| Allen Iverson was born on June 7th, 1975 in
Hampton, VA. He was the first child of Ann Iverson, who was 15 years old when Allen was born. Allen never saw his father during his childhood, and his stepfather Michael Freeman raised him with Ann until he was charged with drug dealing and went to jail for 45 months in 1988. Since then Allen had to be the man in the house and to take care of his 2 baby sisters while his mother was working. During Iverson's junior year at Bethel HS in Hampton, VA, he was the star quarterback of the state championship football team and the star point guard of the state championship basketball team. On February 14th, 1993, Iverson went to a bawling alley. An argue between some blacks and whites led to a brawl. Four of the fighters were charged, none of them were white. Even though Allen had no history, he was sentenced to 5 years in jail. He spent 4 months in jail till the governor of Virginia granted Iverson clemency. 2 years later, the Virginia court of appeals threw out Iverson's conviction, citing the misapplication of the anti-lynching statute Iverson had to graduate in order to go to a college, the last step before carrying out his dream - the NBA. He had study over the summer and graduated on September 2nd, 1994. Before the incident, Iverson wanted to join Maryland, where his childhood friend Joe Smith was playing. But when he got incarcerated he knew he would need a tough coach who is willing to look after him, John Thompson of Georgetown was Iverson choice. At Georgetown, Allen was named the Big East Rookie of the Year. As a sophomore he was named First Team All-America be the Associated Press. He led the Hoyas scorers in his 2 seasons. He was named the Big East Defensive Player of the Year in consecutive seasons. Iverson was picked 1st in the 1996 NBA Draft by the Philadelphia 76ers. He led the Sixers in scoring - 23.5 ppg, assists - 4.7 apg and steals - 3.35 spg. In his rookie season he scored 40 or more points in five consecutive games and hit a career-high 50 on April 12. He won the Rookie of the Year award. In his second season with the Sixers, Iverson led his team in scoring, assists, steals and minutes per game, averaging: 22, 6.2, 2.2 and 39.4. He improved his shooting accuracy from .416 in his rookie season to .461. In his 3rd season Iverson led the league in scoring (26.8 ppg) and ranked 3rd in steals (2.29 spg). He was named 1998-99 All-NBA First Team. Iverson and the Sixers finished 7th in the NBA Eastern Conference and went to the playoffs. In the 1st round they beat Orlando Magic with Iverson setting an NBA Playoffs-record - 10 steals in game 5. In the Eastern Conference Semifinals the Sixers were stopped by Indiana. biography written by HAGAI |
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