Why can't players have agents? sign their own endorsements? Sell their own apparel? And again, why aren't the universities responsible for their health care?

Ian Johnson, the running back for Boise St when they beat OU in the Fiesta Bowl, would knit beanies and sell them to make money. He was forbidden from continuing when the NCAA found out because he was profiting from his fame and in violatin of his amateur status.

Stories like this are rampant and many NCAA suspensions arise from similar plot lines. Why is this fair?