Athletics Director at Ohio State University; Forrest F. Twogood, Assistant Athletics Director at Southern California; Edward S. Steitz, Athletics Director at Springfield College; William J. Bowerman, head track coach at the University of Oregon; William Exum, Athletics Director at Kentucky State College; Walter Byers, Executive Director at the NCAA and two representatives from the Federal Government (to be designated).

The National Youth Sports Program would provide diverse sports training and competition, as well as one meal a day and a brief academic educational component to all participating youth. The original goal for the program was to involve 50-100 colleges and universities in approximately 30 different metropolitan areas of the country during the summer months. Each program would host at least 200 youth, with a desired minimum of 80% participation from poverty areas.

In March of 1969, Executive Director Walter Byers announced James Wilkinson as the first director of the National Youth Sports Program (NYSP). In its initial stages, NYSP was referred to as the National Summer Youth Sports Program (NSYSP), but would eventually lose the “summer” title and become the National Youth Sports Program.

It was finally authorized in 1972 by an amendment to the Economic Opportunity Act (EOA) of 1964, as the “Youth Recreation and Sports Program.” The responsibility for its administration was immediately delegated to the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW), which assigned the responsibility to the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. This delegation of authority continued in force until its expiration at the end of 1974.

The OEO intended to renew the delegation to HEW, but learned that legally the administration of the programs could not be delegated. In 1975, the OEO assumed direct responsibility for administration of the program. The OEO, as had the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, recognized that the NCAA was the only organization with the structure, capacity and relationships to implement the program on a national scale.

As such, it became the presumptive prime sponsor of the program and received the grant for distribution to those institutions of higher education that elected to operate programs at their facilities. In 1976, in a further amendment to the EOA, the name was officially changed to the National Youth Sports Program. Thus began a tripartite relationship that continues today. The NYSP would utilize millions of dollars over the next 32 years toward summer camps for these specific children all over the United States.

There have been four Grant Managers who have supervised and guided this program to the level that it currently stands at in 2002. Walter Thaxton served as the program’s first Grant Manager and paved the way from 1975 – 1979. In 1979, the reigns were shifted to Mr. Nolan Lewis who was Grant Manager until 1981. Mary Ann MacKenzie took over NYSP duties in 1982 and directed the program until 1991, when the present Grant Manager, Veronica Terrell, accepted the program’s oversight.

Mr. Walter Thaxton was privy to the inception of NYSP and served as the very first Federal Project Officer under the then, OEO. During his tenure, OEO acquired the direct assumption of administration of NYSP. His efforts established the policy and guidelines under which NYSP operated and also under his direction, support for the program doubled from the original three million dollars to six million dollars.

NYSP expanded to a year-round program for interested institutions during that time period, along with the expansion of the enrichment criteria to allow for the utilization of program resources to support the use of athletics as an educational pool. For improved results from each program, Mr. Thaxton established an extensive and independent evaluation unit under the grant to NCAA.

Serving from 1979 to 1981, Mr. Nolan Lewis helped pave the way for NYSP and was one of the initial minds behind establishing and incorporating fundamental activities and services that each NYSP site would eventually be required to include in their programs. Some of the activities included medical exams, drug education seminars, tutoring and health and nutrition.

“NYSP was an important initiative to the Agency (OEO/CSA) because it provided an opportunity for low-income youth to benefit from the instructions, guidance and educational experience of teachers and students and mentors from institutions of higher learning,” Lewis said. “The program served as a role model for low-income youth to reach for through academics or athletics achievement.”

Each year, the program has faced various challenges that make these grant managers such a vital part of the equation. “The major challenges that we had to overcome in sustaining support of the program was developing strategies to encourage Congress to continue the funding for NYSP,” commented Mr. Lewis. Strategies included meetings between the presidents of the colleges and universities and U.S. Congressional Representatives, preparation of support letters and correspondence from the institutions and program participants to the Congress.

