May 05. 2006 6:01AM
His basketball career was winding down when he came up with the idea. A torn Achilles pushed it into overdrive.
Today, Dan Cross is trying to help a group of people who many assume need no help - former athletes struggling to find a way to assimilate in society.
"It's not some experiment," Cross said. "It's life. I'm just trying to help a lot of people."
Cross is in the middle of his own experience of dealing with a new world. After starring at Florida and leading the 1994 Gator team to the Final Four, he has played some professional basketball, most recently in Israel where he suffered the injury.