Stephen Curry and Jerome Betis – champions in their sport – will add another title on Sunday: college graduates.
Stephen Curry and Jerome Betis – champions in their sport – will add another title on Sunday: college graduates.
Stephen Curry graduated from Davidson College in North Carolina with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology, and Jerome Betis eventually earned his business degree from Notre Dame.
Curry will not be on hand to wear a hat and gown. Instead, the three-time NBA champion is with the Golden State Warriors, who will meet either the Phoenix Suns or the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA’s Western Conference Finals.
“Davidson College looks forward to an opportunity on campus in the future when we can present its diploma,” the school posted on Twitter Sunday morning.
Curry, 34, played three seasons at Davidson and dropped out of school when the Warriors selected him as the No. 7 overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft. He was one semester short of graduation.
In his statement on Twitter, Davidson said that Curry enrolled in the school for the spring semester and worked with two members of the Davidson faculty — one at Stanford and the other at UC Santa Cruz — to meet his degree requirements.
The diploma wait was longer for Jerome Betis than for Stephen Curry, who skipped his senior season in 1993 to enter the NFL draft. The Los Angeles Rams picked him with the number 10 overall selection, and he went on to win the Super Bowl with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Betis was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2015.
Now 50, he attended classes at Notre Dame to complete his degree—and he made a vow to his mother.
“I made him sit in Coach (Lou) Holtz’s office years ago with a promise that I would come back and graduate,” Betis recently said on the Pod of Gold podcast. “So, I am also indebted to him.”
Back on campus, Bettis did things common college kids would do—such as attending school basketball games and participating in group projects. He also spent time around the football team.
Jerome Betis told ND Insider that he is going to apply what he learns in the classroom to the businesses he owns.
“I’m so excited,” Betis said. “It’s the culmination of years and years to finish it. Starting something and being able to finish that task now is a big deal for me.”