By Helen Ross
PGATOUR.COM
Special to NNPA
GREENSBORO, N.C. – When the NBA came courting J.R. Smith during his senior season at St. Benedict’s Preparatory School in Newark, New Jersey, the scouts kept telling him one thing.
“They always told me I could go back (to school) whenever,” said Smith, who had committed to the University of North Carolina.
So, after finishing as the co-MVP at the McDonald’s All-American Game in 2004, Smith opted to head directly to the NBA. The 6-foot-6 shooting guard played professionally for 16 seasons and won NBA titles with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016 and Los Angeles Lakers in 2020.
The 35-year-old is retired now and about to embark on a new adventure, enrolling at North Carolina A&T State University, one of the nation’s top HBCUs, to pursue a degree in liberal studies. Maybe those NBA scouts were right after all.
“So, this is whenever,” said Smith, shortly before he split the fairway with his opening drive during the pro-am at the Wyndham Championship.
The 6-foot-6, 200-pounder starts classes on Aug. 18. He is also waiting on the NCAA and to sort out his eligibility, and when it does, Smith, who plays to a 5 handicap, is looking to join the Aggies’ golf team.
“It’s a big deal for A&T. It’s a big deal for him,” said Richard Watkins, who coaches both the men’s and women’s teams and was in Smith’s gallery on Wednesday. “It’s not very often that somebody in his position really has an opportunity to have a thought, a dream, an idea, and to be able to go ahead and move in that direction.
“He’s a former professional athlete, but (it’s) a unique set of circumstances. He didn’t go to college, never matriculated, the clock never started.”
Smith, who wore an A&T shirt as he played in the pro-am, said he started thinking about going to college during a trip to the Dominican Republic with Ray Allen, an 18-year NBA vet who is in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
“He was talking about some of the things he was doing by going back to school, challenging yourself and stuff for us athletes,” Smith said.
This article first appeared on PGATOUR.com
