Ron Harper picked up plenty of titles in his playing days. This winter he added a new one: doctor. Miami University conferred an honorary doctorate on its most decorated men's basketball alum on January 31, celebrating a life that has kept giving back to the game and the communities that raised him.
The ceremony had been in the works for months - an earlier date was postponed when Harper was overseas on ambassador duties for the NBA - and the wait only made the moment sweeter for the Dayton, Ohio native who first made his name on courts a short drive from campus.
Harper's ties to southwest Ohio have never loosened. He has stayed involved in youth basketball and community outreach in the Dayton area for years, and he speaks often about the coaches and teachers who steered a kid with a stutter and a huge vertical leap toward believing in himself.
That story - from Kiser High School in Dayton, to stardom in Oxford, to five NBA championships - is now stamped with the university's highest honor. For the students in attendance, the message was bigger than basketball: where you start does not cap where you finish.
Harper called the degree one of the proudest honors of his life, and Oxford will see him again soon - his Athletics Hall of Fame induction dinner is set for the fall.