## Facts

- Wake Forest University recruited Gregg F. Taylor to play football and awarded him a football grant-in-aid based on a written conference scholarship application.
- The application stated the grant would be for four years if Taylor complied with conference, NCAA, and institutional rules, including training rules, and maintained eligibility for intercollegiate athletics.
- The application also stated the grant was awarded for academic and athletic achievement and was not employment.
- Taylor played football during his freshman fall semester but performed poorly academically and later improved his grades by focusing on academics.
- During spring football and again in the fall of his sophomore year, Taylor declined to participate in football practices and workouts to concentrate on his studies, while remaining academically eligible.
- Wake Forest convened a scholarship review process and terminated Taylor’s football grant-in-aid in spring 1969 for failure to participate in the football program.
- Taylor remained enrolled and later graduated; Taylor and his father sought to recover roughly $5,500 in educational expenses incurred after termination.
- Plaintiffs alleged an additional oral understanding that, if academics conflicted with athletics, athletic participation could be reduced or eliminated as needed for “reasonable academic progress,” with plaintiffs determining what was “reasonable.”

## Issues

1. Whether Wake Forest breached the scholarship contract by terminating the football grant-in-aid when Taylor remained scholastically eligible but refused to attend practices and participate in football.
2. Whether an alleged oral understanding about prioritizing academics created a genuine issue of material fact that barred summary judgment.

## Decision

- The North Carolina Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment for Wake Forest.
- The court held Taylor did not meet his contractual obligations because the scholarship required maintaining athletic eligibility, which included participation and attendance at practice absent injury or another valid excuse.
- The court rejected plaintiffs’ attempt to treat “reasonable academic progress” as a standard unilaterally determined by the Taylors to justify discontinuing athletic participation.
- Because Wake Forest complied with the agreement and Taylor did not, no genuine issue of material fact existed for trial.

## Legal Principles

- Athletic scholarship agreements are enforced according to their express written terms when those terms clearly condition continued aid on compliance with institutional, conference, and NCAA rules.
- “Maintaining eligibility for intercollegiate athletics” may include both scholastic eligibility and physical/athletic eligibility, including required practices and workouts.
- An asserted oral understanding that conflicts with clear written scholarship conditions does not create a triable contract issue when it would effectively rewrite the parties’ written obligations.
- Summary judgment is proper where undisputed facts show nonperformance of a material scholarship condition and no material factual dispute remains.

## Conclusion

The court upheld Wake Forest’s termination of a football grant-in-aid because the written scholarship required continued athletic participation and compliance with training and program rules; Taylor’s refusal to attend practice constituted nonperformance as a matter of law, leaving no genuine issue for trial.


Taylor v. Wake Forest Univ., 16 N.C. App. 117, 191 S.E.2d 379 (1972)