Who We Are
Ramogi Huma
Ramogi Huma is the Founder and President of the College Athletes Players Association. Huma is a former UCLA football player who initiated and has led the college athletes’ rights movement for more than 15 years. After witnessing the NCAA suspend his teammate for accepting a bag of groceries when he had no food, and after being informed that the NCAA prevented UCLA from paying medical expenses from injuries that occurred during summer workouts, Huma launched an advocacy group called the National College Players Association (NCPA) to advocate for college athletes’ rights. Over 17,000 Division I college athletes have joined the NCPA.
Huma has testified in US Congressional hearings and briefings, state legislatures, and in legal matters in support of better protections for college athletes.
In 2012, Huma and NCPA successfully sponsored a Student-Athletes Bill of Rights in the state of California. The law requires colleges to pay for their athletes’ sports-related medical expenses, prohibits them from taking scholarships away from athletes permanently injured in their sport, and requires them to extend scholarships up to one year for former players whose teams have low graduation rates. A version of this bill was introduced in Congress in November 2013.
Huma has coordinated various multi-campus player petitions and the All Players United (APU) campaign in which college football players from multiple teams displayed the "#APU" hash tag on their gear during televised game in solidarity for college athletes’ rights and the need for NCAA reform.
Huma also co-authored groundbreaking studies that made national headlines such as “The $6 Billion Heist: Robbing College Athletes Under the Guise of Amateurism”. The study estimates that the fair market value of FBS football and men’s basketball players is approximately $137,000 and $289,000 respectively; and that the NCAA will deny these athletes approximately $6 billion of their fair market value between 2011-15.
Huma, along with Kain Colter and Luke Bonner, established CAPA in January 2014.
Huma’s advocacy for college athletes’ have been covered by countless media outlets including ESPN, Fox Sports, CNN, MSNBC, 60 Minutes, Sports Illustrated, The Wall Street Journal, The NY Times, USA Today, and NPR. Huma earned a bachelor degree in sociology and a master of public health degree from UCLA.
Luke Bonner
The youngest of three children who earned Division I scholarships, Luke Bonner started his college basketball career at West Virginia University before transferring to the University of Massachusetts Amherst. While playing at UMass, he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management and his Master’s Degree in Sport Management.
As a UMass basketball player, Luke was a member of the National College Players Association’s (NCPA) Players Council. In this capacity, he advocated for college athletes rights and assisted in developing various strategies to pursue basic protections for college athletes. Luke has spoken about the need for better treatment of college athletes in both TV and print media, and continues to serve on the NCPA Players Council.
After college, Luke spent several years pursuing a professional basketball career. Throughout this time, he played for teams based out of Székesfehérvár, Hungary; Austin, TX; and Klaipeda, Lithuania. Since retiring from basketball, Luke started a nonprofit organization called the Rock On Foundation, a 501c3 nonprofit organization that serves to enrich the quality of life in communities by supporting athletic, artistic, and scholastic initiatives. He also works full-time in Manchester, NH for GY&K Marketing.
In January of 2014, Luke co-founded CAPA and serves on its Board of Directors.
Kain Colter
Kain Colter is a Minnesota Vikings football player. As a college athletes, Colter served as quarterback and two-year co-captain of the Northwestern football team. Kain completed his record-breaking college career in 2013 and was selected as the recipient of the Wildcat Warrior Award.
At the Big Ten media day prior to the 2013 football season, Colter spoke out in favor of former UCLA basketball player Ed O’Bannon and current college athletes who became plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit challenging the NCAA’s use of players images for commercial gain. He continued to inform the media of the need for college athletes to have a voice in NCAA sports by helping to design and implement the National College Players Association’s “All Players United” campaign. Along with numerous players from multiple campuses, Colter wore “APU” on his gear during a televised game to demonstrate solidarity for college athletes' rights.
In January of 2014, Colter made history by co-founding CAPA and leading a unionization effort among Northwestern football players. He served as the spokesperson for the football team throughout the process, and gave a pivotal testimony in a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) hearing. Colter's testimony helped lead NLRB Regional Director Peter Sung Ohr to rule that Northwestern football players are employees with the right to form a union. Colter has also raised awareness about the need for NCAA reform among numerous members of the United States Senate and House of Representatives. Virtually every media outlet in America has covered Colter's push to unionize Northwestern football players.
Colter earned a bachelor degree in psychology at Northwestern and currently serves as a member of CAPA's Board of Directors.