Kenny Anderson gets his college degree 19 years after leaving school for NBA

After child support and millions lost, Kenny Anderson registered for college, mastered the digital classroom, and studied in his spare time.

“My son sees me with books in my knapsack and he says, ‘You’re 39 years old, you’re still going to school?’ ” Anderson told The New York Times of his son Ken Jr., 9.

The hardwork payoff will come Saturday at St. Thomas University in Miami, when Anderson will graduate, 19 years after leaving Georgia Tech for the N.B.A.

The degree is a testament that his life did not end after his 14 years N.B.A. stint, after the rocky relationships with his seven children with five women, and the depleted salary, somewhere above $60 million.

“Kenny was a little too generous,” said Jack Curran, 79, the longtime coach at Archbishop Molloy in Queens. Then there were all the cars and the night life and the rest, a common story among pro athletes.

Kenny Anderson is proud of the 37 credits he was able to transfer from Georgia Tech. He helped Georgia Tech reach the Final Four as a freshman.

A neighbor told Anderson about the Institute for Professional Studies at St. Thomas, so he enrolled for his online program by himself — without a team helping him and began working with an adviser.

“I’d ask people for help,” Anderson said. “This wasn’t like college. They’d say, ‘I’ll give you an idea, but you have to do the work yourself.’ ” He almost quit a few times but found a comfortable routine, helping get Ken Jr. and his wife’s daughter, Tiana, also 9, off to school. Then he would take off to Starbucks and study.

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