Louisville Cardinal Kevin Ware suffered one of the most gruesome leg injuries in television history last week during Louisville's Elite Eight victory over the Duke Blue Devils. Soon after his injury, Adidas and Louisville teamed up to make T-shirts that read "Ri53 To The Occasion," in honor of the fallen forward.
Outrage sparked over the t-shirts, and many cried foul that Louisville and Adidas would use an injury to a college athlete for profit. Louisville had said it waived royalties from the t-shirt profits, however, and Adidas has claimed the profits would be diverted toward Louisville's scholarship fund. Louisville added that the shirts were intended to honor Ware.
Louisville coach Rick Pitino and several Cardinals players acknowledged that Ware's words directly following his broken leg gave them the resolve to finish out their victory over Duke and bring Ware to Atlanta, his hometown and the host city of the Final Four.
This season Ware, a sophomore, was averaging 4.5 points per game and 1.8 rebounds in 16.6 minutes. He was a 45 percent shooter from the field and 41 percent shooter from 3-point range.
Despite their good intentions, a lawyer representing former UCLA star Ed O'Bannon in a lawsuit against the NCAA said Louisville should not be able to lawfully sell that shirt.
"The fact that there is money going to the scholarship fund doesn't change things," Rob Carey, a partner of Hagens Berman Sobol and Shapiro and co-lead counsel on the case, is quoted on ESPN.com. "If they didn't ask for Ware's permission, they can't sell the shirt, and if they did ask for his permission and he said, 'Yes,' that would be an NCAA violation and he would no longer be eligible."
Louisville center Chane Behanan, a close friend of Ware's, said Ware "hasn't complained about [the shirts]."
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