THE LATEST LINE: ELEY'S STORY ONE THAT WE SHOULD ALL APPRECIATE

Too often these days, all we hear about regarding college athletics are what is wrong with them.

All the cheating, the scandals, the unethical conduct, the win-at-all-costs mentality. Any way you can get to the top, baby, so be it.

But despite all the sensationalist headlines that permeate the sports sections these days, there are still plenty of things right with college athletics.

Bud Eley is certainly one of them. Those of us who have followed area basketball the past few years primarily know Bud as Southeast Missouri State University's top player who is being rated highly by professional scouts.

But beyond his athletic skills we find a young man who endured a rough-and-tumble upbringing and a rocky college start to transform himself into an impressive student-athlete.

Many of you probably read the article I wrote a few days ago about Bud helping to arrange for 25 youngsters to attend Saturday night's game against Austin Peay at the Show Me Center. The kids, ages 9 through 12, are part of a program designed to keep youth drug and gang free. Bud serves as a mentor to help influence positive life choices in the kids.

In order to write the piece, I spoke for about half an hour with Linda Ferrell of SEMO's criminal justice department. She has kind of taken Bud under her wings the last few years, trying to help him in any way she can, particularly as he pursues a criminal justice degree.

I came away not only impressed by Bud -- and the remarkable progress he's made over the last few years -- but also by Linda (and others like her), who deserves so much credit for not giving up on Bud, even though it might have been easy to do so at one time. By his own admission, he had a bad attitude and a bad outlook on life and really had no interest in school.

But Linda and others stuck by Bud. And now a guy who entered SEMO in 1994 as a Proposition 48 athlete, meaning he was not an academic qualifier and could not participate in basketball during his freshman season, has totally turned his life around, both on and off the court.

On the court, he's the top center in the Ohio Valley Conference and also rated as one of the better big men nationally. Although he still has plenty of improving to do, Bud is regarded as an NBA prospect.

Off the court, through determination and hard work, Bud is on course to graduate this school year. He told me he loves working with kids and hopes to open up a recreation center some day.

I certainly hope Bud makes it big in the NBA or some other professional league.

But even if he doesn't, I'm confident that he will get his degree and be a success in the game that counts the most -- the game of life.

And that's what college athletics are all about anyway.

* It's a travesty that SEMO football standout Ronnie Smith only made honorable-mention all-OVC.

Smith was without question one of the OVC's top safeties and his three defensive touchdowns this season led the league.

~Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian