Allen Iverson Was Given A 15-Year Prison Sentence When He Was 17 Years Old: "I Had To Use The Whole Jail Situation As Something Positive."

Allen Iverson went to prison when he was 17, and he once spoke about how he dealt with it.

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Allen Iverson is one of the most beloved players in history. Despite not being the most physically imposing, AI managed to become one of the best the league has ever seen as a scorer, he was unstoppable during his peak with the Philadelphia 76ers. But of any NBA superstar, Iverson had possibly the most tumultuous path to becoming who he did, with his childhood circumstances leaving a lot to be desired. 

Iverson grew up in a lot of poverty, sometimes having to find ways to earn money himself so he could eat. But despite this, for the most part, he stayed on the straight path and didn't get caught up in any murkier business. There was an incident when he was about to go to college, though, one that could have ended his career and his life before it really even began. 

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Allen Iverson Was Convicted And Sentenced To 15 Years In Prison, And He Spent Time In Jail During That Time

When he was in high school, Iverson was already immensely popular as an athlete that excelled at football as well as basketball. When he was 17, he was at a bowling alley where a massive fight erupted, and he was arrested after allegations that he had hit a woman with a chair. Iverson denied it, and there was evidence to support him, but not before he was convicted and sent to prison, with ESPN reporting on what happened after that. 

"At 17, Iverson was convicted on a felony charge of "maiming-by-mob" and drew a 15-year prison sentence, with 10 years suspended. He spent four months at the Newport News City Farm before Virginia Governor Douglas Wilder granted him a pardon. In 1995, the Virginia Court of Appeals overturned the conviction, citing insufficient evidence of his guilt. 

"'I had to use the whole jail situation as something positive,' Iverson said. 'Going to jail, someone sees something weak in you, they'll exploit it. I never showed any weakness. I just kept going strong until I came out.' 

"While Iverson was in prison, his mother visited Georgetown basketball coach John Thompson in December 1993. 'She was the reason why I helped her child,' Thompson said. In spring 1994, he visited Iverson at Hampton's Richard Milburn High, a school that catered to at-risk students or students who already had dropped out of high school. The visit was enough to persuade Iverson to come to Georgetown on a scholarship."

The fact that Iverson spent time in prison at that young age explains a lot about his inner strength and fighting spirit. It would have been easy for him to go down the wrong path, he had every excuse to. But instead, AI worked to become one of the greatest ever. While he is still criticized by people for being who he is, this story provides a lot of perspective on just how much The Answer has been through.