Allen Iverson

My hero is Allen Iverson because he is my idol. I've been watching him since he was in Georgetown University. He is like the only person that would tell you that he loves his mother on TV. Allen grew up in the projects as the son of a 15-year old single mother. Their house in Hampton, Virginia lay on top of the city's sewers. Whenever they burst, the floor would be coated with sewage so Iverson said to his mother that he is going to get them out of there. He did what i am trying to do when i get out of high school. He has 3 state championships in basketball & Football. He is like the only person to lead his high school football & basketball to state championships 3 times in a row. He also got MVP in both of those sports 2 times.

Allen Iverson has some of the most heart that I've ever seen in my whole life. When he was young he didn't even want to play basketball he was more of a football player. He came home from football practice and his momma told him to put some athletic shorts on and get ready for basketball practice. He got there and was one of the best players they had. He didn't even know he could play like that until he tried. Then he got to high school and lead his basketball and football team to the state championship game. He didn't know what he wanted to do so he had to make a decision on whether he was going to college to play footbal or to play basketball.

Then one day he went out with his friends to a local bowling alley. While he was there he and some guys got into it over some girl Iverson was talking to so then she told who she was with that Iverson tried to hit on her. The guy went over to Iverson and they started arguing and then a punch was thrown and a brawl broke out. Iverson says that he didn't have anything to do with it. The police arrested him and his friends and took them downtown and when they got there they let Iverson's friends go and made him stay. Next thing you know he was charged with assault and, potentially, 5 years in prison. But Virgina's very first black Governor, Doug Wilder, granted him conditional release after four months behind bars.

When he went to jail he had every college looking at him so he could come and play for them. But as soon as they heard that he went to jail all their minds changed. Iverson wasn't happy with himself but he thought that he deserved a second chance so he kept his head up and talked to a few coaches and Georgetown's coach took him in like his own son. He wouldn't let anybody get close to Iverson or any media or press get close to him and Iverson had 2 blow up years at Georgetown and he entered the 1997 draft having high hopes and was the first overall pick. The Philadelphia 76ers picked him up looking past what he did back then hoping he could lead this team. In his rookie year in the NBA he got the rookie of the year award. And he took his team to the playoffs for the first time in 2 years.

I want to thank everyone for reading about my hero and I hope that your hero is an inspiration to you like my hero is. I know you think that with all the stuff you heard about him going to jail that you would say, "Well, how can he be your hero?" He wasn't one of those people that would just give up on their career at a young age he kept pushing for success. Allen Iverson is one person that I would love to meet one day and I hope that I can get that chance. If I could talk to him I would ask him about when he was young, how did he make it through all the pain and hate that was towards him.