The year 1994 was a good year in pop culture. Films like “The Lion King” premiered, the television show “Living Single” was in season two, the original PlayStation launched, and Notorious B.I.G. had the radio waves slammed with his hit single, “Juicy.” Needless to say, there was no void in cultural moments. The world of sports was no different. Emmitt Smith helped lead the Dallas Cowboys to a Super Bowl Championship, Hakeem Olajuwon and the Houston Rockets won the NBA Finals, and a young shooting guard from Michigan named Jalen Rose entered the National Basketball League (NBA).

Rose is a Detroit, MI, native and former star of the University of Michigan’s basketball team and a part of a sports super group known as the “Fab Five.” The quintet consisted of Chris Webber, Juwan Howard, Ray Jackson, Jimmy King, and Jalen Rose. Known for their baggy shorts, black socks, and black shoes, they were a part of the first team in NCAA history to make it to the Final Four with a starting lineup of all freshmen players.

And even though Rose experienced much success on the court, the people and place he left back home were not having the same sort of joy. In fact, during an interview with Troy Millings and Rashad Bilal on the Earn Your Leisure podcast, Rose recalls one of those time times from his family.

“We were in his [Steve Fisher] office one time. I was having a bad day, you know. I was frowning. And he was like, ‘Jalen, what’s wrong?’ I was like, my mother lights got cut off. That’s what’s wrong. Like, I need to get my Pell grant money. I need an advance. I need to do something,” Rose said during the interview.

Those days in college were the foundation of his success today. According to Celebrity Net Worth, Jalen Rose has built a $50 million net worth — a far cry from those humble beginnings.

When Rose was in that office contemplating his next move, he began running down the list of hustles he could tap into to make extra money for himself and his family. He knew he had to make something happen.

“Because if you’re poor at home in Detroit, and now you got an apartment in Ann Arbor – that’s two separate places that need the bills to get paid when we couldn’t pay the bills at the first spot,” Rose explained.

The 49-year-old would leave the University of Michigan to become a first-round draft pick to the Denver Nuggets in a contract worth over $10 million over six years. That contract would eventually be bought out via trade to the Indiana Pacers, where he signed a $93 million contract over seven years, according to Spotrac.

Rose retired from basketball in 2007 but did not leave the sport altogether. Today, he can be seen across television screens as an on-air sports analyst for ABC and ESPN.

As previously reported by AfroTech, Jalen Rose teamed up with the New York Post to launch a multi-platform content program, The Renaissance Man. The platform was built to highlight Rose’s vast talents and perspectives related to sports, entertainment, education, fashion, entrepreneurship, technology, food, healthy living, travel, and more.