The ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus famously mused that "no man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man."
It is a concept that demonstrates the change that occurs in all of humanity throughout the course of a lifetime. The circumstances of the environment are always in flux, the man different with each step he wades through the water – wiser from the step he took before.
And extrapolated, it means no individual in life crosses the same river to reach the other side. No path is the same, regardless of the destination.
For four former members of the Sun Devil men's basketball program – while it might have been like crossing the estuary to get there – the path across that river led them to their goal. Now, with much pride, each can now lay the claim to having a college degree from Arizona State University – as part of Sun Devil Athletics' Spring/Summer Graduation Class of 2020.
The path was years in the making for the likes of Byron Scott, Eddie House, Tyrone Jackson and Roy Joshua – decades for some of them. Professional basketball careers, coaching careers, educational careers and even a real estate career. Life's opportunities and circumstances delayed the completion of education for all four, because – as Heraclitus even more famously said – "the only thing that is constant is change".
For whatever reason, completing their education the first time around was incongruous with their life path. But for each, no life change was going to keep them from their vows to return and finish what they started.
For Scott, it was a promise to his mom. For Jackson and House, it was promised to their grandmothers. Joshua, who returned to school after a 40-year hiatus, credits the upbringing from his parents and the support of his wife and children – and a humorous desire to finish school before his grandchildren.
Familial motivations aside, each also pointed out that they simply "grew up". They got older, they learned lessons in life, they enjoyed lucrative careers and families, they experienced that change.
A lifetime of experiences led each across the river, each traversing through waters the others did not. And through those experiences, the opposite shore – that path to graduation - became clearer.
With degrees now in hand, that goal that each laboriously strove to achieve has come to fruition.
And yet again, Heraclitus had a little something to say about that: "It is in changing that we find purpose."
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Sun Devil Athletics' SD4L Degree Completion Program provides opportunities to student-athletes outside the traditional six-year window to receive post-eligibility aid in completing their degrees.
The program allows Sun Devils who left school to explore professional prospects prior to the completion of their degrees to return to ASU and finish their bachelor's degree programs. The former student-athletes are able to get tuition fees and books covered and can take as much time as necessary to complete their degrees, contingent upon remaining in academic good standing.
The program is overseen by Jessica Richardson in the Sun Devil Athletics Office of Student-Athlete Development. Richardson, a former Sun Devil soccer player herself, took special pride in this year's SD4L graduation class as it featured for men's basketball players – the program she also serves as the academic coach for.
"When (former student-athletes) reach out to me, I am always checking in to see if they need help enrolling, I'll order their books and I even do grade checks on occasion," Richardson said of her role. "Any questions they have in terms of advising appointments or class suggestions, they come to me."
Richardson took the program over about six years ago and has helped lead it to incredible traction over the years. From 2016 through this current year, 29 former student-athletes have returned to ASU to complete their degrees. This year's class of graduating class of six – the four basketball players plus former hockey goaltender Joey Daccord and former Sun Devil running back Demario Richard – is the largest to date.
The four basketball players themselves join Steven Moore (class of 2019) as the first five to come through the program under Richardson's watch. Only the football program's eight graduates through the program are more.
Richardson was a pivotal part in each of the four's efforts this year, with all four going out of their way to commend her for her perspicacious insight into their education. The comments on Richardson – all unprompted – read more like a series of glowing Yelp reviews and are a testament to her dedication to her craft.
"As scary as it was going back to school after so many years, the transition was made so much easier especially because of Jessica," said Scott.
"Jessica Richardson is outstanding, has been extremely supportive and I truly appreciate her invaluable assistance in completing my degree," said Joshua. Roy Joshua graduated as part of the 2020 class.
"I tell you, Jessica Richardson helped tremendously. The online schooling was something that was totally new to me and to navigate around it, I just have to give her a whole lot of credit," said House.
As a former student-athlete herself, Richardson understands and embraces what it means to earn a degree from Arizona State University.
