By Tom Orsborn, Staff writer | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2025-03-02 12:25:45
由生成式人工智能翻译，译文内容可能不准确或不完整，以原文为准。
即便在 肖恩·埃利奥特(Sean Elliott) 作为马刺队两届全明星前锋的 NBA 职业生涯巅峰时期，他仍然被一种挥之不去的想法所困扰：他需要取得另一项成就才能在生活中真正获得成功。
“你很年轻，你在 NBA 打球，你挣着钱，你觉得你已经功成名就，有了一份事业，但我总觉得缺少了什么，”他说。
在母亲的帮助下，他意识到“缺少的”是大学学位。
“你什么时候回去上学？” 奥迪梅·卢卡斯·埃利奥特(Odiemae Lucas Elliott) 经常问她的儿子。
埃利奥特最终重返校园，于 2022 年获得了亚利桑那大学跨学科研究专业的学士学位。距 1989 年 NBA 选秀大会马刺队在首轮第三顺位选中他已经过去了 30 多年，当时他已在野猫队度过了四年职业生涯，并在大三和大四赛季获得全美荣誉。
上周四，埃利奥特回到了他的家乡图森，在亚利桑那大学的年度校友颁奖典礼上被授予人文学院 2024-25 年度校友称号。
每年，亚利桑那大学都会向一群校友致敬，以表彰他们的“成就、公共服务、对教育的倡导、志愿服务以及对学生、学院和大学的服务”。
“这有点疯狂，”埃利奥特说。“我花了这么长时间才完成，但我很感谢这项荣誉。”
57 岁的埃利奥特说，如果不是因为对母亲（她在 2014 年因长期疾病去世，享年 77 岁）和野猫队传奇教练 卢特·奥尔森(Lute Olson) （他在 2020 年中风后去世，享年 85 岁）的怀念激励他重返校园，他不可能获得学位。
奥迪梅·卢卡斯·埃利奥特来自密西西比州霍利斯普林斯，曾在图森的退伍军人事务医院担任重症监护护士。她先就读于皮马学院，然后在 1977 年通过退伍军人法案从亚利桑那大学护理学院毕业，此前她曾在 1951 年至 1960 年期间在女子陆军航空队服役。
她以单身母亲的身份抚养她的儿子们——肖恩和他的兄弟诺埃尔和鲍比——并强调接受教育的重要性。
“我曾向我妈妈承诺过，我希望她能亲眼看到这一切发生，但我知道她会为我的成就感到骄傲，”埃利奥特说。“我也是为了奥尔森教练做的，因为他非常强调教育，我觉得我欠他的，因为他真的希望他的球员毕业。”
在作为大四学生场均得到 22.3 分、7.2 个篮板和 4.1 次助攻后，埃利奥特赢得了每年颁发给大学篮球最杰出球员的约翰·R·伍登奖。这是一项了不起的成就，但他相信奥尔森教练会对这个学位印象更深刻。
“他更关心他的球员接受教育，而不是他们拥有篮球生涯，”埃利奥特说。
埃利奥特说，他还受到了其他在晚年重返大学获得学位的职业运动员的启发。 其中包括 39 岁的马刺队控球后卫 克里斯·保罗(Chris Paul) ，他在 2022 年获得了温斯顿-塞勒姆州立大学的大众传播学学士学位，此前他在 2003-2005 年期间在维克森林大学表现出色。
“我看到一些球员经历了他们的 NBA 职业生涯，并抽出时间回去完成学业，我总是看到这些，然后说，‘好吧，我什么时候也去做呢？’”埃利奥特说。
埃利奥特目前是马刺队的电视分析员，这是他的第 24 个赛季。他说，早在疫情期间决定重返校园之前，“很长一段时间”他都在考虑这件事。 他经常在他与妻子 克劳迪娅·萨帕塔·埃利奥特(Claudia Zapata-Elliott) 在圣安东尼奥的家中，坐在餐桌旁参加他的在线课程。
“在新冠疫情爆发后，我有很多空闲时间，”他说。“我谈到了这件事，（克劳迪娅）说，‘你没有借口。’ 我说，‘不，我没有任何借口。我手头有这么多时间。我最好回去上学。’”
埃利奥特说他只需要完成九门课程就可以获得学位。
“我晚上做了很多学习，很多阅读，很多写作，”他说。“但这是值得的。这真的很有趣。我过得很愉快。我有点像个书呆子。我喜欢事实。我喜欢每天学习新的东西。我从中走出来，心想，‘嘿，也许大学是给老年人上的，而不是给孩子们上的，因为作为一个年龄较大的学生，你会更欣赏这段旅程。’”
他研究的主题包括：海洋学、斯拉夫民间传说、电影、意大利文艺复兴、体育社会学、心理学和健康。
“我选择人文学科是因为它与人以及你如何帮助改善你周围的人有关，”他说。
埃利奥特在 2000-2001 赛季后从 NBA 退役，在 742 场比赛（712 场首发）中场均得到 14.2 分、4.3 个篮板和 2.6 次助攻。 作为 1995-96 赛季的全明星球员，他场均得到职业生涯最高的 20.0 分、5.1 个篮板和 2.7 次助攻，同时三分球命中率为 41.1%，场均出手 5.1 次。
埃利奥特是马刺队首支冠军球队的第三得分手，他们在 1999 年以 15 胜 2 负的季后赛战绩赢得了冠军，其中包括他在西部决赛对阵波特兰开拓者队的第二场比赛中投中的致胜三分球，被誉为“阵亡将士纪念日奇迹”。埃利奥特还被称为第一位在肾移植后重返赛场的职业运动员。
