Former NBA star Elvin Hayes will earn...

Former NBA star Elvin Hayes will earn a degree in speech and recreation next month, 21 years after he enrolled in college.

“I feel that it’s the most important thing I’ve done in my whole life,” said Hayes, 40, a 12-time NBA All-Star, who played for the Washington Bullets and the Rockets’ franchise in Houston and San Diego.

In 1968, during his senior year at the University of Houston, Hayes dropped out of school to play in the NBA. Hayes said he was ashamed that he never got a college degree.