photo: krossovki.net
In early December of 1991, we received our first glimpse. We’d heard the whispers about the kid from the rough streets of Memphis, Tennessee a few years earlier while he was tearing up high school ball. But it was undeniably confirmed that the young man was, indeed, a supreme talent on the night of his NCAA debut as he collected 18 points, 15 rebounds, 4 blocks, 4 steals and 6 assists against DePaul.
photo: slamonline.com
In the winter of ‘91, my man Malcolm Stephens, a.k.a. Big Malc, who passed away last week due to complications from cancer, saw me on the block and waived me over.
“Yo Ah (he always called me Ah), you seen that kid from Memphis?” I had, and we just looked at each other with wide eyes, big smiles and gave one another a sincere pound. “Yo Ah! That kid Penny is NICE!”
Anfernee Deon Hardaway, a.k.a. “Penny” was born and raised in Memphis. He grew up in his grandmother’s home at 2977 Forrest Avenue, a dead end street. The homes on Forrest were a squalid row of shanties. Louise Hardaway, Penny’s grandma, bought the shotgun home (which was in major disrepair) near the corner of Broad and Tilman in 1950 with a down payment of $365.00. The money had been earned and saved from the back-bending, hand-bleeding work of picking cotton.
She’d come up the hard way, sharecropping in Arkansas. In Tennessee, she worked in people’s homes, doing cooking and cleaning. She later worked in the cafeterias of the city’s public schools.
When Penny was born in ‘71, he came to Louise’s home with the biggest set of hands anyone can remember seeing.
“When he was born, his hands were so big, it looked like he was wearing gloves,” his mother Fae once told the late, great Sports Illustrated writer Ralph Wiley . “When I was in school at Lester High, there had been a boy named Anfernee. I always thought it was such a beautiful name. People think I don’t know how to spell Anthony.”
His grandmother always called him “Pretty.” With her pronounced southern drawl, it sounded like “Pweddy, which eventually morphed into “Penny.”
photo: hoopsaddict.com
In ‘72, Fae got married and moved to California. But Lil’ Penny stayed in Memphis.
“I told Fae to leave my baby here with me,” Louise told Wiley. “We slept in the bedroom, him in a rollaway bed, from the time they brought him home till his feet hung off the mattress. Penny was six years old ‘fo he saw his daddy. It was that long before I saw him myself. He said, ‘Let me have him.’ I said, ‘Naw, hell naw.’ Hadn’t bought him a diaper, and now you want to be a daddy?”
The neighborhood was no joke. Drugs, violence, crime and incarceration were the norm.
“Every boy he was raised up with on this street seem like they been in jail, or the workhouse, for robbing and stealing,” said Louise. “One of them little boys ended up getting life. For a long time I didn’t let him out of my sight.”
But eventually, Lil’ Penny had to step off the block and out of grandmoms’ view to navigate his own path.
Luckily, the young fella stepped on to the asphalt playground of the Lester public school.
“I played on those goals eight and nine hours a day, since I was eight years old,” Penny told Ralph Wiley. “It got to where boys came, played, went home, ate, came back, and I’d still be there playing. Mostly, I played by myself.”
photo: bballcity.com
Ten years later, those playground runs and solitary skill sessions coalesced to form the nation’s best high school prospect. He stood 6′7″, could handle the rock on the move like Magic Johnson, play “D”, attack the rim like Jordan and he could rebound, make steals and play an overall floor game that left even the cognescenti speechless.
At Treadwell High School, he averaged 37 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 steals, and 3 blocks as a senior, garnering the Parade Magazine National High School player of the year honor.
If you didn’t peep Penny playing college ball at Memphis, or early in his pro career before the leg injuries reduced him to a mere mortal, you truly don’t understand how nice that young man was. He was, if you isolate his play to that specific point in time, one of the greatest talents to ever play point guard. EVER!!!