Mary Ann MacKenzie was the next grant manager responsible for the growth and success of NYSP. Ms. MacKenzie served from 1982 until 1991. Reflecting on her tenure and the program’s improvement since 1982, Ms. Mary Ann MacKenzie commented on the apparent progress of NYSP, “The budget has grown 600 percent; the number of schools has increased, as well as coverage of the nation and fiscal management and accountability have improved.”

During MacKenzie’s time in office, steady, yet tremendous improvements took place. There was a greater emphasis on teamwork, child-centered instruction and participatory sports and activities. She also observed the fact that NYSP took an active role in increasing the recognition of exemplary schools, committee members and staff and evaluators. She also pointed out that the role of the evaluators expanded from monitoring to providing on-site technical assistance.

Despite the growth and obvious success of the program, challenges have certainly reared their ugly heads. “Administrations from both parties have not supported this program in their submission to Congress,” commented MacKenzie. “As a result, political appointees and budget program directors within the Department have not been able to be visibly supportive of the program.”

With these particular obstacles in mind, it must be mentioned that NYSP has changed hands throughout its lifespan. Prior to MacKenzie’s time as grant manager, the program had transferred from the Community Services Administration to the Department of Health and Human Services.

Grant managers are also given the opportunity to visit various institutions where NYSP is hosted. Ms. MacKenzie was able to see first-hand how youth were able to benefit from her efforts. “I have been fortunate to observe NYSP on-site at a number of institutions over the years. The program is serving low-income youth and providing them with a wide range of sport skills, as well as critical information on health, nutrition, academic focus, math and science, drugs and alcohol education and future careers.” She also mentioned that over half of the youth are between the ages of 10 and 12, recognizing that more work needed to be done to attract those between the ages of 13 and 16.

In its most previous era, NYSP has been under the reigns of Veronica Terrell. As grant manager, Ms. Terrell has probably seen the most extensive changes in the program and is persistent in continuing such change. When asked of the significant changes during her tenure, Ms Terrell mentioned growth in areas ranging from the budget to data collection via computer programming. The budget increased dramatically from 10 million dollars to 17 million dollars over the past 10 years, while institutional hosts and participation by youth has also dramatically increased.

In 1994 Congress instructed the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), for the first time since inception, to compete the grant funds. This occurred for three years, and in 1997, the program office decided to administer the grant for the next five years (1997-2002) as a non-competing continuation grant (this ceased the competition for at least four years). At that point, grant funds are sent to NYSC without competition, however NYSC would still be required to meet DHHS requirements for refunding of a continuation grant. Due to the NYSP’s success and outreach, the grant amount has continued to increase on a yearly basis.

Ms. Terrell also had the opportunity to visit various NYSP sites during her stint as the Grant Manager. “I’ve observed that all of the institutions are providing the necessary information such as health, nutrition, sports skills instruction, substance abuse education and improvement of their academic skills,” she commented.

Promotion is obviously an on-going concern with the NYSP program. Ms. Terrell pointed out that the National office implemented Family Day at all of the NYSP programs in order to improve community promotion, better educate the parents and guardians and allow for more effective interaction between the participants and their families.

The National office continuously seeks increased funding for this unique program. Increased institution participation, increased youth attendance and further educational tools are the obvious desires of NYSP. “With increased funding, we can increase the number of institutions and participants, increase the number of institutions funding math and science and the Senior Program, increase the private funding and start another year-around program,” stated Ms. Terrell.

“This program is considered by President Richard M. Nixon as an ongoing program to be expanded in future years,” reported the NCAA News in February of 1969. NYSP has certainly fulfilled its commitment to the youth of this country and has expanded in every sense of the word. It continues to create an effective athletic and educational tool for the country’s youth who are located in poverty areas.

Editor’s Note:  Despite a long history and strong support for NYSP at the local level and from selected members of both the U.S. House and Senate, Congress has not provided funds to support NYSP since 2005.  The summer of 2005 marked the last year of federal funding, with 202 colleges and universities providing service to approximately 73,000 children nationwide.  While some institutions have been able to identify limited local funding to continue their programs, the number of children currently served represents a small fraction of those who need the program and who participated in NYSP in the past.

Efforts to encourage Congress to renew national funding for NYSP continue.