Allen Iverson’s Basketball Hall of Fame Enshrinement Speech

welcoming Allen to the Hall of Fame our Larry Brown Julius Erving John Thompson ladies and gentlemen Allen Iverson [Applause] well [Music] man I love y'all too Wow first I just uh I just want to thank thank God for loving me and um and blessing me I think I thank him for blessing me to be the man that I am and have no regrets on being the guy that I am and the person that my family loved and my friends love my teammates love my fans look I think mr. Colangelo in the Hall of Fame for honor me and in such a great way it's truly a blessing and humble back um I want to thank coach Thompson goes Johnson well saving my life for giving me the opportunity um I was recruited by every school in the country for football and basketball and uh the incident happened in high school and all that was taken away no other change no other schools or recruiting me anymore my mom Wendy Georgetown and beg him you give me a chance and he did and that's a and that's crazy to think that you're the best football player in the world which I did and to be and if he's sitting up here as a hall of family in basketball you tell me God ain't good I thought left Georgetown um I was our best ball player I had a I had talent but once I started to listen to Larry Brown and take and take constructive criticism I learned that uh how much of a great great great coach that he is um [Music] once I once I started to listen to him the way I was supposed to and and was coached by him that's when I became an MVP that's when I became my all stuff that's when I made first team all-nba once I got the message from him and I followed his lead all the way man dr. Jay [Applause] those shoes some big shoes literally but I had I got to Philadelphia and man those were some big shoes to fill with a ten a size ten foot and uh you know he was always supportive of me throughout my career always gave me words wisdom just a great great man and some old school do too I remember coming home from school one day and my beautiful mom said you're going to basketball practice like that's why I'm going to basketball practice basketball assault you know I played football I'm a football player I said where you going and I remember my I cried and I screamed and kicked and claw and had to be dragged the practice I got to practice and I saw all the guys that played on my football team there so from that point I play basketball so I have my mom to thank for that my my dad man this is why this was created daddy that's what you made and I'm so proud of you for being that person that I've looked up to and being a dad to take care of his kids showing me the way showing me about taking care of family and um and you pass that torch to me I was gracious to take it and run with it and I appreciate you now to let you man my all right Brady's aren't in the world hands down um I love you so much you're perfect aren't BAM my my uncle's Steven Greg I really look up the up man and I mean so much to me and taught me a lot you told me so much about family I know nothing is up dead looking down on me and I just hope she proud of me uh man um my baby's my oldest tiara honey boo boo aka daddy sent me some money my son Allen Iverson second dude I love you and proud of you [Applause] Isiah I ever seen a man man so smart we call him the professor I needed mom around the house when something needs to be done or fixed um his mom will say go out house it did show you how to do it and uh you smart man and I'm proud of you and and uh follow your dreams and keep doing what you're doing them I'm proud of you sorry [Applause] aka boo boo be boo I love you you're so great you're so Friday I love you so much and you make me so happy dream are you doing fine okay yeah BIA I love her so much um ever since she was born she got to sleep with Daddy got her own room my own bed but got to sleep with Daddy um but I think y'all for being my crutch in my career you know I mean when I have hard losses didn't play well you know the media treating me like they did throughout my career I always came home and forgot about all of that once I saw y'all so thanks for being my crutch and I love y'all so much I have to I have to think this man because what I was vision I promise you there wouldn't be no Hall of Fame Allen Iverson standing at this podium if it wasn't for this guy he gave me the vision man and you know you want to be fast like I was there and you want to shoot like bird you know rebound like Barkley pass like magic be dominant like Shaq but man I wanted to be like Mike I remember the first time I played against him and I walked out on the court and I looked at him and for the first time in my life a human being didn't look real to me no I mean like I don't know if y'all watch the Chappelle show but he he talked about a certain incident we seen somebody seen Rick James and like I literally seen his aura like like he it looked like he was it looked like he was glowing and I'm and I'm sitting there and I'm I'm saying myself like man that's Mike and I'm looking at him I can't stop looking at him like I'm looking at his shoes and I'm like man he got on the Jordans I mean it was it was Mike it was my idol was my hero and I remember just hating the Knicks so much and the bad boys for beating them up the way they did I used to watch him and sit on my mom's dresser and she used to tell me boy if you don't get back from that TV before you go blind you better like I wanted to be that close to him just watching them man my sister Brandi I love you the greatest um I love you for all the times daddy gave you $100 you would give me 95 of it I love you and I thank you for everything you did for your big brother I appreciate you I like for those that that's no longer here with me smiling down on me my Nana rah troop gym uncle Ronald Theresa putty combs Anthony woof Jones I hope you're proud of me my my friends ex thriller I love you guys my makeup and it's one look man um darby gerard de mon de de larry jerk it was I get LeBron and his family rich math Randy Chris Paul and his family Monty Williams and his family Thank You wanky out there um man a Kelly Rogers Marlee G's thumb man Thompson we're gonna do a lot of laughs in the night jack big bro cave in Philly my main man Reggie love you Tefo Leon Rose super agent call them heartless um Garry Moore man where can I begin all right you know I start from 8 years old I love you bro and I thank you for the guidance throughout my career and all the help that you've done thank you for when I get in trouble in school for coming to make sure I got detention instead of getting suspended for teaching me in sports if it's me or you it's me I love you man I can't thank you enough boo Ames man won nationals 17 years old I'm still waiting on the shoes that you promised this and our ring maybe I get it one day want Oreille thank you for everything peewee hold your head be strong Bobby maze mates camera on Jim Jones fat fat um I want to thank I want to thank biggie smalls rim man Jadakiss Tupac and Michael Jackson for being my theme music throughout my career not too much long Aberdeen Raiders I became a true athlete playing for those guys Belu high school Mike Bailey Mike Bailey was the first to teach me how to play basketball my high school coach I love you I love your family thank you everything that you've done for me Tony Rutland my partner in crime in high school my teammates that I played with and school man my Georgetown family y'all know the great centers already but I love those guys dikembe Patrick Lonzo tough act to follow buddy um I love them is Michael so much miss Finley if you're watching right now I love y'all Boubacar I'll George Butler urban Church Yaya Brendan Gaughan Othello Harrington John jocks Kevin million Eric miles Geri Nichols James Reid Don Reed is a hottie white love you bro Jerome rims I love you bro for everything you've done for me damage Ashlyn Godwin Erwin G Victor Paige James Reid jokes warm Oh and Dean Barry maybe I wouldn't be standing here if it wasn't for Dean Barry teaching me the crossover I walk on man didn't have his name on the back of his jersey but at practices he used to hit me with it so much that I just put my pride aside and say okay you got to teach me that move and I stayed at the practice with him every day to learn that move and all these years later Allen Iverson is known for the crossover laughter I have to thank Reebok man man got a head got to thank Reebok a lifetime contract whoo man um Paul fireman Tom shine Todd krinsman b li q gases man my man my friend um the NBA the the NBA the NB PA um David Stern Adam Silver Billy Hunter Christian oh my god I let you so much thanks for all the support Leo Wilcox Pat Croce the only thing that I can see when I think about him is love and believe he believed in me he believed that I could be that guy to carry a franchise on my shoulders it was hard I had my ups and downs but obviously I pulled it off I Love You Pat Billy King our Lumpkin love you long Jim Laura Mike Preston Lenny mark Zuma the best commentator the world's best commentator hands down I'm making that a point as I'm uh I want to see him on the big networks doing it to Scott rego doctormick filling me for keeping me and keeping me healthy well almost throughout my throughout my career Karen Frank's going I love you keV Mike going I love y'all to the media the love-hate relationship that made me stronger I want to thank Phil Jasna I know he's looking down at me we went through our Wars but I love you and I know you respected me as a man Stephen a Smith my brother he was there with me throughout it all and you're always gonna be my big brother I always love you bro you don't suppose to not talk about when I do make mistakes that's your job even though I am your little brother but um you always kept it 1,000 with me you always was honest and totally like I needed to hear it and I love and respect you for that thank you deal on them the fans the fans worldwide in China I love my friends in China they love me so much and I loved them for respecting my grind and um I go to China every year and I'll continue to for the rest of my life the Philly fans [Applause] bang what I love about the only relationship that I feel a player has with a group of fans is a probably Michael Jordan and his fans in Chicago but my relationship with the fans in Philadelphia it's like no other thank you and thank you all for the support over the years y'all let me grow y'all let me make my mistakes never jumped off the bandwagon continue to support me like true fans are supposed to 76 or teammates Doug Overton love you plants with a spoon lucious Harris Matt Geiger Raja Bell dikembe George Lynch I love you Tom McCullar Kevin ollie turned out to be a great coach why do point guards always end up being coached that's what they did you used to telling everybody what to do um Ozzy Muhammad Jerry Stackhouse Derrick Coleman love you Mark Davis Don McLean Sam Dalembert Jermaine Jones Tyrone Hill Vernon Maxwell my uh my protector when he played boys you know he was always willing to fight Theo Ratliff Larry use I love you my brother um Ann McKie Eric snow my brother's man definitely my brothers from another mother I'm so proud of the man d-day turned out to be the father's that they are the family man that er have a lot of respect for you and I appreciate you definitely the Denver Nuggets the fans George call Stan Kroenke Josh punky Kenyon Martin Marcus Camby Chucky Atkins Melo I love you Jo Smith DJ Gert Rex Chapman Steve Hesse um my competition man um I remember my first game that I was a man literally destroyed me and I haven't I hadn't been killed like that before in my career in my lifetime basically and I remember mo cheeks telling me after the game I said in the locker room I was crying and Mo she said don't worry about it yeah one day you'll get somebody 36 9 and 9 and and I can my love blue wimps and I always think about at one day at practice ask for like ten in a row on him and mochi said and lose body cry and what she said man hold your head up don't cry he'd do that to everybody uh-huh man I can't leave without bringing up Shaq I love him so much as a person obviously the most dominant big man we've ever seen ever man Koby true competitor I knew what he's retired now he's gonna go on and do even greater things he's a great man and I loved him when I respect them but he bought everything out of me on the basketball court and I appreciate him for that sir Ron Lou I remember I remember that after that I remember after that series um he got he went to Washington and uh happy um so somebody was at the free-throw line and I said uh look man if you don't stop following me like that we're gonna be fighting out here and he was you know whatever whatever and I said um only reason you got that little five million a year is for running around after me and the man looked at me and saying what I were to say it thank you and and we've been like this ever since the ones that that stuck by me throughout my journey I love y'all I love the fact that now y'all can walk around and stick your chest out and say y'all hall-of-famers and all the barbershop talk that my family and all the arguments my friends have with people when the barber shop the hair salon you know now you can say um well look my man is solidified you know and and and nail and nail and they'll come back with well my man will be a Hall of Famer one day well we had that conversation then when when he didn't trying and I'm gonna try to get through this part right here I know it's gonna be kind of difficult for me on my on my hand on this note because it's one of those last but not least thing my number one person in the world hands down so on Iverson [Music] 24 years up downs but real love I can't thank you enough for all you've done for me not just my career yeah obviously you you enable me to go to work and you took at home but for loving me the way you do and caring about what type of person I am and what type of person that I need to be this set example for our babies just the best to me I lazy so much looking forward to spending two more decades with you and I want you to be proud of yourself and I want you to walk around and understand that you are all a family I just want to say thank you all and for all the people every one of you that supported me throughout this tough journey I really love y'all for that because you didn't have to support me and for all of the men and women that advise me on certain things and helped me I love y'all and I want to thank the guys that are not my friends anymore I'm glad I'm glad that you blue you blew your cover for me to recognize that you wasn't any good to my family or me and I appreciate y'all for that so if I make any more new friends I know the signs thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] you

