Back in 1939, when college reformers backed up their words with action, University of Chicago president Robert Maynard Hutchins convinced his trustees to eliminate football from its list of activities, leading to the school dropping out of the Big Ten.

He didn’t want the distractions and, he said, “To be successful, one must cheat. Everyone is cheating, and I refuse to cheat.”

You can see where this is going.

Well, not really. Few schools followed Hutchins’ path, although right now there might be some lively conversation on the subject.

Chicago survived, has one of the country’s largest endowments ($6 million, No. 12 on the list) and has added several sports, in Division III, including football.

Ohio State president E. Gordon Gee — one of the most influential builders in OSU’s history, by the way — discussed some of this football/academic problem recently in a lengthy New York Times piece in which he pointed out that his school’s football program represents only one-half of 1 percent of the total campus budget but earns 90 percent of the attention.

Well, it’s about 100 percent of the attention now that the OSU team is on a self-imposed probation, has convinced its popular football coach to resign and is awaiting possible further sanctions by the NCAA.

A game has become a way to promote a school, and even in bad times such as these for OSU, Miami of Florida, USC and others, the teams may suffer, but the schools survive.

The U of Chicago gave up big-time football and has lived a good life. The schools facing NCAA wrath will also survive, not without embarrassment, but looking for a better way to promote themselves.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2157 or mkatz@DaytonDailyNews.com