St. John's Chris Ledlum, Jordan Dingle file lawsuit against NCAA over eligibility issue
St. John's Red Storm guard Chris Ledlum looks on against the Villanova Wildcats in the second half of an NCAA Big East men's basketball game at Madison Square Garden on Jan. 24. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
St. John’s basketball players Chris Ledlum and Jordan Dingle on Friday filed a lawsuit against the NCAA seeking a fifth year of eligibility after the association denied their applications for a waiver.
College basketball players who played in the 2019-2020 school year — when the NCAA Tournament was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic — were granted an extra year of eligibility via a COVID-19 waiver. Ledlum was playing at Harvard and Dingle, a Valley Stream product, at Penn when the Ivy League canceled its 2020-21 season because of the ongoing pandemic. Both were requesting a waiver from the NCAA because they lost that season.
The players’ lawsuit seeks injunctive relief because the NCAA’s rejection of their waiver requests violated New York antitrust laws and NIL laws, according to a report by On3.com, and their lawyer claimed there are suffering “irreparable harm.”
The report adds that because they are not eligible, St. John’s would fill their spots before the May 1 close of the transfer portal window and they would be denied the chance to earn NIL money.
At a team appearance earlier this month, Ledlum and Dingle both told Newsday that if the waivers were granted they had a strong interest in returning to the Red Storm.
“If I got another year I don’t see any reason I wouldn’t want to be here,” Ledlum said. “I love Coach (Rick) Pitino. And this is home. I’ve loved playing for St. John’s.”
“I love being in New York,” Dingle said. “I love being close to my family. I love the coaching staff and all my teammates here. I really had an amazing time this season and would love to pick up where I left off.”
After receiving news they’d been denied waivers by the NCAA, both Ledlum and Dingle declared for the NBA Draft.
The complaint says the players are bringing the suit seeking “a temporary restraining order and injunctive relief to enjoin the NCAA from enforcing its arbitrary and capricious application of its eligibility requirements so that plaintiffs may be restored to their previous status as an eligible NCAA athlete.”
It also says the NCAA’s actions “threaten and constrain” their ability to earn via NIL opportunities, according to the ON3.com report.
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
