Allen Iverson's Rough Road to the NBA

On June 7, 1975 in Hampton, Virginia, a fifteen year old Ann Iverson gave birth to one of the most skillful players to ever step foot on a basketball court. 

Allen Ezail Iverson never had much contact with his father Allen Broughton, and was bought up and taught the game of basketball by a family friend Michael Freeman, who ended moving in with the family when Iverson was young.

Despite being the person to teach Iverson how to play basketball, Freeman was not the greatest role model for a young boy. Freeman spent extended periods of time in jail for distributing illegal drugs; this was his way of getting money for the family after a work-related accident caused him to lose his job. 

Iverson barely got through school, but did well enough to play the sport he loved first, football. He was the quarterback at Bethel High school. Nicknamed Bubbachuck, Iverson led the team to the state Class AAA football title in 1992. He was encouraged to play basketball by his mother, and the game soon replaced football as his favourite sport.

When asked what he wanted to do after he left school, Iverson often referred to “the Plan”. The plan was to make it through high school, go to college and earn a place in the NBA. 

The plan almost ended on February 14, 1993. Iverson and a group of his friends were involved in an altercation which led to all of them being arrested. Iverson allegedly hit a woman over the head with a chair; he maintains his innocence saying he left as soon as the trouble began. 

Living in the poverty-stricken neighbourhood of Hampton was hell for Iverson. Times when his mother couldn’t afford to pay the bills meant the family would go without water, lights and heat. On one occasion, a sewer line ruptured beneath his house and filled the house with a noxious smell and sometimes the sewer would seep onto the floor. 

As if things at home and school weren’t bad enough, Iverson couldn’t get away from the pain and suffering, even when hanging out with his friends. During his youth eight of Iverson’s friends were murdered, this included his best friend. 

Despite everything that happened to Iverson early on in his childhood, he stuck to “the Plan” and has become a basketball icon, and is someone all youngsters can look up to and admire.