anfernee hardaway

anfernee

Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway was born July 18, 1972 in Memphis, Tennessee. He got the name Anfernee because his mom couldn't say Anthony and the doctor wrote down Anfernee when he asked Anfernee's mom her baby's name. His mom had to work long hours so he was raised by his grandma until high school. He got the nickname "Penny" from his grandma because she said that he looked like a penny when she looked down at him playing on the floor. His dad taught him about basketball as a child.

Penny started playing basketball on the playgrounds of Memphis. It was a rough and tough world with a lot of rough and tough people. On the playground he once saw a player get hacked (a hard foul on purpose)and use a rifle to go after the guy who fouled him. He survived the playground to become the leading scorer at Treadwell High School in Memphis. He was named Mr. Tennessee Basketball his senior year of high school.

Penny went to college at Memphis State. He did not escape the violence of the street. In his freshman year he was robbed at gunpoint and then shot. He hopes that kids of the present generation have it easier than he did. Looking back on that time Penny once said, "I'm thankful I never got into any serious trouble. If I had participated in some of the things that I saw, I might not be where I am today." The influence of the street and the pressure to do drugs and other bad things could have destroyed his dream of playing basketball, but he is such a good and strong person that he was able to stay true to himself and his dream.

Penny Hardaway was benched his freshman year to become academically eligible to play basketball. He was able to get a 3.4 grade point average by the end of college because basketball made him want to learn. Even in college, at 6'7" Penny was so polished on the court and he had so many different skills that he was compared to Magic Johnson. Twice he was player of the year in the great Midwestern Conference and in his junior year he was picked All-American. He also held the single season record for points by scoring 729 points in one season.

He met Magic Johnson for the first time when he was chosen to play in scrimmage games with the Dream Team (the American Olympic Team) before the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. Magic Johnson said, "watching him is like looking in a mirror."