"To have the opportunity to come back, I think everyone is really appreciative that ASU is still willing to help them earn their degrees after all that time," Richardson said. "And I think it really shows that our athletic department means what it says when it says that you are a Sun Devil for Life."
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You can't say that Byron Scott didn't make the most out of his basketball career.
A three-time NBA champion as part of the Showtime-era Lakers, Scott started alongside the likes of Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy and A.C. Green. Scott spent over a decade in the NBA as a player and then spent another decade and a half as a head coach, netting Coach of the Year honors in 2008.
His time as a basketball player at ASU was historic, earning Pac-10 Freshman of the Year honors in 1980 and all-league accolades following his junior season. He averaged 17.5 points per game in his career at ASU and has since seen his number lofted into the rafters at Desert Financial Arena.
Basketball was life for Byron Scott. And because basketball was life, school took a backseat when he left Arizona State after his junior season to enter the NBA Draft.
Selected with the fourth pick of the 1983 Draft, one can't fault the decision 37 years later. Basketball was lucrative for Scott. But that didn't keep him for honoring his pledges to finish his education.
"It was a promise I made a while back to my mother," Scott said. "She passed a few years ago and that thought came back to my mind that I had promised to get my degree."
It was something that remained on his mind for the last few seasons, something he thinks was triggered by her loss.
"I wanted to keep that promise," he said. "I just said I have to do this."
His mom always emphasized the importance of education. When he first signed with ASU, she made sure he knew that he was the first person in the family to go to college. He knew it was something he was going to have to do well. But he also played basketball pretty well, and that appeal of a professional career continued to grow.
After his sophomore season, Scott was deemed academically ineligible. He went back home, committed to putting his name into the NBA Draft that year.
"When I told my mom that, she said 'Take your butt back to school.'," Scott said. "She wanted me to do her a favor and go to class and to try and learn and give it a chance."
That shifted his mindset toward education, expanding it beyond his myopic view of the word that only included basketball. He came back to school and got his grades right – a requirement to even be considered for the SD4L program – while averaging over 20 points per game as a junior and solidifying himself as a lottery prospect. Even though he wouldn't get his degree at the time, the seed was planted.
"My mindset this time around was getting a degree. My mindset as a student in the 80s was getting to the NBA," Scott said. "As you get older, you get wiser. I think if I had thought like that back then, I would have got my degree and still been able to play in the NBA for 10 years."
Be it his mom or the support of his wife and children, his family has always been at the forefront of his motivation to continue his schooling.
"I stress it with my kids as well," Scott said. "I thought, what better example than to go back myself and get my degree because it's hard to be stressing it when you didn't do it."
He needed about 30 to 32 credits to finish his degree in liberal studies when he finally took the plunge.
"It had been 30 years since being on a campus or doing any sort of schooling whatsoever," he said. "To be able to do it all online and have the type of support ASU was willing to give me really helped. It honestly made it easier than I thought it was going to be."
Even though it was easier, there was still a learning curve after taking several decades off from school. Reintroducing yourself to a world of exams, assignments, discussion groups, lectures and more can be a bit of a shock after so long.
"But one good thing is that I have a beautiful wife who kept telling me, 'Don't you have an assignment due in a couple days?'," he laughs. "But I had her in my corner and her pushing me."
The experience itself is something that he wishes more players would take advantage of in the NBA, speaking from someone who both went through it himself and also coached people going through it for such a long time.
"Even if they just take some summer classes. I know they have a lot going on and it can get hectic, but it's just so important." Scott said. "The average lifespan of an NBA player is four years. If you don't have your degree, where are you going to go when you're 23 though 26 and you don't have basketball anymore?"
All told, Scott emphasizes that the experience in coming back and earning his degree could not have been more positive.
"I originally chose ASU because it's an unbelievable school and it was a chance to get an education and further my career. But I feel they have gone well above and beyond what an establishment should do in allowing ex-athletes to come back and complete their degree," he said. "I'm even more proud to be called a Sun Devil now than I've ever been. I really want to express how appreciative I am."
Scott spent nearly 30 years at the highest level of professional basketball in some way, shape or form. And despite all of that, he puts this degree up with the most important moments of his life.
