Dancing across a stage is nothing new for Isiah Thomas, but when he picked up his Master of Education degree from the University of California, it was the first time Thomas was able to do so in person.
The last time his name was called at a commencement, he was slightly busy, dancing down the lane of the Pontiac Silverdome, hitting a running, game-winning layup against the Atlanta Hawks in Game 4 of the 1987 Eastern Conference semifinals, putting the Pistons a game away from their first trip to the Eastern Conference Finals.
On that day, his mother, Mary Thomas, took the place of her then-26-year old son to accept his bachelor's degree at Indiana University. It's cause for pause and reflection for the 52-year-old Thomas, as the accomplishment of higher education brings about memories of his journey.
"As a kid, you think of winning the NBA championship and stuff like that," said Thomas, owner of two championship rings as a player. "To me, this is the equivalent. Being a champion on the floor and in the classroom as a student, it's very gratifying to me."
Making the often difficult trek back and forth to California from his hometown, Chicago, where he's taken a hands-on role in dealing with alarming gang violence issues, as well as his home in New York, and Atlanta, where he often sits on the NBA TV set, didn't stop him from feeling like the average student.
"I felt 19 all over again; it was definitely an enlightening journey for me," said Thomas, who graduated with a 4.0 grade-point average. "All of the life lessons you learn, you're now able to go in the classroom and apply all the things you learned educationally. Usually, it's the other way around."
Slowly but surely, Thomas' journey is bringing him back to the public eye after he stepped away from his post with the New York Knicks in 2008 and a three-year stint at Florida International.
He's done opinion pieces on CNN and in the Huffington Post on his views about education. His thesis was on "books and basketball."
"Why was it so difficult for the players I competed against to graduate college? I wanted to do some research," said Thomas, who had 19 of 21 student-athletes graduate while he was coaching at FIU.
"Why me or black athletes have a difficult time graduating because of the poverty level our kids come from, and our systems don't have the proper resources to educate us. Just because you have a scholarship doesn't mean you're prepared to take on the rigors of an academic curriculum."
He has a popular column that appears on NBA.com, and at the NBA TV studios he sits across from Detroiters who grew up idolizing him, Steve Smith and Chris Webber. He'll host a weekly show on DIRECTV this summer, aptly titled "Unfinished Business With Isiah Thomas," which focuses on regular people who have achieved greatness against all odds, a story similar to his own.
And the original Bad Boy has announced that the NBA and ESPN will put together a two-hour "30 for 30" documentary on the legendary Pistons teams.
Two years ago, Thomas came back to Detroit on Dennis Rodman's jersey retirement to vouch for his teams, that they weren't merely foils or a nuisance to the Lakers, Celtics and Bulls, that they deserve to be spoken of in the same breath.
He wanted to have "an accurate story told about how innovative we were as a team, an organization." He looks forward to changing or rewriting the narrative to something more layered, something that paralleled the city the Pistons represented.
"It'll share and show the growth and maturation of a championship team in a championship city," Thomas said. "How we all became champions."
As for the proud franchise he helped build, he isn't publicly stumping for the Pistons' job, but he wouldn't turn down the call if it came.
"Anything I can ever do to help the Pistons, I've always been a phone call away," Thomas said. "Anytime they've ever asked me to come back or asked me to help, I've always been willing."
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I hope they talk about it