现在，他的成就——他的母亲和前教练可能会说是他最伟大的成就——包括一个大学学位。
“我记得按下发送最后一篇论文的按钮，我只是看着克劳迪娅说，‘我完成了，我完成了，’”埃利奥特说。“这是一种很棒的感觉，非常令人满足，因为我花了很长时间。但我做了工作，只是想越过终点线。”
Sean Elliott, left, was honored as Arizona’s College of Humanities Alumnus of the Year. The two-time Spurs All-Star has had long, decorated careers on the court and in broadcasting, but he finally got his college degree in 2022.
Sean Elliott was a two-time All-Star as a Spur and has since had a long career in broadcasting.
Sean Elliott is perhaps best known on the court for his role in the Spurs’ 15-2 run to the 1999 NBA championship, including his Memorial Day Miracle game-winner against the Trail Blazers in the Western Conference Finals.
Sean Elliott cemented his role in Spurs history for his contributions to the team’s first championship, a five-game victory over the New York Knicks in the 1999 NBA Finals.
Elliott was a two-time All-Star on the court for the Spurs, spending 11 of his 12 NBA seasons in San Antonio.
点击查看原文：Arizona honors Sean Elliott for commitment to learning
Arizona honors Sean Elliott for commitment to learning
Even at the height of his NBA career as a two-time All-Star forward for the Spurs, Sean Elliott was bothered by the nagging thought that he needed another accomplishment to be truly successful in life.
“You’re young, you’re in the NBA, you’re making money, you think you’ve arrived and you have a career, but I always felt like something was missing,” he said.
That “something” he came to realize with some help from his mother was a college degree.
“When are you going back?” Odiemae Lucas Elliott often asked her son.
Elliott finally returned to school, earning a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies from Arizona in 2022, some 30-plus years after the Spurs selected him third overall in the 1989 NBA Draft following a four-year career with the Wildcats in which he earned All-America honors as a junior and senior.
Last Thursday, Elliott returned to his hometown of Tucson to be honored at Arizona’s Alumni of the Year awards ceremony as the College of Humanities 2024-25 Alumnus of the Year.
