Kevin Ware Not Allowed to Receive 'Get Well' Gifts From Fans According to NCAA Rules

Since breaking his leg on the court during the NCAA tournament, Louisville’s Kevin Ware has received a lot of support throughout his rehabilitation. Beyond the typical visits from friends, family and teammates, Ware has received a lot of gifts from random fans — a lot of gifts.

Yahoo! chronicles the enormous number of gifts Ware has received from well-wishers. Among them are benign items like gum and silly putty, to everything from motivational books to gift cards to a box of T-shirts. Many fans have also sent in small amounts of cash with their letters.

And Ware can keep none of it. Due to NCAA rules, Ware is not allowed to receive gifts from fans, and that even extends to include legitimate tokens of goodwill.

That’s where Stephanie Davis comes in. Davis is a secretary in the athletics office at Louisville. However, her job description has changed a bit over the past few weeks, as she’s been designated for taking care of the continuing correspondence coming in to the university for Ware. Davis says that there are three full bins of mail for Ware, each one containing hundreds of letters.

Much of that mail has been flagged to return to sender. Any letter or package which is believed to violate NCAA rules is being sent back, or, in the cause of a box of “Be Ware the Cards” shirts, will be donated to a shelter. Louisville senior associate athletic director for compliance John Carns has been assisting Ware to determine what correspondence should not be kept.

The Yahoo! story also notes that Ware received an ACC blanket as a gift from conference commissioner John Swofford, which is, apparently, perfectly legal under NCAA rules.