Former NBA Superstar and Hall-of-Famer, Adrian Dantley, has a new job as a middle school crossing guard. This gives a whole new meaning to a “crossing-guard” in the NBA. Retired NBA players usually don’t end up working again especially blue-collar jobs. The money they earn through their careers is usually enough to provide for themselves and their family, but it isn’t about the money in Adrian Dantley’s case. After Dantley’s NBA career ended, he made his way up the coaching ladder.
From 2009-2012, Dantley was an assistant coach for the Denver Nuggets, and he later was the head coach while George Karl was battling cancer. After that season ended, Dantley suddenly found himself without a job because he did not want to switch back seats with Coach Karl after his return. This left Dantley without a job, out of the NBA, and without health insurance.
Now, Adrian Dantley is a crossing guard making about $15,000 a year working outside of Eastern Middle School in Washington, D.C., and 15k a year isn’t much for a man who still lives in a 1.1 million dollar home in a suburb of D.C. However, Dantley didn’t take the job for the money or the public service. He took the job for the health benefits because the NBA does not offer health benefits for retired players. Although the job is part-time job working only one hour a day, he receives full-time healthcare benefits.
“On a recent morning I was sitting in a car at the intersection that Dantley guards, and just minutes before the first period bell was to ring, I saw him lunge in front of a running youngster, who was oblivious to everything but her own fear of tardiness, and keep the kid out of the path of a turning automobile. He went about this lifesaving task with all the effort he’d put into stopping Isaiah Thomas from driving to the basket or David Falk from touching a paycheck. It was as if the gods wanted me to know Dantley’s not on anybody’s dole.” – Dave McKenna / Sportswriter – Full Story via Yahoo
Dantley averaged 24.3 points per game for his career and is a top 25 scorer in NBA history, and he was also the leading scorer on the 1976 US Olympic team that captured the gold medal in Montreal. His NBA career lasted 15 years, also making six All-Star appearances.