The college recruiters, from every major program in the country, flew around Louise’s crib like buzzards. But Penny stayed home at Memphis State. A casualty of Prop 48, which mandated that he couldn’t play as a freshman because of low standardized test scores, Hardaway made a case for those tests being culturally biased against African-Americans. How? He managed a 3.4 G.P.A. while sitting out his first year, making the Dean’s List. He wasn’t a dumb black athlete. In fact, he was very intelligent. He just couldn’t score well on the A.C.T.
But while shaking off the dumb athlete label his first year in college, he almost wound up as another Memphis homicide victim. He was robbed at gunpoint outside of his cousin’s home one night. During the robbery, Penny was shot in the foot.
photo: jamd.com
The bullet broke three metatarsal bones and to this day, is still lodged in his foot. He was forced to lie facedown on the wet pavement, after being shot, as the robber pointed a pistol at his neck.
“I kept thinking, He’s going to shoot me in my back, he’s going to shoot me in my head,” Hardaway told Wiley.
In two college seasons, he averaged 20 points, 8 rebounds and six assists while securing All-American status. In ‘92, he was part of the USA Basketball Development team coached by George Raveling, along with Chris Webber, Bobby Hurley, Jamal Mashburn, Rodney Rogers, Eric Montross, Grant Hill, and Allan Houston. Incredibly, they were the only squad to defeat the greatest basketball team of all-time, the ‘92 Olympic Dream Team, 62–54 in a 20-minute exhibition.
photo: si.com
His Junior season (1992-93) he dropped 23ppg with 9 re’s and 6 dimes. He had two triple doubles, which was a rarity at the time in college ball and was a finalist for the Naismith and John Wooden Award.
As a rookie with the Orlando Magic in ‘93-’94, Penny took the young franchise to their first playoff berth and first fifty-win season while averaging 16 points, 7 assists and 5 rebounds per game.
The next year, they won a franchise record 57 games while Penny was the only player in the league to average at least twenty points and five assists and shoot fifty percent during the regular season. He was named a starter in his first NBA All-Star game and was named All-NBA First Team. With Penny running the point and Shaq holding down the lane, along with Dennis Scott, Nick Anderson, Horace Grant and Brian Shaw, the Magic advanced to the NBA Finals. Despite being swept by Akeem Olajuwon and the Rockets, Hardaway averaged 25 points, 5 rebounds and 8 assists in the finals.
photo: si.com
In ‘96, he won a gold medal in the Atlanta Olympics. He continued to terrorize the league and averaged 31 points and 6 rebounds in the ‘96-’97 playoffs. But the next year, he suffered a devastating knee injury. And though he would be a very good player again, he was never again be the transcendent talent that took the hoops world by storm in the early ’90s. With the physical limitations, he became a versatile, smart role player who was a steady influence on younger players.
But before he got hurt, he was a more athletic version of Magic Johnson. Penny was a big, fast, pass-first point guard while also being a prolific scorer. He was also a highly underrated defender. And he played with an undeniable playground dazzle, flash and boogie.
His charisma and flair made major noise in the sneaker game as well, as Penny’s Nike shoes became one of the most popular in the market. And the ad campaigns with Lil’ Penny, voiced over by Chris Rock, were some of the most successful and entertaining commercials ever.
Penny completed his coursework during the NBA offseasons and was conferred his Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Memphis in May 2003, 10 years after leaving school early to turn pro. This summer, he donated $1 Million to the school.
During the press conference to announce his gift, Penny said, “To be able to live out a dream and come back and do something like this for the school, it’s priceless for me. Little kids that grow up in neighborhoods where people tell you that you can’t do things, well a lot of people told me that I couldn’t do things and I didn’t listen to them. I kept my dreams high and my goals high and I accomplished a lot of things that a lot people didn’t think that I was going to be able to accomplish. So I’m so thankful for that and to be able to give back to the school and to the program is something that I’m so glad that I’m able to do.”
In terms of point guards in the modern era, only Gary Payton (in my humble opinion) occupies the same stratosphere as Penny.
The asphalt in Memphis was where young Penny Hardaway molded his game - a beautiful, athletic, playground aesthetic that brought smiles to anyone who saw him do his thing. Don’t sleep if you only saw him later in his career. Penny was one of the greatest of all-time.
