Former Nuggets star JR Smith turns focus to golf at HBCU
Aug 12, 2021, 8:04 AM | Updated: 8:05 am
Former Denver Nuggets standout J.R. Smith has his sights set on the classroom in retirement with the hopes of also spending some time on the links.
The 35-year-old former NBA champion has reportedly enrolled at North Carolina A&T State University to pursue a liberal studies degree while also petitioning the NCAA to allow him to play on the historically Black university’s men’s golf team.
“They always told me I could go back whenever when I was coming out of high school, so this is whenever for me,” Smith said during the Wyndham Champ Pro-Am in Greensboro, North Carolina, on Wednesday.
“Very special. I can’t wait to be part of an HBCU Family.” great to talk with @TheRealJRSmith here at @WyndhamChamp Pro-Am. Smith is enrolling at @ncatsuaggies (went to NBA straight from HS) and hopes to get NCAA Clearance to play on the @NCATAGGIES Golf Team. @WFMY #wfmysports pic.twitter.com/GzWuiVb95Q
— Brian Hall (@bhallwfmy) August 11, 2021
Smith told reporters that a conversation with Basketball Hall of Famer Ray Allen sparked his interest in returning to school.
“Ray Allen kind of convinced me,” Smith said. “We had a little golf trip in (the Dominican Republic), and he was talking about some of the things he was doing, about going back to school and challenging yourself for us athletes. I really took heed to it and decided to go back — and one of the best liberal studies programs is at A&T.”
According to NCAA rules, individuals are not eligible for a collegiate sport if they’ve played professionally in that sport. However, the college athletics governing body does not prohibit a former professional athlete from competing in a different sport.
Also, because Smith went straight to the NBA after high school, his clock to compete as a college athlete has not yet started.
North Carolina A&T spokesperson Brian Holloway told ESPN that the next step is to navigate the 17 years since Smith was in high school to track down his academic records.
“We’re just going through the normal process we would go through with any prospective student-athlete,” Holloway said. “But this one is just a little different.”
Smith, who said he sports a 5 handicap, gained interest in golf after playing a charity event more than a decade ago.
“Golf is one of those games that has you feeling really high and or can bring you down to your knees and humble you,” Smith said. “And to have that feeling and knowing that all of the game’s pretty much on my own hands and I don’t have to worry about teammates to pass the ball and receiving passes and playing defense, so I can play my game and just have fun.”
A former first-round (18th overall) pick by the New Orleans Hornets in 2004, Smith played 372 games for the Nuggets during five seasons in Denver — the most of any of the five teams for which he’s played.
