N.Y. Undersheriff Earns Degree: 'Hopefully I'll Inspire Somebody'

Passino, 48, and TCGplayer founder Chedy Hampson, 51, are among more than 300 students who were eligible to walk across Onondaga Community College’s graduation stage with a newly earned degree Tuesday night.

For both men, earning a degree has been a decades-long process. They both started school in the 1990s but life got in the way, preventing each from following a traditional college path.

Passino graduated from Liverpool High School in 1996 and went to OCC part-time while working. At the time, he was balancing school, a full-time job and his family.

When the sheriff’s department recruited him to work in the custody division at the county jail in 2000, Passino quit school.

“I left OCC to pursue (police work) due to the county retirement and the insurance benefits, and obviously for my wife and my daughter,” Passino said.

During his time at the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office, he went through the police academy and rose through the ranks. Passino worked as a patrol officer, a narcotics investigator and a detective for major crimes during his career.

Passino retired briefly before Sheriff Toby Shelley asked him to return as undersheriff.

Since leaving more than 20 years ago, Passino tried to take classes at OCC but his schedule made it difficult.

“Between swing shift and overtime and things of that nature, I was never able to accomplish (my degree),” Passino said. “I did sign up twice.”

Several years ago, Passino decided he was at a place where he could finish school. He let his team know he would have to take a step back from work after hours while he completed his final credits.

Passino took one class per semester, completing an English class, a statistics class, a diversity and culture class and two electives. Often he would head straight from work to class, still wearing his police uniform. In one class, this confused his peers who did not realize he was a student until he gave a class presentation.

“One of (the students) raises her hand and goes, ‘Wait a minute. You’re actually taking this class? I thought you were just here protecting us,’” Passino said.

Since the announcement of Passino’s graduation, three officers have come to him saying they want to return to school but are not sure how.

“Hopefully I’ll inspire somebody else to do the same thing,” Passino said.

TCGplayer founder Hampson also received his associate’s degree after taking breaks from school. While Hampson did not formally return to OCC, he had enough credits from his time spent at Mansfield University, Monroe Community College and OCC for a two-year degree, according to OCC. Hampson was unavailable for an interview.

Hampson attended Mansfield University on a basketball scholarship until he injured himself and had to end his athletic career. From there he spent time at MCC and OCC. While at OCC, his love for Magic: The Gathering inspired him to start TCGplayer, a trading card game online platform.

When TCGplayer took off, Hampson left school to build his company. The company grew to nearly 700 employees when eBay bought the company for $295 million in 2022. eBay shut down the Syracuse office earlier this year.

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