"If I had a top- ten, I've got three championships, three beautiful kids and three beautiful granddaughters. And now this." Scott said. "It is that important to me. Of all the things I accomplished that I am so proud of, this is one of them. I am thrilled to death and just humbled by being able to get it done."
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The name Eddie House has become synonymous with Sun Devil basketball. He is the school's all-time leading scorer. He was a Pac-10 Player of the Year. He dropped 61 points in a game. And his No. 5 hangs also hangs from the rafters at Desert Financial Arena.
Even beyond that, his son Jaelen just completed his freshman season under Bobby Hurley's watch. He is often seen courtside, either on the headset as an analyst for the Pac-12 Network or simply as a fan there to watch his son and his alma mater play basketball.
House enjoyed a decade in the NBA, no small feat for any player – just see the Byron Scott quote above. He earned an NBA Championship with the Celtics in 2008 and was a key part in the team's comeback victory in Game 4.
The one thing House never accomplished at ASU and beyond was completing his degree. At least until now.
For House, it was simply a matter of time. Or more specifically, having it.
"I love to finish what I started," House said. "But in the NBA, it's just almost impossible outside of the summer. And even then, you're traveling, making appearances or preparing for the next season. And sometimes you just need to decompress. It's a grind."
Doing it in season was out of the question with the peripatetic nature of scheduling and the commitment to your team's performance. Between his NBA career, raising a family and his youth basketball coaching career following his time in the NBA, House just didn't have the available time to sit down and dedicate to finishing off his education until now.
"I had a year left and it was a promise that I had made to my grandmother as well that I wanted to fulfill," House said. "When I finally had the time on my hands, I went back and honestly I had a great time doing it."
Like Scott, House had around 30 credits left to complete. And like Scott, House credits simply growing up with his ability to handle his educational business now.
"Before, I was simply worried about being the best basketball player I could be. I would submerge myself in basketball," House said. "Realistically, school took a back seat to me. And that was probably the wrong approach because looking back on it, I probably could have done both."
Maturity and becoming a parent were key developments in the evolution of his mindset toward education. But another major cog in the development was his connection with another prominent Sun Devil alumni.
"Myself and Alton Lister had gotten in contact and he was telling me that there were opportunities to get back into school," House said. "So, I went in and tapped into those resources to get that process started and then I just went after it."
The shift to online learning was a shock at first, and House noted that he was always a guy that enjoyed the process of sitting in a class and interacting with professors in person. As such, he credits the online faculty for their efforts in easing that transition and making it as positive of an experience as it could be.
"I will say this, all my professors that I had were great," House said. "They helped me tremendously whenever I needed and their courses were fun."
Considering his impact on Sun Devil basketball lore, House is more than proud to be able to lay claim to having earned his degree from Arizona State in addition to all of his other incredible contributions to the university.
"Now I can say I'm a college graduate. I am an actual alumnus now." House said. "There's a sense of accomplishment knowing that I went after something and I got it done, stayed focused and kept my head down and put in that work."
For House, it is also an opportunity to show his children the importance of education.
"I just wanted to show them that whatever you want to do, you can do it. Yeah, I did go to the NBA. I made that happen. Yeah, I went back to school and got my degree," he said. "There are other things I've accomplished throughout life that I've shown them.
"I want them to know that if you go and attack something and really wholeheartedly want to do it and believe in yourself and believe in what you're doing and surround yourself with the right people, you can get a lot of things accomplished."
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While Scott and House are household names in the annals of Sun Devil Basketball history, Tyrone Jackson's name is not.
A highly sought-after junior college recruit out of Fresno City College, Jackson was a solid contributor off the bench for the Sun Devils in the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons. But the results just weren't there on the court for the program as a whole and there would be no lucrative professional career in Jackson's future.
He went on to play in a couple Pro-Am leagues and spent some time playing in Canada but his true calling came in coaching high school basketball and being a transition counselor at his alma mater, Clovis West High School in Fresno, Calif.
