One of the most consistent empirical findings in the increasing research on the sociology of sport revealed that white urban male high school athletes manifest higher-level educational orientations than their non-athlete counterparts. This study expanded this empirical literature by assessing the nature of the athletic participation and educational aspiration relationship for a sample of rural, white male athletes in the deep South (Louisiana). Group interviews were conducted at 24 high schools, resulting in a final sample of 3,245 youths. Complete data on all variables included in this study were secured for 884 white males. The findings suggested that participation in interscholastic high school athletics is moderately related to level of educational aspiration for both rural and urban youths. The results from a series of partial correlations suggested that a substantial portion of the original educational aspiration-athletic participation relationship was due to the influence of parents' education and students' academic performance. Additional regression and covariance analyses revealed that athletic participation had relatively the weakest effects of all predictor variables within each residence category and that this rather weak effect was comparable for each residence category. Statistical tables were also presented. (FF)