THE PLAYGROUND IS NOT THE PROBLEM. IT IS THE SOLUTION!
November 19th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
illest says:
When I saw him on that show Scholastic Sports America it was like watching a better Magic. Kids today dont put up high school numbers like that anymore. You used to have to be prolific in high school but now you dont anymore and can get a great scholly.
Penny was unbelievable, more exciting than Lebron or Bryant, and I thought him and Shaq would win at least 3 rings.
By the way Stephen Curry is ill. One of the illest shooters Ive seen in years. Id rather watch him more than any player right now.
November 19th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
illest says:
lil penny was ill too. had one of the illest sneakers campaigns ever. i know bobbito will mention his part with this campaign. a slept on campaign.
November 19th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
Casey Lee says:
Penny was my FAVORITE NBA player growing up!
I always rocked blue because of him too…
November 19th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
ali says:
when lebron was coming out of high school, dude from tnt asked him who his favorite players were. he said mj and magic were two of his favorites. but he said that penny was the one he patterned his game after.
November 19th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
g says:
i had a tape of Penny from his high school days which has long been “borrowed” by my cousin (im gonna split him to the white meat when i catch him!!). it looked like he was playing 21 by himself most games. teams would throw presses,traps,box and 1’s,damn near everything at him,and he’d still skate through and make it look easy. the scene in blue chips where nick nolte goes to scout him chicago and he throws himself an alley off the board and catches it backwards,that was an actual portion of the tape i had of him,where he really did that in high school! crazy!
November 19th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
ali says:
and he was, i thought, a pretty good novice actor in blue chips. not a bad flick at all.
November 19th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
Blk Caesar says:
Man listen… Penny had it all!! I get into countless arguments about this dude’s talent with people who just don’t give him his props.. Just ask Scottie and MJ! They both had trouble trying to guard Penny and those two are argubaly two of the top 10 perimeter defenders of all time. Penny had a nice post game as well and he was murder on the baseline. I first peeped him at the college formerly known as Memphis State and it was a wrap after that. I was going to watch any game this dude played in. The injuries really grounded his game, but if anybody was watching ball when he was doing his thing.. Penny had it on smash! You know when you think about it Shaq has been quite fortunate to be paired with some amazing guards throughout his career(Penny, Kobe, Wade, and now Nash)… Although he was quite the beast in his own right.. Ali, off topic, but can you imagine what kind of scary numbers Shaq would have put up if he developed a go-to move in the post besides just overpowering guys(and of course shot free throws well)..
November 19th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
illest says:
Shaquilles number would of been crazy. But that assessment can be made of most centers.
November 19th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
ali says:
if shaq had a go to move and could hit free throws? man, he’d be the best. but i think he did more than just overpower. shaq had, at one time, some very good footwork. and if foks don’t give penny his props, they just don’t know ball, bottom line. you’re right blk cease, he had it on smash. i was the same way, saw the kid at memphis state and i had to keep seeing him play.
November 19th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
Blk Caesar says:
wow Illest… I remember watching SSA back in the day… I agree Stephen Curry is fun to watch(44pts last night).. He will be at MSG sometime in Dec. for the Jimmy V Classic… Looking forward to that.
November 19th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
ali says:
and illest, i can’t think of another college player more fun to watch than curry either. he’s better than his pops. and dell curry was a bad dude. but stephen has a better all around game, not just a stand still shooter. and i heard he did his thing during runs against lebron and others this summer.
November 19th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Blk Caesar says:
True he was quite agile for a guy his size and that spin move for dunks (I think he called it the Black Tornado)was ridiculously hard to stop.. I still love that dunk when he was at LSU and he straight jumped over a dude’s head for the put back jam. Crazy!!!! But now when I watch him all I think about is man if he had just one patent move in the post he could still put up 20 easy… Speaking of LSU, I got the knife and fork ready to dig into the piece I know you have in the oven on Chris Jackson aka Mahmoud Abdul Rauf…
November 19th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
ali says:
man blk ceaser, you know the mahmoud/chris jackson piece is coming down the pike. hold on homie. it soon come!
