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Maryland Newsline Tuesday, March 5, 2002 Tom McMillen keeps evolving. He's gone from college and professional basketball player to Rhodes scholar to congressman. Now he’s a venture capitalist entrepreneur. He has bought and sold roughly 10 businesses since he retired from the NBA, including cell phone and motorcycle companies, he says. But now he works primarily in merchant banking. He is the chairman of Washington Capital Advisors, a financial and advisory services firm based in Landover, Md., that focuses on the government contractor marketplace. Because of his work across the country, he still travels a lot and works every day, including most weekends. But he calls Southeast Washington home. The 49-year-old played 11 years in the NBA with Buffalo, Atlanta, New York and Washington. The difference between playing collegiate ball (he was with the Terps from 1972-74) and professional is that "the [college] game is more spirited," the former forward says. At Maryland, McMillen was a pre-med student and valedictorian. He later completed a master's degree in politics, philosophy and economics at England's Oxford University. After a year of full-time study there, he joined the NBA and completed his studies by taking classes in the summers. He says he pushed himself because he wanted to be the first Rhodes scholar from the University of Maryland. During his final season playing professional ball in Washington, McMillen ran for Congress in Maryland's 4th District. He served three terms and then lost his seat in 1992 after the district boundaries were redrawn. The 6-foot-11-inch former Olympian considers the possibility of going back to politics, but says for now still loves the challenge of building companies. As for other plans, the single-but-with-girlfriend McMillen says he would like to "have kids one of these days who will be good basketball players." His favorite Cole memory came at the end of his last game against Virginia in 1974, when the fans lifted him and Len Elmore on their shoulders and carried them around. "It was such a poignant moment that still follows me," he says.
Copyright ©
2002 University
of Maryland College of Journalism
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