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Keeping their word
Stackhouse, Jamison live up to title of 'student-athlete'
Posted: Monday December 27, 1999 06:03 PM
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Jerry Stackhouse (right) and Antawn Jamison hope these are the first steps to shattering negative stereotypes. AP |
By Tom Rinaldi, CNN/SI
OAKLAND, Calif. -- Still early in their NBA careers, Detroit's Jerry
Stackhouse and Golden State's Antawn Jamison have yet to make it to the
Finals. But back at North Carolina, they have managed to pass
them.
"There have been so many stereotypes about athletes being uneducated,
not going back, getting their degrees," said Stackhouse. "And I wanted
to dispel some of those rumors and really prove there is such a thing as
a student-athlete."
Jamison says earning that degree will be something he will always
remember.
"For me to finally get the opportunity to walk across that stage and receive
that sheepskin, it's going to be very special," he said.
From pump fake and drop step to pomp and circumstance, Stackhouse
and Jamison received their degrees from North Carolina last Saturday, both
as African-American studies majors.
Both left school early for the NBA draft, Stackhouse in 1995 and Jamison
in 1998, both promising their families they'd return. Stackhouse spent the
past four summers earning 50 credit hours to graduate, and Jamison notched
his final nine credits last summer at Chapel Hill.
"My mother had gotten sick, had breast cancer, had an operation, was diagnosed with diabetes that year," Stackhouse said. "I just wanted her to feel I could give her the best
medical attention I could, so I left school early."
Mom had everything to do with Jamison's decision, too.
"Graduating from college is a reward, telling me I accomplished everything I had to do
with school. I remember my mom telling me, 'I don't care too much about basketball,
I care about what you do in school, getting an education.'"
To be a person before being a player. A student before an athlete. To leave school early,
only to return. Stackhouse and Jamison have all this in common, but they also shared
the company of doubters as to whether they'd ever reach their graduation day.
"I don't think a lot of people ever thought I'd go back and finish up, because that's the stereotype of a lot of athletes," Jamison said. "If they leave school early or they drop out, 'Oh, he's not going back.'"
Stackhouse heard the doubting words, too. And, like his classmate, he was more
than happy to prove all the critics wrong.
"Everybody said, 'These guys are breathing hot air when they're leaving school and planning on going back and obtaining their degree.' That's kind of in your face now a
little bit, and I'm happy about that," Stackhouse said.
"This is something money can't buy," Jamison said. "You can't get a hook-up from a friend. This is something you worked for your whole life."
Stackhouse and Jamison are now back in the world of triple-doubles.
But that college degree?
That's singular.
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