November 19th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
BKRon says:
ok ok Stephen Curry was on fire last nite 44 points BUT he got a BIG L…. Mr Griffin did his thing 25 points and 21 rebounds…Now Penny Hardaway had a very good career making money but unfortunately because of his BAD knees his career was cut short..he was amazing on the court played like magic but never lived up to it…
BK Ron
November 19th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
illest says:
Blk Caesar…you know Ali got Chris Jackson. And I thought Shaq was great in college. I think that time he dunked and put it back and hung on the rim was against Arizona. SSA was ill….when Chibbs was on there that was it right there.
S Curry is definitely better than his pops just 3 or 4 inches shorter. I dont see why he cant play in the pros he just needs to gain some weight and develop more of a point guard mentality. But his release is one of the fastest, moves w/o the ball well, and his handles are nice and basic with no wasted movement to the basket.
November 19th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
illest says:
Who was the best next Magic? Penny? Steve Smith? Walt Williams? Lamar Odom? Will it be Lebron?
November 19th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
ali says:
bk ron,
he lived up to it in the fact that during his college career and first years in the pros, from about 1991-1998, he was among the BEST THAT EVER DID IT. it’s not like he had all this hype and was a bum in college and the pros. he WAS the truth. but the injuries took that away.
November 19th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
ali says:
hey, we neglected to mention chris gatling, another good jersey product in our david rivers discussion. seeing him get dunked on by anfernee jogged the memory.
November 19th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
fan says:
illest,
Lebron will leave his legacy. We just got let him create it. I know we miss Magic and all the other greats. We enjoyed Mike so much because we let him be him. Same goes for Kobe we compare him so much and the comparison is there but it’s not fair for that assesment. Kobe Bryant in the last 10 years has been nothing but great for the game. Compare him to him and boy you got something special. Not another player like him in the game. People get drafted and signed into to league just to stop and make him work.
A lot of players are underappreciated for that mere fact. Good to compare to get and understanding of who they molded they’re game after but we should leave it at that. Let’s embrace each individual talent we have now and those that will continue to flourish in the future. So the new legacy’s can be created and live on.
Iverson quoted it best, ” I dont want to be like Magic, Michael, or Bird I want to be like Allen Iverson and some of us took that the wrong way. Just speaking for all the newcomers coming into the league trying to earn their respect and just dues goes it definitely isn’t given.
November 19th, 2008 at 11:17 pm
K. Easy says:
Yo “Penny” was that dude on the court. He had on of the most versatile games i’ve seen. He always seemed to me to be a mix of magic and “Da Pip” into one. Being from TN,and really into ball as a shorty, he was the dude that we could say was from the South bakc then and be proud of that cuz his game was so nice. Nobody, I mean nobody talked bad about him from “Memphis State”(pre D. Rose) all the way to him killin it in the pros(until injurues began to plague him) Plus how could you not like those “Lil Penny” Nike commericals, lol CLASSIC!!!
November 20th, 2008 at 12:48 am
that dude says:
i wasn’t there but i heard that around 95-96 Penny came up to DC and played in the Urban “Urbo” Coalition which at that time was THE summer league up here. And my man Greg Jones gave him the “im not going that way” and the crowd went crazy, What Penny do? well he dunked every time down the court Everytime i say. I guess sometimes you have to show y you are who you are. Ya dig
November 20th, 2008 at 4:23 am
Gerald Narciso says:
“Don’t sleep if you only saw him later in his career.”
You hit the nail on the head with that verse Ali. Penny had all the gifts to be one of the top 5 point guards of all time. I remember being in seventh grade getting second row seats at the Delta Center, to see Penny (in his second year) just KILL the Jazz. To this day, he was one of the most entertaining players I was lucky enough to see play in person. I was too young for the Magic era, so Penny was as close as I came.
November 20th, 2008 at 9:34 am
illest says:
Penny definitely lived up to the status. He was allNBA…the other guard being Mike. Those player exclusive Jordans he is wearing in the first pic with the number one on the back is ill too.