There, he was reunited with Vance Walberg - his own high school coach - while finding an outlet to give back to society by helping elementary and middle school students with their eventual transition to high schools.
The path to advancement in both careers is something that will be helped along with the completion of his college degree. But while his professional development was important to him, it was something else that really pushed him to return and finish things off.
"Growing up, when I started playing basketball, I promised my grandmothers. When they passed away, I told myself I would finish no matter how long it takes. Just for them," Jackson said. "They really believed in it and made me understand that basketball was great but without an education, it was going to be pretty rough."
Earning a degree was always something that former Sun Devil head coach Rob Evans made a point of emphasis with his players before everything else. And Jackson is quick to note that Evans was never found wanting for a phone call to discuss completing his education.
"At some point, coaches are not going to coach anymore and players aren't going to play anymore," Evans said. "Getting that degree takes care of a whole generation."
Evans coached Steve Moore during that time as well and immediately reached out to Jackson after Moore earned his degree through the SD4L program.
"They are both pretty close and so when Steve graduated, I called Tyrone and I said, 'Hey Tyrone, Steve got his papers. You've to get your papers now'," Evans said. "I was incredibly excited when I got the news."
"I told Tyrone no one asks 'How long did it take you to get it?'. They ask 'Did you get it?'." Evans said. "I don't feel comfortable unless all of my guys have graduated or are doing something positive for society. To see him go back and be diligent enough to get that degree, it just means a lot to me."
Like both Scott and House, Jackson points out that maturity has gone a long way toward helping him to realize and achieve the completion of his academic goals. But that maturity was also what helped him to overcome the most difficult part of returning to school, which he says was trying to complete his course load while having a full-time job and coaching.
Jackson needed close to 30 credits as well to earn his liberal studies degree and did so with flying colors, graduating Magna Cum Laude.
As Jackson continues looking forward to his career as both a counselor and as a coach, having completed his education is important for him in his interactions with the youth he encounters each day.
"When I talk to my players and with elementary and middle school students, I just want them to understand how important an education is," Jackson said. "I want to become a counselor at the high school level and without my degree, I couldn't have gone farther in that career path."
Jackson doesn't hesitate to name graduating as the pinnacle in his achievements in life to date.
"It is definitely number one. It has to be," he said. "It was really hard but it was something that I learned to focus on and get better at as I matured."
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Roy Joshua is a bit of an anachronism when it comes to the typical college student in 2020.
At 63 years old, some of his classmates were likely young enough to be his grandchildren. But Joshua epitomizes the concept of it not being the road you travel, but the journey.
His father was a valedictorian at his high school and his mother was an elementary school. Education was always something that was stressed to him, his sister and his three brothers. There was never a doubt in his mind that he would eventually come back and finish his degree.
Joshua admits that he was a better high school student than he was an athlete. He had academic scholarship offers from two dozen institutions including Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Notre Dame and Princeton. But he had just one offer to play basketball.
He eventually decided on Notre Dame before "the cold and snow chased me back to California."
He enrolled at San Jose City College and earned his associate's degree and played basketball well enough to earn a scholarship at ASU. In his best season as a Sun Devil, he averaged 10.5 points per game and held the highest career free throw percentage for a two-year player (81.6) all the way until 2018. He played alongside the likes of Fat Lever, Alton Lister, Kurt Nimphius, Sam Williams, Tony Zeno and Pierre Bressant.
And while he enjoyed a productive and enjoyable career at ASU, his eligibility ran out with him being just a semester shy of graduating.
"When I first attended ASU, I wasn't as focused on my academics as I should have been. I admire those student-athletes that can simultaneously excel in their sport and the classroom. Unfortunately, I wasn't one of them," Joshua said. "I was a good student and a good basketball player, but I had difficulty managing to be both at the same time."
He would attempt his dream of competing in the NBA but was cut by the Golden State Warriors after the rookie/free agent camp.
"Then real life happened; my wife and I had our first child. And two years later our second child was born," he said. "There was no more time for basketball or school as my priority shifted to providing for my young family."
