He apologized for his actions at the hearing this week and said that at the time of the incident he believed there was a conspiracy by school administrators to kick him out of the school district.
Losing his coaching position, plus a condition of debilitating diabetes and arthritis that caused him to retire from teaching in 2000, led him to steal the money, he said.
"I've spent my life dedicated to doing something I love and cherish," Hamey testified. "I fell into feeling the way I had counseled so many of my students against feeling. I would counsel them on not putting all their value of being into being a basketball player. Well, it ended up, I put all of my self-worth into coaching."
Hamey, 55, pleaded guilty to third-degree theft, a class A misdemeanor, which is punishable by up to one year in jail and a $10,000 fine.
His probation conditions include 150 hours of community service and anger-management, obsessive-compulsive and psychological counseling.
He has already returned the money.
-- The Juneau Empire
We encourage you to add your comments. To prevent spam, comments with links are manually approved during the normal business day. Please be respectful of others with your comments, bear in mind anyone in the community may be reading your comments.