Each year, Arizona salutes a group of alumni for their “achievements, public service, advocacy for education, volunteerism and service to students, the colleges and the university.”
“It’s kind of crazy,” Elliott said. “It took me so long to finish, but I’m thankful for the honor.”
Elliott, 57, said earning his degree wouldn’t have been possible had he not been motivated to return to school by memories of his mother, who died in 2014 at 77 after a long illness, and Wildcats coaching legend Lute Olson, who died in 2020 at 85 after suffering a stroke.
Odiemae Lucas Elliott, a native of Holy Springs, Miss., worked as a critical-care nurse at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Tucson after attending Pima College and then graduating from the University of Arizona College of Nursing in 1977 on the GI Bill following service in the women’s Army Air Corps from 1951 to 1960.
She raised her sons — Sean and his brothers Noel and Bobby — as a single mother who stressed the importance of getting an education.
“I had made a promise to my mom, and I wish she’d been around to see it happen, but I know she would be proud of what I accomplished,” Elliott said. “I also did it for Coach O because he really emphasized education and I felt I owed it to him because he really wanted his guys to graduate.”
After averaging 22.3 points, 7.2 rebounds and 4.1 assists as a senior, Elliott won the John R. Wooden Award given annually to college basketball’s most outstanding player. It was quite an achievement, but he believes Olson would have been more impressed with the degree.
“He cared more about his guys getting an education than about them having basketball careers,” Elliott said.
Elliott said he was also inspired by other professional athletes who returned to college later in life to earn degrees. It’s a list that includes 39-year-old Spurs point guard Chris Paul, who graduated from Winston-Salem State in 2022 with a bachelor’s degree in mass communications after starring at Wake Forest from 2003-2005.
"I saw a few guys who went through their NBA careers and made the time to back and finish, and I’d always see that and say, ‘Well, when am I going to do it too?’ " Elliott said.
Elliott, who is in his 24th season as the Spurs’ TV analyst, said going back to school had been on his mind for a “long time” before he decided to do it during the pandemic. He often attended his online courses while sitting at the dining room table in the San Antonio home he shares with his wife, Claudia Zapata-Elliott.
“After COVID hit, I had a lot of downtime,” he said. "I talked about it, and (Claudia) said, ‘You have no excuses.’ I said, ‘No, I don’t have any excuses. I’ve got all this time on my hands. I might as well go back to school.’ "
Elliott said he had just nine classes to complete to earn a degree.
“I did a lot of studying at night, a lot of reading, a lot of writing,” he said. "But it was worth it. It was really fun. I had a great time. I’m somebody who’s a little nerdy. I love facts. I love to learn something new every day. I kind of walked away from it saying, ‘Hey, maybe college is for older people, that it’s not for kids because you appreciate the journey a whole lot more as an older student.’ "
Among the topics he studied: oceanography, Slavic folklore, film, Italian Renaissance, sociology of sport, psychology and health.
“I chose humanities because it deals with people and how you can help better the people around you,” he said.
Elliott retired from the NBA after the 2000-2001 season with per-game averages of 14.2 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.6 assists over 742 games (712 starts). As an All-Star in 1995-96, he averaged a career-high 20.0 points, 5.1 rebounds and 2.7 assists while shooting 41.1% from 3-point range on 5.1 attempts per game.
The third-leading scorer on the Spurs’ first championship team, which they won in 1999 during a 15-2 postseason run that included his “Memorial Day Miracle” game-winning 3-pointer in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals against Portland, Elliott is also known as the first professional athlete to return to his sport after a kidney transplant.
Now, his accomplishments — his greatest one, his mother and former coach would likely say — include a college degree.
"I can remember hitting send on the final paper and I just looked at Claudia and said, ‘I’m done, I’m done,’ " Elliott said. “And it was a great feeling, just incredibly fulfilling because it took me a long time. But I did the work and just wanted to cross that finish line.”
By Tom Orsborn, Staff writer, via San Antonio Express-News