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J.R. Smith pens letter to 9-year-old self after college graduation
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- J.R. Smith pens letter to 9-year-old self after college graduation
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Former NBA standout J.R. Smith recently graduated from North Carolina A&T . Smith walked across the stage on Saturday and, in a recent post on Instagram, wrote a letter to his nine-year-old self. The letter touches on dealing with the death of his grandmother at the age of nine in 1994, and the success he went on to accrue years later—including playing in the NBA and graduating from college.
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The full letter is below.
“Dear Earl, 9yr ‘94
How you doing, kid? You feeling okay? Heard you lost your grandmother just a few days after your birthday this year. Man, I’m really sorry. That must be really hard. Were you two really close?
Things sometimes have no way of making sense, and most of the time it involves the hardships of losing someone so special. I’m really sorry you have to feel that pain.
I can only imagine it’s only been harder in school feeling all of this pain. How’s school? It’s hard to focus, I’m sure, when you haven’t developed the tools to learn how to express yourself. You’re 9 years old. Give yourself some grace, kid.
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Being in special education isn’t a death sentence – you just struggle in other areas of life than some kids. If I gave you a basketball and made these kids play you one-on-one, could they beat you? We all have different abilities, some athletic, some academic. Don’t be discouraged!
You’re going to win so many games and have even more losses in this life, but how you show up for yourself is going to determine how you can show up for others. Lots of people are going to depend on you one day. Be the most well-rounded person you can be. A utility man who is never defined by a role.
And one more thing, kid — 31 years from now, you’ll have played 16 years in the NBA, won 2 championships, but most importantly, be a college graduate. Don’t let anybody make you believe you aren’t capable of more.
Much love,
Earl, 40 ‘26
B.A. Liberal Arts (African American Culture)”
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Smith began his HBCU journey at North Carolina A&T in 2021. He enrolled as a student-athlete, joining the Aggie golf team. His journey as a student-athlete was briefly featured in the Amazon Prime documentary, Redefined: J.R. Smith , produced by former teammate LeBron James and Maverick Carter through their media company, Uninterrupted.
In comments obtained by ESPN following his graduation, he detailed ambitions to get into athletic leadership at the collegiate level, particularly at North Carolina A&T. He expressed that his goal is to be North Carolina A&T’s athletic director.
“I feel like I got a lot of knowledge in the games or in the sports and how to build really good teams,” Smith said. “I want to see the youth graduate. I want to see these young kids prosper and be amazing people. I think there’s so many intelligent minds there.”
Smith also expressed a desire to continue his learning journey.
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“I want to continuously get better at understanding and being a person of higher intellect.”
Related: 85-year-old graduates with doctorate from HBCU
Related: Seven students named valedictorian at Spelman College