November 20th, 2008 at 10:30 am
ali says:
i still think he’s the best player ever for memphis state, which is now memphis. derrick rose is playing great and in his one and done, he took the tigers to the ncaa championship game. he avg’d 15 points, 5 assists, 5 rebounds and 1 steal during his only college season. in penny’s 1st year at memphis, he rocked 17 pts, 7 re’s, 6 dimes. 2nd year, he had 23 ppg, 9 rpg and 6 dimes. penny could play the 1, 2 and 3 at a dominant level.
and i love what rose is doing in chicago out the gate. he’s got great rookie numbers, especially for a point guard. he’s a special kid. but if you ask me, he’s the 2nd best point guard to ever come out of memphis.
November 20th, 2008 at 10:47 am
illest says:
ali…better than elliot perry? No…I know Rose was great last year.
November 20th, 2008 at 10:57 am
ali says:
illest,
you’re playin’ right? i loved elliot perry as a college point guard, and andre turner a.k.a. “the little general”. both of those guys, along with penny and rose, were memphis’ best pg’s.
but you can’t be serious about elliot perry being better than penny. are you?
November 20th, 2008 at 10:58 am
ali says:
i think the debate about who is memphis’ best player ever comes down to rose, penny and keith lee.
November 20th, 2008 at 11:00 am
illest says:
I meant Elliot Perry as the 2nd best point guard behind Penny. But I was joking on that two. Penny is first, and Rose is 2nd.
November 20th, 2008 at 11:12 am
ali says:
whew! you scared me there for a moment illest. i’ll buy that.
but people do forget about elliot perry. he was one nice lil’ pg. if penny hadn’t had to deal with the prop 48 nonsense, him and elliot perry would have played in the same memphis state backcourt. how nice would that have been?
November 20th, 2008 at 11:51 am
illest says:
that would of been ill. come on ali there is no way perry is better than penny. not many were better than penny.
November 20th, 2008 at 11:57 am
ali says:
i know man. thought you might have been drinkin’ or somethin’ this early in the day. nah, i knew you had the humor working. just messing with you. the illest one knows his hoops.
November 20th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
Sean Couch says:
Penny had a great career. He definitely was one of the best players I saw come into the NBA and shine immediately. His playground background helped him creatively and skill wise as he showed tripe-double, first-team ALL-NBA skills in his second year. A all-surface all-star no doubt.
November 20th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
ali says:
sean, so now we need your all-time, all surface stars.
November 20th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
funkalot says:
Ali,
Cool piece. I agree with most taht Penny was illmatic and I thought for a second would be the recipient of the baton from Mike. However, his body let him down, none the less he was pimp when going strong.
Oh, that select team he played on that beat the Dream Team included one of my favorites, the “Monster Mash” AKA - Jamal Mashburn. He who reminded of Mark Aguirre with handles. Like Penny, his body failed him and abbreviated what would have been a stellar career.
Yo, remember when he, Kidd and Jimmy Jackson broke up “three the hardway”, in Dallas, over Toni Braxton. lol
November 20th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Blk Caesar says:
You know Funkalot bought up a pretty interesting name: Jimmy Jackson…. After watching him at OSU I really thought he was going to be stand-out NBA player.. Now he had a respectable career and played for like 12 teams, but I really thought his career would have turned out different.. I remember in the 94-95 season he was averaging about 25 a game, but got hurt and then the aforementioned Toni Braxton “Triangle Offense” thing happened to that team…
November 20th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
ali says:
that toni braxton lovin’ must be the bomb!
that threesome of kidd, mash and jj could have been as formidable as the kg, jesus shuttlesworth, truth trio that reigns supreme in the land of the bean right now.
how could i forget that mash was on that team. he’s one of my all time favorites. kentucky fans need to thank that man everyday. he was the key recruit for rick pitino that brought the program back from the abyss of the eddie sutton infractions.
you funk, you know the mash joint is coming soon don’t you? and mark aguirre was bananas!
funknificent, tell mattapan square and all my peeps that ride the red line to ashmont that i said ‘what up!’