Joshua was fortunate enough to begin a career a few years after leaving ASU in what would prove to be his lifelong profession as a real estate appraiser. He has done so for 38 years now – the last 20 of which for the County of Sacramento. It was a career that was "relatively stable and profitable" but not something he had studied at ASU.
He changed majors several times, including business, fine arts, art education and secondary education and enjoyed the opportunity to do some student teaching in Phoenix during his senior year at ASU. He has since worked at local schools as a basketball coach or volunteer teacher's aide and that is what led him back to Arizona State – when he retires in two years, he wants to become a substitute teacher, tutor and mentor. A path that would require a bachelor's degree to achieve.
"I have always believed that being a teacher is one of the most important jobs in the world," he said. "It's taken me a lifetime to get here, but I am looking forward to the opportunity to have a positive impact on students' lives."
With resuming his education in mind, Joshua remembers hearing radio advertisements for years regarding Arizona State's online school. Each time, he was reminded of how close he was to graduating. He eventually applied last Spring on academic probation due to his low and lingering GPA from the 1970s. After bringing his grades up, he was accepted into the Sun Devil For Life Degree Completion Program.
Coming back to school after four decades was no easy task, but it was one that was almost easier in a way than it was in the 1970s.
"I discovered I am a much better college student at 63 than I was at 21. Even though I have a fulltime job, there is no basketball practice, away games, or partying in the dorm room to distract me from my studies," he said. "As I said earlier, while a student-athlete, I struggled to maintain balance between my studies and basketball, but I say without hesitation that attending ASU and playing college basketball was one of the greatest experiences of my life."
Joshua also credits being older and wiser for making college easier this time around. Additionally, his kids are grown and have their own homes and not raising a family made it a lot easier to devote evenings and weekends to schoolwork as opposed to when he was younger. Not having the distraction that comes with being on a college campus also made it less likely for him to recidivate.
But even so, there was a drastic shift in the dynamic between a college education in the 1970s compared to one now.
"I come from a different time. I am a dinosaur. I played basketball before there was ESPN and SportsCenter, before there was even a 3-point line. In the classrooms, there were no computers. There was no internet, no cell phones, and no smart watches," he said. "During my senior year, one of my teammates asked a couple of us over to his apartment to play an exciting new thing called a video game; the game was Pong, and we were astounded by the technology."
Joshua said it took him about a week or two to adjust to the idea of completing an entire course online but believes it was a much better way for an older student to return to school and that he felt "less awkward online than sitting in a classroom with students younger than my children."
Joshua needed 24 credits to graduate and did so with flying colors, earning straight A's and making the Dean's List in his final semester to receive his Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies from the College of Integrative Sciences and Arts.
The path to graduation wasn't nearly so straightforward for Joshua as it can be for many others. But it was one he achieved, nonetheless, though he gives most of the credit to the others who have pushed him to achieve throughout his life.
"I am only here because of my parents, who instilled in me the value of education; all my teachers and coaches who taught me crucial life lessons; and all my ASU teammates and ASU family," he said. "I owe a special "thank you" to my wife, for a million years of love and support, and to my two phenomenal children, who are both college graduates; between them, they have degrees in biology, chemistry, fine art and psychology. They have done outstanding social work with autistic children and low-income high school students and are a great source of pride and inspiration. And finally, I want to give thanks to my four exceptional grandchildren, for showing me a vision of a beautiful future.
His journey came with a lifetime worth of lessons. He truly was not the same person who originally stepped foot in the river of education and the river certainly wasn't the same one he first stepped in. But in the end, he reached his destination and emphatically encourages others to do the same – in their own time.
"My message to ASU student-athletes is that education is a life-long process, and your life may travel along many different and unexpected paths," he said. "Keep moving forward, and remember, there are ASU alumni, faculty, staff and organizations like the Sun Devil For Life Degree Completion Program standing ready to welcome you back and help you complete your academic journey. And as you travel along your journey, don't forget to appreciate and give thanks to all the people who support you along the way, because no one succeeds in this journey alone."
