Ramogi Huma

Huma became an advocate for college athletes' rights while playing football for UCLA when he founded a student group to give college athletes the means to voice their concerns and secure basic protections in NCAA sports. He started the organization after witnessing the NCAA suspend his All American teammate for groceries that were left anonymously on his doorstep when he had no food, and after being informed that the NCAA prevented colleges from paying for medical expenses for injuries that occurred during summer workouts.

The student group evolved into The National College Players Association (NCPA), a nonprofit advocacy group composed of players across the nation. Huma serves as the NCPA's Executive Director.

Since 2001, Huma has informed and empowered college athletes who, in turn, have advanced college athletes rights in the media, in legislative meetings and hearings, in lawsuits, and in high profile athlete advocacy campaigns such as the #NotNCAAProperty, #WeAreUnited, and #AllPlayersUnited campaigns.

Huma has testified in support of college athletes' rights in numerous US congressional hearings and in state legislatures. The NCPA was a co-sponsor the first law in the nation (California 2019) to guarantee college athletes the freedom to secure representation and earn compensation from use of their name, image, and likeness (NIL). In his role as NCPA Executive Director, Huma spearheaded advocacy efforts that ushered in the adoption of NIL laws in a dozen other states as well as California state laws requiring colleges to provide transparency in recruiting, pay for athletes' sports-related medical expenses, and maintain scholarships for permanently injured athletes. US Senate and House of Representative committees and state lawmakers frequently solicit Huma's expertise on potential and proposed college athletes' rights legislation.

Huma has also helped arrange and consult for several antitrust lawsuits in pursuit of college athletes’ rights including O'Bannon v. NCAA and Alston v.  NCAA, which resulted in a 9-0 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in favor of college athletes. These lawsuit victories have resulted in millions of dollars in ongoing payments to college athletes. In 2022, Huma filed an NCPA antitrust complaint with the US Department of Justice against NCAA sports for its remaining athlete compensation limits.

On January 28, 2014, Huma announced the formation of The College Athletes Players Association (CAPA), the first college athletes' union, which he co-founded with former Northwestern quarterback Kain Colter and former UMASS basketball player Luke Bonner. Huma served as CAPA's president. With the support of the United Steelworkers Union and under Colter's leadership, Northwestern football players asserted their rights under labor laws by signing CAPA union cards. The NLRB Regional Director, Peter Sung Ohr, ruled in favor of CAPA and the Northwestern football players. Ohr stated that college athletes are employees with the right to unionize. This organizing effort ended in 2015 when the NLRB decided not to assert jurisdiction over the matter.. However, the unionization effort was the foundation of the NLRB General Counsel’s September 2021 memo declaring that college athletes are employees.  Huma is currently overseeing charges that the NCPA filed with the NLRB against USC, the Pac-12 Conference, and the NCAA as joint employers. The NLRB announced that it agrees with the NCPA and is pursuing these unfair labor practice charges. Huma is also overseeing a racial discrimination charge with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that asserts that FBS football players have employee status under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Huma has co-authored several studies with Drexel University Sport Management professor Ellen Staurowsky including “How the NCAA’s Empire Robs Predominantly Black Athletes of Billions in Generational Wealth”. The study concludes that NCAA sports uses amateurism as an excuse to deny college football and men’s basketball players approximately $10 billion in generational wealth over a 4-year period.  The study also estimates that the fair market value of FBS football and men's basketball players is approximately $208,208 and $370,085, respectively.

Huma's activities concerning college athletes' rights have been covered by numerous media outlets including ESPN, Fox Sports, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, CBS, ABC, NBC, 60 Minutes, Sports Illustrated, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and NPR. Huma's football team won back-to-back Pac-10 championships while he earned a bachelor's degree in sociology and a master of public health (MPH) degree at UCLA.[1]

Professional Recognition

2023 - Huma was recognized by Sports Illustrated as one of “The 20 Most Influential Black Figures in College Football”.

2022 - Huma was named by ESPN as one of “The 11 biggest power brokers and advocates shaping the future of college football”.

2015 - Huma was included in Time Magazine's "12 New Faces of Black Leadership". TIME[2]

2014 - Huma was named the 13th College Football's "25 Most Intriguing People in Suits" by Yahoo! Sports.[3]

2006/2007 - Huma was named one of sports' 50 most influential people by ArmchairGM.[4]