Today is the day TJ Ford becomes a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin. That’s a pretty great story in and of itself and this first person Players Tribune article will tell you some more.

Check it out and send some congrats to TJ Ford and his family, they are a very closely-knit team.

“I Can’t Feel My Body”

The first time I was paralyzed was during a pickup game.

I was a sophomore at the University of Texas, and it was the same week that I had hired an agent and declared for the 2003 NBA draft.

This wasn’t an ordinary pickup game. Some Longhorn football players were playing against a few of the guys on the basketball team. This was when we were coming off of our first Final Four appearance in 56 years and the football team was one of the best in the country. I’m not exaggerating when I tell you that all 4,000 seats in Gregory Gym were full — and then some. It was a crazy-loud atmosphere. Vince Young and Roy Williams were on the floor. It was legit.