A Tale of Two Unique Athletes: Iverson and Terrell Owens
It was 15 -20 years ago that I wrote a musing on Allen Iverson. Like T.O., Iverson was an intriguing sort of chap. Both were raised in poor communities. Iverson attended Bethel High School in Hampton, Virginia, and was a dual-sport athlete. He earned the Associated Press High School Player of the Year award in both football and basketball, and won the Division AAA Virginia state championship in both sports. Terrell Owens was born in Alexander City, Alabama. Allen Iverson was a genetically gifted athlete and was a star athlete from junior high on. Terrell Owens was hardly a genetically gifted athlete and wasn’t even a starter in high school or most of college. He was drafted 82nd in the third round of the NFL draft. Allen Iverson was really a product of his community in that his family was so poor and dysfunctional that he slept wherever someone would let him sleep for the night. Iverson kind of was raised by a ‘posse’, although he maintained close ties with his mom and lesser degree to his dad. Terrell Owens was raised mostly by his grandmother in her home and he was virtually a prisoner, allowed to leave the house only to go to school and football practice. He had no close friends. Allen Iverson had a ‘posse’ of friends all from the ‘other side of town’. After a brawl in a bowling alley between white students from the affluent high school of the town and black students from the ghetto high school, Allen was sent to prison. An appeals court eventually threw out the prison sentence calling the trial the worst miscarriage of justice it had ever seen. The Governor of Virginia had to pardon Iverson to get him out of jail, but no college would recruit him anymore, although all had before his conviction. His mom had to beg the coach of Georgetown to give him a chance. He did and the rest is history.
I am not a fan of basketball but watching ‘little’ Allen go toe to toe with athletes twice his size and hold his ground amused me. Allen physically was like Walter Payton, seemingly indestructible. Both Iverson and T.O. were hated by much of the media and many fans followed suit. Their personalities could not have been more different. T.O. was a loner, always has been, and still is today. Iverson was a social person and he always supported financially all those who had supported him in his early days. His loyalty to those in his early rough days was often fool hardy but clearly sincere. Iverson married his junior high school sweetheart and stuck with her through good and bad times. After basketball, when Iverson’s financial empire collapsed, they got divorced but maintained a close relationship. T.O. had virtually no close relationships with anyone outside his grandmother. He fathered a lot of kids outside of any marriage and ended up with huge child support payments. Iverson fathered a lot of kids too but with his wife and maintained close relationships with all of them. As one observer noted, his kids would squeal with delight whenever they spotted Allen coming home.
Iverson hated the press for the way they dissed him, his background, and falsely concocted several incidents that took court cases to get dismissed. Allen’s close friends and social life continued to revolve about those he knew from his past. He never really forgave what a white affluent community did to him back in high school. Much of the media detested T.O. for his aloofness, his self centered focus on his own training and performance, and his self-serving one man band antics whenever he scored a touchdown. But unlike Iverson, and true to his essence, T.O. paid no attention to the media commentators who attacked him They called him every name in the book and T.O never responded in kind, simply replying when pushed to respond in kind to them, that “there is nothing I can do about what they say. They are paid to do what they do and are good at it. I am a football player and that is where all my attention is directed.” As time passed, the media critics mostly let the past be the past with Iverson. After football T.O’s critics chomped at the bit waiting to derail his entrance into the Hall of Fame. Not surprisingly, T.O got broadsided by their efforts. With all his focus and willpower directed at football, T.O got blindsided a lot on matters outside of football. He was easy pickings.
Both Owens and Iverson let the millions they earned slip away. T.O. through poor planning and multiple child support cases, and Iverson through endless financial support to his life-long posse. Allen is clearly beloved by life long friends and he himself is sincerely grateful for those who supported him through out his long journey, and to the dozens of people who made him a better person. His Hall of Fame speech is nothing but endless praise for all these people who helped him along the way. He is clearly a good and faithful person who values his friendships more than his money. The money is gone, his friends and family are not. They clearly squealed with joy for him throughout the ceremony.
T.O. remains a lone figure with many acquaintances along the way but seemingly no one any closer to him today than ever before. His performance stats are his pride and give him his sense of contentment—a commodity difficult to measure in his case. His media enemies want him to suffer for his personality. This is interesting too, in the sense there has never been such an accomplished athlete who got where he got virtually on his on. His genetic blessing was an amazing ability to put all of his focus and willpower on a singular goal throughout his entire football career. Who would T.O thank in any acceptance speech? In his world others were there to bring him down, just hurdles he would have to leap over, run around, or run through every day of his life. These hurdles were people. Strangely enough these people are not his detractors. Almost all his head coaches, his teammates, his quarterbacks, most fans—are not the ones screaming to disrespect him. They too never really could get close to him or understand him, but they respected his training, his performance on the field, his focus, his durability on the field. “No one”, stated Steve Young, “can ever criticize T.O.’s performance on the field.” Both T.O. and Allen Iverson gave it everything they had when the game started. This they have in common.
Unique, but good people, make good study. Both were good theatre, accomplished athletes, and far more towering figures than their critics will ever be. One was about genetic talent, loyalty, and gratitude. The other about sheer willpower and self focus. Both got to the top of the mountain.
URL of Allen’s Hall of Fame Acceptance Speech is below. No need to watch it to the end, but at least watch the first part to get a glimpse of his character. Plus the end about his wife is touching too—his junior high sweetheart.
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/shaq-allen-iverson-stay-true-to-themselves-as-they-enter-hall-of-fame-150544577.html
