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- FRIENDZ TILL' THE END - |
One
time Allen came home from school, his good friend Andre Steele
showed Allen his beeper. He could only keep 16 messages on his
beeper at a time, and Allen's mom's phone number was up there
on his beeper 16 times. That's how much he meant to her while
Allen was gone. [College prep and college] Sitting in jail in
the spring of 1993, he was justifiably worried about his prospects.
Although extremely bright, Iverson was never a good student and
was falling behind in school. The notoriety didn't help. "I'm
sure some colleges will stay away," Iverson said from his
cell. "But it'll work out. This has given me time to think
about what I need to do to succeed in the world." Iverson
has made a name for himself the previous summer. At the Nike Camp
in Indianapolis, and at four others, he earned the MVP trophy
as a member of Bo Williams' team. In fact, Nike continued treating
him as a celebrity during the trial, sending an extra set of plane
tickets so that Iverson would not miss any camp activities while
the trial was in progress. (Prosecutors used this special privilege
to urge jurors to Just Do It to Iverson and Nike, which they did.)
"He's almost an overnight sensation," said Williams,
who also coached NBA stars Alonzo Mourning and JR Reid on his
team.
"With Alonzo and JR everyone knew they were going to be great,
so they could slowly be prepared for the pressures they were going
to face. With Allen, it happened so quickly that there was almost
no time to prepare him." Throughout the trial, college coaches
were still interested. "Unless he's behind bars, we're recruiting
him," said George Washington assistant coach Eddie Meyers.
"It's as simple as that." Allen's mom felt he needed
a strong coach to help him if he got out of the situation he was
in. And Coach Thompson at Georgetown seemed like the perfect coach
for it. And she went up there and talked to him, and asked him,
would he take Allen under his wing, and he said yeah. And that's
why he ended up going to Georgetown.
The football program wasn't too big at Georgetown, so it was basketball
from then on. Allen once asked coach John Thompson: "What
you think about me playing football?" And he didn't answer.
He just looked at Allen like he was crazy, so Allen never thought
about playing football again after that day.
While
sitting in jail, he lost a scholarship offer from Kentucky. I'm
sure that if Allen had ended up at Kentucky he wouldn't have been
the same player, the same person he is now. And in the end John
Thompson and Georgetown seemed the best bet, since the coach is
renowed for taking risks and giving urban kids with troubled pasts
a shot at division one basketball. 'Cause instead of giving up
basketball, Allen went to Georgetown, the prestigious catholic
school that has found it's position in the projects. There he
found what he had been searching for his whole life. A father.
Coach John Thompson took care of Iverson who needed a protective
coach who could give him advice. After two great years at Georgetown,
Allen left "dad" and announced himself eligable for
the NBA draft. He probably did this to get his family out of the
projects before it was too late. Iverson says: "If I can
leave this planet knowing that my friends and family are alright,
that's good enough for me. That's all I need to know." The
rest of the story remains to be seen. -----
Taken
from AI PLATINUM ...BIG SHOUT-OUT!!!!
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