No doubt, if you care at all about college sports, you’ve read a number of recent stories about the no-holds-barred, Wild West world that the unleashing of Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) dollars and instant transfer eligibility has created for the college game.
This is not one of those stories.
It’s the story of Eian Elmer, who grew up with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Covington as a young man before moving back to Cincinnati as a junior in high school and leading Taft High to an Ohio state title.
And then moving on to Miami of Ohio where after three years, the 6-foot-7 shooter and ballhawk, helped the Redhawks to an historic 32-2 season and became a prime target for NIL bucks with multiple transfer opportunities for his senior season.
“I know people view it in a negative way,” Eian was saying Thursday of this new world on coming back to town after eight weeks this summer at his new school, the University of Wisconsin. Eian had gotten his final group down to Baylor, Texas Tech and Auburn after eliminating the likes of Ohio State and Maryland.
It all happened quickly, “after the season,” he says of the decision to transfer. And no question, the money mattered. “Without a doubt, it gives you a chance to do something for your family,” Eian says.
And while Eian isn’t saying what exactly that money is at the Big Ten level, know this. Wisconsin’s basketball NIL money is estimated at $6.5 million for this season. Divvy that up for 12-13 players and you do the math.
To beat out the other finalists, it was clear the Badgers really wanted a guy who could shoot it the way Elmer can (42.9 percent from three-point range on the way to 12.7 points a game and a team-leading 5.9 rebounds) for NCAA Tournament team Miami.
But with his good fortune, Eian decided to expand the definition of “family” when it came to his NIL money. “I had an idea coming back home,” says Eian, who considers himself very much a Covington kid, thinking about what the Boys and Girls Clubs did for him as a young man. “And what I could do for them.”
So Eian, his brother Kameron and the agency that represents him, Gerth Sports, reached out to his old club on 26th Street in Covington and to Dick’s Sporting Goods at the Newport Pavilion. And within a month, on a day when Eian was back from Wisconsin, there they were.
Twenty-five young Boys and Girls Club kids arriving bright and early Thursday in a van and a minibus with Eian waiting for them. And more importantly, opening a tab for $200 worth of back-to-school gear for each of them – boys and girls of all ages. Sneakers and backpacks looked to be the first choices with t-shirts, socks and even a baseball bat. They came in empty-handed, left with bags full of sports stuff.
A business major in consumer behavior, Eian may have the makings “for an extra credit project,” he says with a grin at how the hour played out. And who went where, as they asked his advice on what gear to get.
“Eian just reached out to us, said he had this opportunity,” Colton Shrader, the Covington club’s director, was saying. “He’s a club kid – and a student athlete. He talked to them about their grades and showed them what a kid just like they are can do.”
It’s an example, Shrader says, of “keeping up with our alumni base.” And with people who want to help as the club, with its official name of the Chase and Cole Fischer Boys and Girls Club recognizes the brothers who died tragically in a Lake Cumberland jet ski boating accident in 2023. Chase had spent a summer volunteering at the club and the FIscher family wanted to keep that connection and partnership going.
And just as the Fischer brothers made “a profound commitment to making a positive impact,” as the dedication statement announcing the family’s connection to the club noted, so has Eian.
Serving a total of 150 young people, the club is open Monday-Friday from 2:30 to 7:30 during the school year and 8-4 during the summer for kids from kindergarten through senior year in high school. And there is no charge.
Except for Thursday for Eian, who, with his credit card in hand, was checking out each of the kids at the register.
And talking of his hope that with people like him “coming back to get involved with the program,” there can be a positive change in participation in sports – and academics – at Holmes as well as the club.
Contact Dan Weber at dweber3440@aol.com. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter)