Hunter Woodhall, the sprinter at Arkansas with two prosthetic legs, has turned pro ahead of next month's NCAA Indoor championships (and of course the outdoor season). The reason is pretty much all on the NCAA's archaic rules.
He has built up 3 million followers on social media, which = A LOT of money. He said he was doing some stuff last summer, after the season was canceled and with the status of this year's season still up in the air, that was completely unrelated to track, but the NCAA was still like, 'Nope. Impermissible benefits.'
On top of that, he used the time off during quarantine to create a clothing company with a couple of his buddies, using his (soon to be) marketing major and communications minor. You know, putting into practice the "student" part of "student-athlete." I believe his company is called "Giant Hoodies" if you want to look it up. Well, it really took off. They were featured in Oprah's "Favorite Things of 2020" and they'll be on Good Morning America next week. They've sold more than 100,000 hoodies. So naturally, the NCAA is like "NOPE!"
Woodhall said that he was originally going to run with Arkansas through the NCAA Indoor Championships and try to win a title in the 4x400, but the hoops the NCAA wanted him to jump through just wasn't worth it. Now he's weighing three different shoe companies to sign with ahead of the Tokyo Olympics this summer, as I'm sure he'll compete in the Paralympics. He begins his pro career tomorrow, running in the American Track League 3 meet here in Fayetteville.
I wasn't on this Zoom, but here's the video from Pig Trail Nation...
He has built up 3 million followers on social media, which = A LOT of money. He said he was doing some stuff last summer, after the season was canceled and with the status of this year's season still up in the air, that was completely unrelated to track, but the NCAA was still like, 'Nope. Impermissible benefits.'
On top of that, he used the time off during quarantine to create a clothing company with a couple of his buddies, using his (soon to be) marketing major and communications minor. You know, putting into practice the "student" part of "student-athlete." I believe his company is called "Giant Hoodies" if you want to look it up. Well, it really took off. They were featured in Oprah's "Favorite Things of 2020" and they'll be on Good Morning America next week. They've sold more than 100,000 hoodies. So naturally, the NCAA is like "NOPE!"
Woodhall said that he was originally going to run with Arkansas through the NCAA Indoor Championships and try to win a title in the 4x400, but the hoops the NCAA wanted him to jump through just wasn't worth it. Now he's weighing three different shoe companies to sign with ahead of the Tokyo Olympics this summer, as I'm sure he'll compete in the Paralympics. He begins his pro career tomorrow, running in the American Track League 3 meet here in Fayetteville.
I wasn't on this Zoom, but here's the video from Pig Trail Nation...
