NOT ALL THE BOOKS ARE IN THE LIBRARY

SMU has long taken the rap as a rich kids’ school. Consequently there are few “enterprising college student” stories to come from the Hilltop. Dad pays the tab, so why work?

While that may be the rule, there are at least a few exceptions. “Easy Money” is an SMU senior, a business major. Every week this fall, “Easy Money” has given his bookie a ring and plopped down some $300 on football games. “Easy Money” works hard at his job: He keeps notebooks on college and professional teams, he studies and records won-lost results, schedules, statistics, injury reports. His profit for the season currently stands at somewhere over $300. Not exactly the cornerstone of an empire, but not a bad pocketful of beer money.

Easy Money’s bookie is another SMU student. “Hot Line” is a junior business major who studies hard, makes good grades – and makes over $1000 a month booking bets. “Hot Line” is one of at least a half dozen student-bookies working the SMU campus. He himself has handled as much as $25,000 a week, most all from SMU students, but some from SMU alumni. “Hot Line” considers bookmaking an integral part of his education. “You’ve got to learn to know people. Some are just perennial losers. You make a moderate winning off the winners. You can make a living off the losers.”

Ah. the liberal arts.