| It’s officially springtime! How can I
tell? Aside from flipping back through the calendar to see that the vernal equinox
actually occurred about two months ago, I know it’s springtime because my nose is
constantly dripping, thanks to allergies. I know it’s springtime because the leaves
on the trees have finally matured from tiny little buds into full-blown leaves.
And I know it’s springtime because my home mailbox has been filling up with
various graduation announcements from relatives and family friends. Yes, kids are getting
out of school and moving on into that wacky stage of life known as adulthood.
For a long time, though, getting out of school and moving on meant a different thing
for stars of the gridiron. In fact, for a number of football players, it still means
something different. Many, many players who enter the NFL have not graduated from college.
They attended classes for three or four years but did not complete the required coursework
to earn diplomas.
It’s a shame, really, when a person doesn’t take advantage of a free
education. But let’s face it, many pro football prospects see college only as a sort
of minor league. It’s a step they take toward achieving their ultimate goal of
playing in the National Football League.
That’s why I found it so refreshing to hear of some current NFL players who have
gone back to school, intent upon finishing what they began. And for many of them, last
weekend they finally achieved another goal. They donned caps and gowns and walked across
the stage, new owners of college degrees.
Bengals RB Michael Basnight is one such NFL player who earned his degree after leaving
school the first time as a non-graduate. On Saturday, he picked up a bachelor’s
degree in art design from North Carolina A&T. He was the first man in his family to
attend college, and now he is the first man in his family to graduate from college.
"I dreamed of graduating," said Basnight. "I’m trying to start a
new tradition in my family. The NFL has made me so disciplined, school is easy now."
Basnight says he hopes to pursue a master’s degree.
While on the subject of advanced degrees, Raiders DB Je’Rod Cherry picked up his
master’s in education from the University of California at Berkeley on Saturday.
Getting an advanced degree from a school as prestigious as Berkeley is no small
accomplishment for the brightest of students. To do so while attending to the many
exhausting demands of being an NFL player, well, that’s something special.
Basnight and Cherry, and the other NFL players who are continuing their education, have
taken advantage of programs set up by the NFL. The league sponsors the NFL Continuing
Education Program, a part of NFL Player Programs, which was set up in 1991 by commissioner
Paul Tagliabue to assist players and their families in their lives off the field.
In the past eight offseasons, more than 2,300 players and their wives have returned to
college as part of the continuing education program. Some of the players who have received
degrees in recent years are Cowboys RB Emmitt Smith, 49ers LB Ken Norton Jr., Redskins CB
Darrell Green, Saints DT La’Roi Glover and Chargers WR Curtis Conway. By finishing
what they started — and by that, I mean college — these players are now role
models not only on the field, but in the classroom.
This spring alone, 500 players and spouses returned to college through the NFL program.
With numbers like that, many relatives and family friends of NFL players will be receiving
those graduation announcements in their mailboxes in the not-so-distant future. |
