On June 7, 1975, Allen Iverson was born on the Virginia Peninsula. The son of Allen Broughton and Ann Iverson, his dad skipped out on the family and their then 15-year-old mother was left caring for him and his sister Brandy. Shortly after being born, his maternal grandmother - often the pillar in an inner-city family - died as well. In 1991, Iverson, Brandy and their mother welcomed a new addition to the family, Leisha, who was ill, adding to the family bills. Growing up, Iverson was often responsible for taking care of his younger sisters Brandy and Liesha, which was especially difficult with the toddler, who suffered frequent seizures. Iverson began playing basketball in middle school, for his first love was football. In his days at Bethel High School in Hampton, Iverson was a star football and basketball player. His ability on the court, led to Iverson being offered a full scholarship to Georgetown University. At Georgetown Allen majored in Arts.
After two outstanding seasons at Georgetown, Allen Iverson was the first player picked in the 1996 NBA Draft. Iverson quickly established himself as a premier NBA backcourt man, he was named Schick Rookie of the Year and a member of the All-Rookie First Team. Iverson led the Sixers with 23.5 points ,7.5 assists and 2.07 steals, leading all NBA rookies in each category. In the 1999-2000 season, Iverson had his first trip to the playoffs, having played well in a year in which he set records, was the NBA scoring champion, and a starter for the All Star game.
Iverson arguably had his best season in 2001 - he led his team to win their first ten matches, he started and won All-Star MVP honors at the All-Star game, was the NBA scoring champion for the second time, was the NBA steals champion, and ultimately led his team to an NBA finals appearance against the Los Angeles Lakers' Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant.