SILVER SPRING, Md. – Retired NBA star Adrian Dantley spent years guarding opponents on the court. Now he’s guarding schoolchildren as they cross the street.

Radio station WTOP (http://bit.ly/YlNvyo) reports that Dantley started working as a crossing guard in September. He works an hour a day at Eastern Middle School and New Hampshire Estates Elementary School in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Ths 6-foot-5 (1.96 metre) Dantley grew up in the area and says he took the job for the health care benefits and to have something to do. Montgomery County civil service records show he gets paid $14,685.50 a year. Dantley says he doesn’t need the money.

Dantley is a Basketball Hall of Fame member and former star for the Buffalo Braves, Utah Jazz and Detroit Pistons.

He says he enjoys encouraging the young children.