As if being a student at one of the top colleges in the nation weren't difficult enough, UW-Madison senior Wendell Bryant has an additional pressure most of the other 40,000 students at Wisconsin don't have to deal with'he's one of the most recognizable college athletes in the country.
Bryant is a starting defensive lineman on UW's football team, which has won two Rose Bowl Championships during his four-year tenure. During his career at UW, Bryant has received many awards for his performance and is expected to be a first-round pick in the National League Football draft later this year.
Still, Bryant claims he and his fellow players are just normal students, with the same obligations and rules to follow as those students who don't play sports.
\We're normal,"" Bryant said, referring to the rest of the players on the football team. ""We're no different. We're the same as everybody else.""
The Sporting Life: College Athletes and FameThis is part of a four-part series examining the lives of student athletes.
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Unfortunately for Bryant, it doesn't necessarily matter whether he considers himself just a normal student. Many people consider Bryant a public figure and take him out of the role of student and put him in a different class, one that's separate and far removed from that of his peers.
However, this social stratification isn't necessarily the athletes' fault. According to Larry Gallup, sports editor of the Appleton Post-Crescent, the media often pay so much attention to college athletes that they are isolated from their fellow students.
""The media attention that college student-athletes get goes a long way toward that gap existing,"" Gallup said. ""I don't know how you get around that, though.""
While Bryant said there is a gap between student athletes and everyday students, he still welcomes the attention that fans give him.
""People might stop and just say 'hi,' but you welcome that,"" Bryant said. ""You have to be humble about that.""
The recognition of college athletes seems to bridge gender gaps as well. Lizzy Fitzgerald, a senior on UW's volleyball team, said she is impressed with the number of students who recognize her in classes or on the street.
""I think, delightfully so, I'm surprised [about the recognition],"" Fitzgerald said. ""Our pictures are in the paper a lot, so it's really flattering when someone notices.""
According to Bryant, athletes want to try and live a normal life without the recognition, but it can be tough at nationally renowned conference schools like UW, where heavy emphasis is placed on the success or failure of athletics programs.
""It's always a privilege to have your name out there and [have] people see you every day,"" Bryant said. ""You always welcome it and things like that, but you still just want to be a regular person.""
But being a regular person is hard for student athletes, considering the sudden surge of popularity players have to deal with. Some sociologists have argued that this popularity leads to isolation from students, but often the students rather than the athletes cause this isolation.
However, Bryant said the idea of isolation is unfounded, since most of the players on the team see themselves as normal students.
""If you want to come say 'hi,' come say 'hi,'"" Bryant said. ""Don't feel you can't say 'hi' to us. We're nobody. The only thing we do is play football. We're nothing special.""
Sherisa Livingston, a UW senior and teammate of Fitzgerald's on the volleyball team, agreed with Bryant, noting that most college athletes see themselves as students first.
""It's not like we're famous,"" Livingston said. ""It's not like it's the president or anything. You're just a student and it just so happens that you're also an athlete.""
Fitzgerald said she thinks the isolation between college athletes and college students isn't really that noticeable.
""I think it's more of just a friendly recognition, as if I were to see someone in the paper for doing something environmental or doing something that they get recognized for,"" Fitzgerald said. ""I mean, we're all students together at the same school working on the same academic standards and all that, so I don't think there's much of a gap.""
Still, the idea of separation between nonathletes and athletes is a concern among many sociologists, including Peter and Patricia Adler, who studied the role of athletes on college campuses in their 1991 book, ""Backboards and Blackboards: College Athletes and Role Engulfment.""
In the study, Adler and Adler researched several men's college basketball players at an anonymous southwestern university during the mid-1980s, recording their social interactions, academic performance and views of themselves.
The study noted that isolation was indeed evident, but a lot of the separation may have been more physical than mental, since many of the basketball players were larger and more physically distinct than typical students. This isolation led to fewer interactions with nonathlete students and the application of a ""jock"" image by nonathlete students.
The players in the Adler study also said they resented not being able to participate in ""normal"" campus life because students didn't look past the ""jock"" stereotype. One player, Marcus, said, ""We want to be a part of the frats, be friends with them, help the community like they do. We don't want the girls thinking that we want to rape them. We feel like outcasts.""
Bryant said this feeling is typical among most college athletes'nonathlete students see recognizable players as being in a different social stratum than everyday students, leading to isolation and limited interaction. Bryant said that nonathlete students should realize that while college athletes are different than the normal populace, they share many similarities.
""I don't want people on campus to get the misnomer that we do these things or we get these things free or we don't do things that regular people do,"" Bryant said. ""We understand what your lives are about and we understand that you guys work hard, you guys go to school and you guys have to pay for your school and work for your school and all that.
""We don't want people to think that we don't realize that you guys work hard too, in class and things like that. We try to do the same thing. Don't judge us if you've never walked a mile in our shoes because we've never walked a mile in yours, so we don't know,"" Bryant said.
