Basketball Hall of Famer Ray Allen earns bachelor’s degree at UConn commencement

Samuel Jacinto got lucky.

The Cromwell native filed into Gampel Pavilion for the UConn commencement ceremony on Sunday with his friends. The row in the Gampel bleachers filled, so Jacinto got bumped and started moving into the next row down in section 109.

The seat to his right was empty, marked reserved, until after the procession concluded when UConn legend and Basketball Hall of Famer Ray Allen snuck into it.

Allen, 47, was set to receive his Bachelor’s Degree in General Studies and didn’t want to make a scene.

“All of a sudden he sat next to me and I didn’t know what to say,” Jacinto said. “He sat down, I shook his hand and was like, ‘This is an honor, sir. I look up to you like everyone at this school, you’re a legend.'”

Allen, who was selected fifth overall in the 1996 NBA Draft and began his legendary pro career after three seasons at UConn, responded that it was his honor to be sitting amongst the students, his fellow Class of 2023 graduates.

“When I was in school there was a couple of RAs that were in their 30s and I thought, Wow, they’re still in school. It’s never too late to learn,” Allen told The 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. And you got to do it by yourself but it’s made up of a lot of people around you, so I didn’t want it to be about me walking in and everybody, you know. These kids are on their individual journeys, so I was so inspired to be sitting next to them and talking to them.”

Allen and Jacinto continued their conversation through much of the ceremony as names continued to be called. He asked Jacinto where he was from (Allen just so happens to have a house in Cromwell as well), what his plans were after graduation and offered up some advice.

Jacinto, who received his degree in economics Sunday, already has a full-time job lined up dealing with insurance claims at The Hartford.

“He’s the most genuine guy. I was able to talk to him like a friend,” Jacinto said.

“The kid that was sitting next to me, I told him just travel. See the world. Let your mind continue to learn. Don’t let this be the last time you pick up a book and read or try to further your understanding of life, because you’ve got to continue to kind of pour it into yourself,” Allen said.

When his name was called, Walter Ray Allen, the onlookers in Gampel reacted as if he just made a clutch 3-pointer. He walked, received his diploma, and gave a thumbs up to his family cheering in section 105.

“It’s hard to really describe the feeling connected to it because it’s been a pursuit of mine for such a long time. You start as a kid in elementary school and you’re just on this journey your whole life to try to graduate high school and then go to college,” Allen said. “I loved my time here as a student-athlete. Fortunately and unfortunately for me I had a higher calling at the time and it was sad for me because I left here and I really enjoyed being here as an athlete.

“But there was always a stone left unturned for me to be able to graduate.”

Allen started taking classes again at some point in 2008 after winning the first of his two NBA championships, that one as a member of the Boston Celtics. He enrolled in one class per semester while still an active NBA player and eventually ramped it up to two.

When COVID-19 shut the world down, Allen hit the books.

“That was one of the best things that happened to me because it kept me with a purpose every single day, kept me with intention,” he said.

Allen enjoyed all of his textbooks, they taught him a lot, but computers were daunting. His kids helped him with that, taught him what the function keys were and how to insert attachments.

His daughter, Tierra, who played volleyball at Quinnipiac, was the first in the family to graduate.

When she received her diploma, Allen said: “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. 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.

She inspired me because I saw her graduate and now my kids see me graduate, my son is 18, he’s about to graduate from high school and move on to college. So now they’ll forever remember these moments. They’ve been in this building when my jersey was retired. So this building, it not only means athletic, but it also symbolizes academic as well.”

Allen’s seat, planned or not, was directly below his No. 34 that hangs from the rafters. He remains the only UConn men’s basketball player to have his jersey retired by the program.

To his left, Jacinto was over the moon.

When the day began he was looking forward to graduating, collecting his diploma, but, like many others in their early 20s, there was a part of Jacinto that just wanted to get it over with. By the time he met his family outside for pictures, Jacinto said, “Sitting next to Ray Allen was better than my college experience.”

Sure, there might’ve been some hyperbole. Jacinto told Allen he appreciates the friends he made and the whole experience, especially his time in Houston as he sat in the student section when UConn won the national championship in April.

Then he asked what Allen’s favorite college memory was.

“He was like, ‘You’d think I’d say basketball, but besides all that, having the little things,’ like being with his friends in the dorms, his apartment, just hanging around with his friends. And then he said, ‘In 20 years, you’re gonna be where I am, looking back, and you’re gonna be cherishing this,'” Jacinto said.

“Being able to talk to him just about little things and him giving me advice about anything we were talking about, not just like moving, going out. He was just telling me about my experiences in college. He’s like, ‘Look back at those little things and cherish it forever.'”