Which president pushed reforms that led to the founding of the NCAA?

• A. Theodore Roosevelt
• B. Woodrow Wilson
• C. Franklin D. Roosevelt
• D. Ulysses S. Grant

Answer: (A)

Presidential influence can spark major reform in college athletics, leading to a centralized body that governs and standardizes competition. Theodore Roosevelt used his clout to push colleges to reform football after a spate of injuries and deaths, insisting on safer rules and changes. That pressure helped establish the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States in 1906, the organization that eventually evolved into the NCAA. The other presidents listed weren’t the driving force behind this reform: Wilson’s era focused on different issues, Franklin D. Roosevelt’s reforms came later and dealt with national policy during the 1930s and 1940s, and Ulysses S. Grant lived in a time when such collegiate athletic governance didn’t yet exist.