Last Sunday during halftime of the men’s basketball game at Breslin Student Events Center, the 1951 men’s tennis team was awarded for its efforts of a half century ago.

The team was the first outfit to win a Big Ten championship for MSU, shortly after joining the conference. The ceremony was symbolic of what is good about sports, and in particular college athletics.

Recently the drum beat has grown louder, as it does every few years, that higher education has lost its focus and that college athletics are destroying the American university.

“Sports Illustrated” recently wrote an article on the subject, citing two new books written by former university presidents.

The basic argument is that universities are so wrapped up in big-time college athletics they can’t see straight. College athletics are not a university need, but an unnecessary excess, one that is “losing relevance to the rest of university life,” writes former U-M President James Duderstadt in his book “Intercollegiate Athletics and the American University: A University President’s Perspective.”

It should come as no surprise that a Spartan will disagree with a Wolverine. College athletics are not losing their relevance to the rest of university life, at least not on campuses where the basketball student section doesn’t call for the coach’s head after every game. But enough about U-M.

Proponents of Duderstadt’s argument cite facts and figures which suggest college athletics have no bearing on either alumni contributions nor admissions applications to the school.

In addition, the enrollment of college athletes with potentially lower academic achievements leaves other potentially more qualified students out in the cold.

However, numbers can often be manipulated to serve an argument’s interest. And even if they are accurate, maybe the relevancy of and necessity for college athletics cannot be measured in mere numbers.

At MSU, we have a self-sustaining athletics program that is built on event revenues and alumni contributions. Our student athletes have the same graduation rate as the general student population. With class, practice and travel, their days are often longer than the average student’s.

Like any other extracurricular activity, athletics are a part of a well-rounded education. People who criticize big-time college athletics fail to see that, while only looking at television and sneaker contracts as proof that higher education has sold out.

Though I do not think athletics should run a university, they should be a part of it. The end of big-time college athletics would inevitably mean the end of all other college sports, which would be a shame.

Not only are sports teams our university’s most recognized ambassadors, but our athletic achievements bring a spirit and a glow that cannot come through other means.

Everyone is talking about MSU nowadays, and it is no small coincidence that we are coming off our first NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship in 21 years.

It is hard to believe this exposure does not translate into a higher number of admissions applications or alumni contributions. However, I don’t think these need to be the measurements of relevancy. Maybe an alumnus taking his family to a Spartan football game and teaching his young son or daughter the MSU Fight Song is a measurement of relevancy.

Maybe a national championship team that brings a community of students and residents closer together is a measurement of relevancy. Maybe a 1951 men’s tennis team that can still command a standing ovation a half-century later is a measurement of relevancy.

For the future of college athletics, let’s hope it is.

Michael Webber, State News Loop columnist, can be reached at webbermi@msu.edu.