I have been meaning to share this story for a while & now that footage has surfaced – it’s the perfect time! It’s such a crazy great story. Check out what an NBA Hall of Famer is doing for a living — for a very specific (no, not money), yet rewarding reason.
Via Deadspin:
The greatest 6-foot-5 post player in the history of the NBA now pulls morning and afternoon shifts at a busy intersection outside Eastern Middle School in Silver Spring, Md. The job, which he took at the beginning of this school year, earns him $14,685.50 a year, according to Montgomery County civil service records.
“He doesn’t need the money,” a Dantley associate tells me. The guard-forward was legendarily cheap during his long and fruitful NBA career, and he still lives nearby in a home he purchased in 1990 for $1.1 million, one that a former agent said “was virtually free and clear” of debt back in 1996.
“He’s not going to just sit around,” the associate continues, “and he just doesn’t want to pay health insurance.” Turns out that NBA veterans aren’t provided health insurance by the league, not even all-timers like Dantley. Crossing guards in Montgomery County, however, are.
Dantley, who didn’t return phone messages to discuss his current occupation, always had a reputation as greedy on the court and frugal off it. His résumé is second to none among undersized big men. His teams at DeMatha, six miles from Eastern Middle School, went 57-2 with Dantley in the lineup in the early 1970s. He was All-America in high school and twice more at Notre Dame, which he left in 1976 after three seasons. He led the U.S. team in scoring during its gold-medal run at the 1976 Olympics.
Dantley’s real-world job these days, though not as glamorous as his old one, has its benefits. Lots and lots of benefits, actually. Montgomery County officials took a lot of heat after a 2010 story in the Washington Examiner, a D.C. newspaper, reported that crossing guards there were taking in about $41.50 an hour. “Once considered the best-kept secret among a workforce of 30,000,” the newspaper reported, “the position has become one of the county’s most popular, particularly among those seeking health care coverage for their families.” Guards are part-time employees, and they normally put in one hour a day, but they receive the same insurance and benefits package as full-timers.
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