Samuel Jacinto was lucky.
Native introduced Cromwell to Gampel Pavilion for UConn’s commencement ceremony on Sunday with his friends. The row filled up in Gampel’s bleachers, so Jacinto collided and started to move to the next row down in Section 109.
The seat to his right was empty, and it was reserved, even after the parade was over when UConn legend and Basketball Hall of Famer Ray Allen snuck him in.
Allen, 47, was scheduled to get a bachelor’s degree in general studies and didn’t want to make a scene.
“Suddenly he sat next to me and I didn’t know what to say,” said Jacinto. “He sat down, I shook his hand and said, It is an honor, sir. I look up to you as much as anyone in this school, you are a legend.”
Basketball Hall of Famer Ray Allen will receive his Bachelor of General Studies (BGS) degree from the University of Connecticut this morning.
His reserved seat is located directly under his retired number 34 in the rafters. pic.twitter.com/NdlsK8zWb8
– Joe Arruda (@joearruda9) May 7, 2023
Allen, who was selected fifth overall in the 1996 NBA draft and began his legendary professional career after three seasons at UConn, responded that he was for him Honor to be seated among fellow students graduating Class of 2023.
“When I was in school, there were a couple of RAs 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 who helped me along the way to finish this job, and to be on this journey of graduating college. And you have to do it on your own, but it’s made up of a lot of people around you, so I didn’t want it to be about Bee and everyone else, you know. These kids are on their own solo journeys, so it inspired me to sit next to them and talk to them.”
Allen and Jacinto continued their conversation through most of the party as names kept being called. Jacinto asked where he was from (Allen had a home in Cromwell too), what his plans were for after graduation and offered some advice.
Jacinto, who earned his degree in economics on Sunday, already has a full-time job handling insurance claims in Hartford.
“He is the most genuine of men. I was able to talk to him like a friend,” said Jacinto.
“The kid sitting next to me, I told him to just travel. See the world. Let your mind keep learning.” Allen said, “Don’t let this be the last time you pick up a book and read it or try to further your understanding of life, because you have to keep kind of pouring it into yourself.” “.
When his name, Walter Ray Allen, was called, spectators at Gamble reacted as if he had just made a three-clutch pointer. He walked in, got his degree and gave a thumbs up to his family as they cheered on Section 105.
“It’s really hard to describe the feeling associated with it because he’s been after that for so long. You start out as a kid in grade school and you’re just on this journey your whole life of trying 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 unturned so that I could graduate.”
Allen started taking lessons again sometime in 2008 after winning his first two NBA championships, that first as a member of the Boston Celtics. He took one class each semester while he was still an active NBA player, eventually increasing the number to two.
When COVID-19 shut down the world, Allen hit the books.
“It was one of the best things that ever happened to me,” he said, “because it kept me with a purpose every day, and it kept me with an intention.”
Allen enjoyed all his textbooks, they taught him a lot, but computers were hard work. His children helped him with this, teaching him what the function keys are and how to enter attachments.
His daughter Tierra, who played volleyball at Quinnipiac, was the first in the family to graduate.
Ray Allen, UConn Class of 2023 Graduate: pic.twitter.com/8funk8cKPh
– Joe Arruda (@joearruda9) May 7, 2023
When she received her degree, Allen said, “That fire kept me burning inside my stomach to make sure I carried on with this mission and I didn’t lose sight of it, because you became so apathetic about it and it didn’t matter.” And then you make up reasons why you would never do it, why it doesn’t matter. For me, I just wanted to make sure I kept it in the background of my mind, so hopefully one day, when things work out – that’s what happened.
She inspired me because I saw her graduate and now my kids are seeing me graduate, my son is 18, and he’s about to graduate high school and move on to college. Even now they will remember these moments forever. They were in this building when my shirt was retired. So this building, not only means that it is athletic, but also symbolizes the academic.”
Allen’s seat, whether planned or not, was directly under his Number 34 hanging from the rafters. He remains the only UConn men’s basketball player to be retired through the program.
To his left, Jacinto was over the moon.
When the day began, he was looking forward to graduating, earning his degree, but, like many others in their early twenties, there was a part of Jacinto that just wanted to get it. By the time he met his family outside for the photo shoot, Jacinto said, “sitting next to Ray Allen was better than my college experience.”
Sure, there may have been some exaggeration. Jacinto told Allen that he appreciated the friends he made and the whole experience, especially the time he spent in Houston where he sat in the student section when UConn won the national championship in April.
Then he asked about Allen’s favorite college memory.
He was like, ‘You thought I’d say basketball, but besides all that, having the little things,’ like being with his friends in the dorms, his apartment, just hanging out with his friends. Then he said, ‘In 20 years, you’ll get to where I am. It now, looking back, will cherish it,” said Jacinto.
“Being able to talk to him about the little things and give me advice about whatever we’re talking about, it’s not just like moving in and out. He was just telling me about my college experience. It’s like, ‘Look at those little things and cherish them forever.'”