The college president who made waves for challenging students to a “Madden NFL 15” tournament for free books lost big time in the inaugural competition.
On Friday, students at Columbia College in Missouri competed in the video game tournament for a chance to face the university’s new president, Scott Dalrymple, in the championship round for a chance to win a year’s worth of textbooks paid for by Dalrymple himself.
Nursing student James Dailey, 22, emerged victorious, beating both his fellow students and ultimately Dalrymple and walking away with a free textbooks for the academic year in addition to a year’s worth of free pizza from a local restaurant.
“It feels good,” Dailey told a student reporter of the win. “He’s been trash-talking for I think it’s been two or three months now, so finally being able to beat him and have him not talk anymore is pretty cool.”
He even admitted that Friday was his first day ever playing “Madden NFL.” That’s got to hurt the president’s ego.
When asked whether he thought he was going to emerge victorious, Dalrymple played a poor sport, uttering, “Next question.” However, he seemed pleased that his money would fund a student’s academic library.
“Since [the money] is going for textbooks, it’s hard to feel bad about it,” the president told the reporter.
Back in September, Dalrymple challenged students to the tournament by talking some smack. He even got a call from Buffalo Bills strong safety Aaron Williams about the competition.
