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Not worth the airfare

Tommy Snow's dream of a scholarship turns into a bad trip.

By FRANK PASTOR
Published June 9, 2005

HUDSON - Football? Baseball? At no cost to him? Tommy Snow's scholarship offer sounded too good to be true.

Turned out, it was.

The Hudson baseball and football standout flew to a junior college in Ranger, Texas, in late April to accept what he believed would be a full scholarship to play both sports at Ranger College.

But Snow returned home with an offer of only $600, little more than he paid for his airline ticket and considerably less than the $5,500 it costs an out-of-state student to attend the school.

Instead of preparing to play college football, Snow is spending the summer laying carpet.

"I'm a little upset because that's what I planned on doing, going there and playing football and baseball," Snow said. "They told me with two weeks left in school, so it wasn't like I had a lot of time to try to do something else."

Snow and Hudson football coach Mark Nash said Ranger baseball assistant Robbie Harris repeatedly told them that if Snow received any financial aid money, the school would cover his remaining costs. Snow is eligible for $1,500 in aid, but "I guess that wasn't enough," he said.

"It sounded like the perfect situation," Nash said. "They wanted him to play baseball and football, and they reiterated to all of us - myself, (Hudson baseball coach) Vince (Ferlita), Tommy himself, his parents, they reiterated to all of us that if he got any financial aid he wouldn't have to pay anything. We took that to be whatever financial aid didn't pick up, between baseball and football, they would. We were told that verbatim."

Harris, who became Ranger's head baseball coach after Brent Leffingwell resigned last month, did not immediately return messages left at his office.

Snow was a Times' All-Pasco first team selection in football and baseball as a senior. The 5-foot-9, 155-pound receiver/defensive back caught a county-high 38 passes for 665 yards and nine touchdowns for the football team and compiled a 5-2 pitching record in baseball.

Ranger began following Snow after Nash responded to a letter from the school asking about prospective players. Harris watched Snow pitch in practice, and Nash sent videotapes of Snow playing football. Apparently pleased with what he had seen, Nash said, Harris told him Ranger would offer Snow a full scholarship and set up a visit.

Flying out on short notice, Snow took in two baseball games and met with football coach John Bronkhorst's staff. But the trip ended on a down note when Snow was sent home with a significantly lower offer than he expected.

Nash called Leffingwell, who apologized for any miscommunication resulting from discussions with Harris. He said the school thought Snow would qualify for more financial aid than he did.

When Nash asked about football money, he was told Bronkorst had been replaced by Mike Fair.

Snow's parents, who planned to move to Texas to watch him play, instead will relocate to Alabama, where they grew up, in July. Snow plans to stay in Florida and possibly work toward an Associate degree at Pasco-Hernando Community College.

"The poor kid was kind of left in limbo," Ferlita said. "I'm not sure what he's going to do."

Nash, who said he "never heard of" Ranger before receiving its letter, said he will not deal with the school again.

"I kind of felt like we got scammed a little bit by them," Nash said.

And Snow?

"I'll never get my hopes up again like I did," he said, "until I see it on paper."

[Last modified June 9, 2005, 01:18:10]