It all started when Jamal Mashburn began taking the subway to grammar school in New York City.
His mother, Helen, decided it was best he commuted about an hour from their rough neighborhood in Harlem so he could attend a downtown Catholic institution.
“When I got on that train, I’d see people, men and women, carrying briefcases,” Mashburn said. “I was always curious of what was in that briefcase. That’s when the dream started.”
Fourteen years after playing his final NBA game, Mashburn is carrying a briefcase of his own. Since retiring in 2004, he has become one of the league’s best life-after-basketball stories.