Many admirable educators were once professional athletes. This is true of former NBA basketball player Pete Chilcutt, who later became a sixth-grade math and science teacher at Folsom Middle School in Folsom, California.

Peter Shawn Chilcutt was born on September 14, 1968, in Sumter, South Carolina. His stepfather was a professor at the University of Alabama, and his mother was a school teacher, too. Pete was raised in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where he attended Tuscaloosa Academy. He was actively recruited by a number of schools, ultimately deciding on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he had won a scholarship. After he graduated, he was selected by the Sacramento Kings in the first round of the NBA Draft in 1991.

At 6’10” and 245 pounds, Pete played the position of forward for seven different teams over a professional career that spanned from 1991 to 2000. He won an NBA Championship in the 1994-1995 season with the Houston Rockets, where he played from 1994-1996. He also played for the Detroit Pistons, the Vancouver Grizzlies, the Los Angeles Clippers, the Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Utah Jazz. His achievements are particularly amazing when one considers this amazing athlete was born with only one kidney.