Are Athletes Role Models?

Debate Intensifies With New NFL Report

PITTSBURGH, Updated 7:19 a.m. EST February 3, 2000 -- We've elevated athletes to almost-mythic proportions, but this idol worship is taking its toll.

WTAE's Sheldon Ingram reports that in light of the felony criminal cases among two National Football League players, Rae Carruth and Ray Lewis, people are now beginning to ask whether we should place athletes on such high pedestals.

Statistics from the NFL indicate that 20 percent of its players have a criminal history, and of the 116 athletes that played in Sunday's Super Bowl, 13 have criminal records.

And the question of whether professional players should be emulated now weigh heavily on the minds of high school athletes, kids who have visions of fame and glory dancing in their heads.

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Shawntae Spencer, a Woodland Hills student athlete who hopes to join the NFL someday, realizes the pitfalls of sports stardom and believes that it can happen to anyone.

"It can happen to anyone but if you take yourself away from that kind of crows I don't think it can happen," Spencer said.

Classmate Rafael Smith agrees.

"I look at some of them as role models, but I just hope I can get that far [to the NFL]. Basically I just want to graduate from college," Smith said.

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