Short Biography

Allen Ezail Iverson (born June 7, 1975, in Hampton, Virginia)[1] is an American professional basketball player for the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association. As the first pick in the 1996 NBA Draft for the Philadelphia 76ers, Iverson became one of the most prolific scorers in NBA history, despite his small (6`0") stature. His career scoring average of 27.7 points per game is third all-time behind Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain. Iverson was also the 2000–2001 NBA Most Valuable Player and lead the 76ers to the NBA Finals that post-season.

As a high school junior, Iverson played quarterback for the Bethel High School football team,[2] leading the team to the state championship.[3]

On February 14, 1993, Iverson and several of his friends became involved in an altercation with a group of white teenagers at the Circle Lanes bowling alley in Hampton, Virginia. Iverson`s crowd was raucous and had to be asked to quiet down several times, and eventually something of a shouting duel began with another group of youths. Then shortly thereafter, a huge fight erupted, pitting the white crowd against the blacks. During the fight, Iverson allegedly struck a woman in the head with a chair. He, along with three of his friends who are also African-American, were the only people arrested. Iverson, who was 17 at the time, was convicted as an adult of the felony charge of maiming by mob, a rarely used Virginia statute that was designed to combat lynching.[4] Iverson and his supporters maintained his innocence, claiming that he left the alley as soon as the trouble began. Iverson said, "For me to be in a bowling alley where everybody in the whole place know who I am and be crackin` people upside the head with chairs and think nothin` gonna happen? That`s crazy! And what kind of a man would I be to hit a girl in the head with a damn chair? I rather have em` say I hit a man with a chair, not no damn woman."[5]

After Iverson spent four months at Newport News City Farm, a correctional facility in Newport News, Virginia, he was granted clemency by Virginia Governor Douglas Wilder, and the Virginia Court of Appeals overturned the conviction in 1995 for insufficient evidence.[5]

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