College Football

Bears' Justin Fields, Basketball Hall of Famer Ray Allen graduate from college

Published May. 8, 2023 5:46 p.m. ET

It's graduation season, and some professional athletes put a bow on college life.

Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields received his diploma from Ohio State over the weekend, receiving his bachelor's degree in consumer and family financial services.

Fields continued his studies through Ohio State's degree completion program while he played quarterback with the Bears.

While Fields received his degree on Sunday, he excelled on the field as a Buckeye long before that. After transferring from Georgia ahead of the 2019 season, Fields quarterbacked an Ohio State team that didn't lose a game in the regular season over the two years he started at quarterback.

He scored 51 total touchdowns and had 3,273 passing yards in 2019, making him a Heisman Trophy finalist. A year later, Fields scored 27 total touchdowns and threw for 2,100 yards in eight games, helping the Buckeyes reach the CFP final.

Another star athlete received his degree over the weekend — although much further removed from his collegiate playing days. Hall of Famer and former NBA superstar Ray Allen received his bachelor's degree in general studies from UConn on Sunday, returning to the arena where his basketball journey blossomed.

Allen began his studies at UConn in the fall of 1993 but left early to play in the NBA following the 1995-96 college basketball season. Nearly a decade after his 18-season NBA career ended, Allen made it a point to get his degree.

"It's never too late to learn," Allen told the Hartford Courant. "This day isn't about me, it's about the people that helped me along the way to finish this mission, be on this journey to graduate from college."

Allen said that he began to resume his college studies in 2008 when he was playing with the Boston Celtics, taking one or two classes per semester. He ramped up his studies again when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, calling it "one of the best things that happened to me because it kept me with a purpose every single day."

In between Allen's time with the Celtics and the coronavirus pandemic, his daughter Tierra became the first in his family to graduate when she received her degree from Quinnipiac University. That inspired Allen to keep going with his studies.

"It just kept me with that fire burning inside my belly to make sure that I continued through on that mission and didn’t lose sight of it, because you become apathetic toward it and it doesn’t matter," Allen said. "And then you make up reasons why you’ll never do it, why it doesn’t matter.

"For me, I just wanted to make sure that I kept it in the background of my brain so hopefully one day, when things work out — and that’s what happened."

Allen scored 19 points per game over his three years at UConn, winning the Big East Player of the Year in 1996.

There were also several notable people in the sports world serving as commencement speakers during graduation season this year. Olympic gold medalist Rowdy Gaines gave a commencement speech at Auburn, his alma mater, while NCAA president Charlie Baker is set to give the commencement speech at Bentley University. Former Villanova coach Jay Wright will give the commencement speech at Bucknell, NBA commissioner Adam Silver will speak at Duke's graduation ceremony, tennis legend John McEnroe will give the commencement speech at Stanford and six-time Olympic medalist Jackie Joyner-Kearse will speak at Illinois' graduation ceremony.

United States women's soccer team icon Briana Scurry will give the commencement speech at UMass, her alma mater.

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