Meet Antoine Walker. He was a two-time all-American at the University of Kentucky under Rick Pitino, and started on the Wildcats 1996 National Championship team as a sophomore. Walker was a three-time NBA All-Star, while scoring over 15,000 points throughout the course of his 12-year NBA career. He was a dangerous perimeter threat with unlimited range on his jump shot. At 6-8, 245 pounds, he had the body of a power forward, and the handles of a point guard. He was a rare talent.

Due to his unique skill set, Antoine Walker was, at one point, one of the NBA's highest-paid players. In his 12 NBA seasons, Walker signed contracts worth an estimated $110 million. He also received endorsements from Adidas and was the cover boy for EA Sport's NBA Live 1999, a widely popular basketball video game.

Now, just one year removed from his NBA playing days, Antoine Walker is flat broke. Actually, its worse than that. Recently, news surfaced that Walker was arrested at Harrah's Casino in Las Vegas, and charged with writing 10 bad checks totaling just south of $1 million in casino markers.

In the days following his arrest, the Boston Globe reported (He was a Celtic for eight seasons) that Walker is being pursued by multiple financial institutions for unpaid debts totaling more than $4 million. Court documents filed in Illinois and Florida reveal that Antoine was named a defendant in three recent debt-related civil cases, in addition to the ongoing check-kiting case. His former agent is also after him, citing a heap of unpaid fees.

So how in the name of bling does somebody blow through a total of $110 million to the point where they can't even cover casino markers? How does one go from $110 million in the black to $4 million in the red, just one year after retiring from basketball?

Walker is not the first professional athlete to have wasted away what should have been enough money to last 10 lifetimes. Nor shall he be the last. In fact, Walker joins a very long and prestigious list of once filthy rich pro athletes who squandered away their fortunes.

To understand why this continuously occurs, and perhaps learn some lessons along the way, let's take a look at some of our favorite "Professional Athletes Gone Broke" and see if we can get to the root of the problem.

Lesson No. 1 » Become a Trojan Man.

Case in point » 4-time Heavyweight Champ, Evander Holyfield.

Holyfield earned an estimated $250 million during the course of his long and prestigious boxing career. Building a 54,000 square foot estate in suburban Atlanta and paying cash for most everything didn't help his financial well-being, but fathering 11 children from eight different women is what eventually did the defending champ in. The government recently foreclosed on his home, and Holyfield was forced to get back into the ring in an attempt to make good on his monthly child support.

Honorable mentions » Former Bronco Travis Henry (nine kids, nine baby mammas) former Spur Willie Anderson (nine kids, nine baby mammas) and former Sonic Sean Kemp (seven kids, six baby mammas).

Lesson No. 2 » Buy fewer cars

Case in point» Four-time Major League Baseball All-Star Jack "The Ripper" Clark

I'm not saying don't buy cars, I'm just saying buy less. Jack Clark, who made an estimated $20 million over the course of his baseball career, filed for bankruptcy in 1992, listing debts of close to $12 million. At the time, Clark was the proud owner of 18 automobiles, including a 1990 Ferrari that cost $717,000 and three 1992 Mercedes Benz cars costing between $103,000 and $143,000. When he filed for chapter 11, Clark still owed money on 17 of the automobiles.

Honorable mention» Former NBA All-Star Kenny Anderson (10 cars averaging $125,000 in value).

Lesson No. 3 » Leave your homeboys at home

Case in point » NFL Quarterback Michael Vick

As recent as three years ago, Vick was listed by Forbes as one of the world's richest athletes. He signed the most lucrative deal in NFL history, and was the beneficiary of dozens of endorsements. It was estimated he was worth close to $140 million. Throughout the course of his career, Vick hired several of his childhood friends to perform various tasks, and look after his estates. One of these estates is now infamously known as "Bad Newz Kennels," the dog fighting operation that landed Vick in prison for two years and saw his once-affluent lifestyle waste away to debts totaling close to $50 million.

Honorable mention » The aforementioned Antoine Walker. He is said to be supporting as many as 70 family members and friends.

Lesson No. 4 » Drugs are bad, mmmkay.

Case in point » Former Giant Linebacker Lawrence Taylor

"LT" was one of, if not the, greatest players ever to play the game. But after his retirement, an estimated $50 million in career earnings were squandered on drugs, booze and women. Cocaine was LT's weapon on choice, as he was jailed at least three times for crack possession. After filing for bankruptcy in 1998, Taylor found sobriety, and football hall of fame awarded him with a well-deserved induction. But addiction was the main catalyst in the dissolution of his millions.

Honorable mention » Bjorn Borg. The former tennis great was busted for cocaine possession, overdosed in what was rumored to be a suicide attempt, and spent millions to support his egregious habit.

Lesson No. 5 » When investing, seek the advice of, oh I don't know, an actual licensed financial adviser?

Case in point » Former football great Raghib "The Rocket" Ismail

Instead of focusing on private equity or allocating small portions of money to low-risk quality stocks, many athletes invest large sums of money in terrible idea, high-profile ventures with little or no business acumen or infrastructure. "The Rocket's" bad investment list tops them all. Among the investments that saw $25 million go directly into the toilet: financing a religious movie, opening a Rock 'n' Roll Café, financing a record label (COZ Records), starting a cosmetics company, and lastly, backing a chain of framed calligraphy-name shops.

Honorable mention (there could be several named here) » Hall of Fame pitcher Rollie Fingers. Investments in pistachio farms, Arabian horses and wind turbines were his down fall, as Fingers lost nearly $20 million.

Sadly, this is just a thumbnail sketch of the dozens of examples of professional athletes who are a victims of their own poor decision making en route to throwing away fortunes that could literally feed small countries. At the end of the day, the onus is on the athletes themselves, no doubt. But the players unions and sanctioned leagues need to do more to ensure that once the paying days are over, these people (yes, they are people) have the ability and the tools to live the rest of their lives in manageable fashion. Until these athletes learn to control their frivolous spending, and the leagues stop viewing them as nothing more than a momentary meal ticket to boost ratings and revenue, we will continue to see more and more cases like the ones mentioned above.

Spencer Checketts is a sports commentator for KALL 700 Sports. Reach him at spencer@kall700sports.com.