Amar’e Stoudemire is heading into law enforcement. The Hall of Fame forward graduated this week from the Basic Law Enforcement Academy at Miami Dade College’s School of Justice and is set to begin work with the Miami-Dade Schools Police Department. At 43, the former Phoenix Suns and New York Knicks star is starting a second career far from the hardwood. The college posted photos on X of the 6-foot-10 graduate with classmates and instructors. Stoudemire did not leave as an ordinary cadet, either. The school also handed the forward a special award. His new beat is the county’s school police force, where the college expects a positive influence on younger people. Stoudemire last played in the NBA in 2016. Since then, he has won titles in Israel, worked as a Brooklyn Nets development assistant, and launched a wine label.
How did Amar’e Stoudemire go from Knicks star to police officer?
Amar’e Stoudemire finished his police training through the Miami Dade College School of Justice and graduated with the academy’s latest class of cadets. Next comes a job as an officer with the Miami-Dade Schools Police Department.The school gave Stoudemire the Harry “Coach” Everett Award for his contributions to the success of the academy program during training. The same statement called the move more than a second career. Becoming a police officer was “a childhood dream,” the college said, inspired in part by relatives who served in law enforcement. The plan is to give back to the community and be a positive influence on the next generation.Stoudemire earned more than $165 million across 14 NBA seasons, so he does not need the work. He told Sports Illustrated why he wanted it anyway. It is “a real job” where the first priority is to protect and serve the community. He also pointed to two people from his past, a junior varsity coach and a favorite uncle. Both worked in law enforcement, and both steered him in the right direction.The road to the academy took some turns. Stoudemire announced his NBA retirement in July 2016 and kept playing overseas. He helped Hapoel Jerusalem win the Israeli league title in 2017. A return to that club in 2018 led to a short stint in China in 2019, where he averaged 19.3 points in 11 games. Then came Maccabi Tel Aviv, a second championship in 2020 and Finals MVP honors. The Brooklyn Nets hired him as a player development assistant that October, and he announced in May 2022 that he would not return for the next season. He also holds a significant share of Hapoel Jerusalem and has a wine label.His last NBA stop was Miami. Stoudemire appeared in 52 games for the Heat in 2015-16, so the badge brings the former big man back to South Florida.
Amar’e Stoudemire’s NBA legacy
Few players have made an impact as fast as Stoudemire did. The Suns took him ninth overall in 2002 straight out of high school, and he was the only prep player picked in the first round. He averaged 13.5 points and 8.8 rebounds as a rookie, won Rookie of the Year, and became the first player drafted out of high school to take the award. A 38-point game that December stood as the best total by a prep-to-pro player until LeBron James passed it a year later.The peak came next to Steve Nash. In 2004-05, Stoudemire averaged 26 points, scored a career-high 50 against Portland and made his first All-Star team. He then put up 37 points a game against San Antonio in the Western Conference Finals, though the Suns lost in five. Microfracture surgery wiped out almost all of 2005-06. He came back to make the All-NBA first team in 2007.New York signed the forward in 2010 for an estimated $99.7 million, and he answered with 25.3 points a night. He became the first Knicks player to start an All-Star Game since Patrick Ewing and set a franchise record with nine straight 30-point games. Knee and back problems cut into the next four seasons. The Knicks bought out his contract in February 2015, and he finished with Dallas and Miami.The totals are 18.9 points and 7.8 rebounds over 846 games, six All-Star picks, five All-NBA picks, and a 2004 Olympic bronze medal. The Suns retired his No. 32 and added him to their Ring of Honor in March 2024. This year he joined the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
Where did Amar’e Stoudemire grow up and who shaped him?
Stoudemire was born on Nov. 16, 1982, in Lake Wales, Florida, about an hour from Orlando. Basketball came late. He did not play organized ball until he was 14. Football came first, and his father coached him in Pop Warner. Stoudemire pictured himself as a star receiver at Miami, Florida, or Florida State, and he grew up rooting for Shaquille O’Neal and the Orlando Magic.Stoudemire’s childhood was not stable. He moved between Florida and upstate New York, living in Newburgh for about five months in 1994 before settling in Port Jervis until 1998. Adults outside the household filled gaps along the way. He sometimes stayed with a local police officer, lived with his AAU coach and spent time with a minister.His high school path was just as scattered. He started at Lake Wales High, where academic ineligibility ended his freshman season, then went to Mount Zion Christian Academy in Durham, North Carolina. Midway through that year, Mount Zion’s coach started Emmanuel Christian Academy in an office building basement and took the team with him. The school folded before playing a game. A year at West Orange High in Winter Garden passed without a game because of eligibility problems tied to his transcripts. He landed at Cypress Creek High in Orlando and graduated in 2002. The moves cost him his junior season, so he played only two full years of high school basketball.Two seasons were enough. As a senior, he averaged 29.1 points, 15 rebounds, 6.1 blocks and 2.1 steals. He was named Florida’s Mr. Basketball, the Orlando Sentinel’s state player of the year and a USA Today first-team All-American. He played in the 2002 McDonald’s All-American Game at Madison Square Garden alongside future Knicks teammates Carmelo Anthony and Raymond Felton. Scout.com ranked him the top player in the country. He committed to Memphis, then backed out and entered the draft.