Channel: OfficialHoophall

Views: 7,460,242

Rating: 4.904367 out of 5

Keywords: Allen Iverson, Basketball, NBA, Georgetown, 76ers, Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Basketball Hall of Fame Enshrinement

Id: x67RQKknl-g

Length: 32min 11sec (1931 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 09 2016

Reddit Comments

[u/Gplock]

I was in 8th grade 5’5 Spanish kid with corn rows, no one ever said anything mean or rude or that I shouldn’t have my hair like that. Everyone knew it was for A.I. It was great watching him play with Snow, Mutombo. Legends never die.

[u/thedadfromsmartguy]

Definitely worth the watch if you've never seen it

[u/mikeb32]

Love the speech, but Zumoff better never leave the Sixers. I highly doubt he would

[u/wheeler9691]

I watched this for the first time a few months ago at work. I had to keep pausing it to get my shit back together.

[u/5ABIJABRONI]

this makes me even more sad that we wont ever see Kobe's speech, long live the mamba

[u/terrapindance]

I always choke up watching this

[u/soggykrakker43]

I’m looking at his shoes and I’m like “man, he’s got on Jordan’s”

[u/EL_Senor_Guapo]

jesus i forgot how powerful this was

[u/d-nuggetz]

Allen is always genuine. Uniquely genuine. Fans in Philly were lucky.