SITE TOOLS
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Second Chances
By Lisa R. Foeman
As I watched Allen Iverson score a game-high 26 points in the recent NBA All-
Star Game, I wondered where he’d be if not for the gift of second chances. What
second chance? The one that freed Iverson from prison about six years ago.
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In February 1993, Iverson, then a
17-year old high school junior, and some buddies - all Black - became embroiled in a melee
with a group of guys - all White - at a Hampton, Virginia bowling alley. Fists flung,
chairs hurled, and racial epithets permeated the air. Iverson testified that he
didn’t participate in the brawl. White witnesses testified that he did, throwing
chairs with one hitting a white woman in the head and another hitting a white bowling
alley employee. Out of the dozens of people involved in the bowling alley mob scene,
police made four arrests: Iverson and three of his buddies. Iverson and two of his
co-defendants were convicted as adults of three felony counts of “maiming by
mob,” a rarely invoked law that ironically had been used mainly to prevent the Ku
Klux Klan from lynching Blacks. In August 1993, they were sentenced to fifteen years in
prison with ten years suspended. The judge denied all bail requests pending appeals, even
though felons convicted of far more serious crimes were routinely granted bail.
To put this all in perspective, Iverson was probably the most bally-hooed basketball
player Virginia has ever produced. Even more so than Moses Malone and Alonzo Mourning.
Everybody knew him, including the white judge and white prosecutor who sealed
Iverson’s fate…or so they thought. In December, 1993, Governor L. Douglas
Wilder, the nation’s first elected Black governor, granted Iverson conditional
clemency allowing him to return to high school albeit without participation in sports and
restoring Iverson’s dream of a college and NBA career. The conviction was forever
erased from his record when the Virginia Court of Appeals overturned the decision of the
trial court in June 1995.
At this point, I hope you’re scratching your head bewildered by a barrage of
questions prickling your brain. Why was Iverson tried as an adult when his probation
officer strongly urged that the then-17 year old be tried as a juvenile, a recommendation
that was almost uniformly followed? Why was Iverson given a sentence that was on par with
rapists and murderers? Could it have been because of his “troubled past”
referred to by so many in Tidewater newspaper editorials? Strange how this “troubled
past” consisted only of chronic classroom absenteeism, poor grades, and a minor
traffic violation. As many people of color opined, “troubled past” is just a
code phrase for young Black men who live in poverty in crime-ridden neighborhoods with no
fathers around. What about that denial of bail pending appeals when the prosecutor was
prepared to recommend a $15,000 bond? I guess it would have helped if the trial judge had
actually entertained the prosecutor’s recommendation, as was customary.
By now, your scratching is probably faster, your mind undoubtedly contemplating the race
factor. Before Johnny pulled the race card for O.J., there was James Ellenson waving that
card for Iverson. As he so aptly put it, “These white guys got their butts kicked in
a fight and, hey, somebody had to put those black kids in their place, make an example out
of them.” The race issue polarized Tidewater and many other parts of Virginia, once
home to the capital of the Confederacy. Contained to Virginia, it was not. The Iverson
case turned into a national cause celebre with coverage by Tom Brokaw, The Washington
Post, The New York Times, USA Today and visits by the SCLC and the NAACP, which set up a
local office to monitor the case. Spike Lee wrote Iverson and after Justice Clarence
Thomas declared his venomous confirmation hearings a “high tech lynching of an uppity
black man,” organized Iverson supporters dubbed his case “a judicial lynching of
uppity blacks by the white establishment.”
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With the benefit of hindsight, has Bubba
Chuck (aka Iverson) proven himself worthy of his second chance? To many, he’s
undeserving as evidenced by his August 1997 no contest plea in yet another Virginia court
to carrying a concealed weapon and acceptance of a plea agreement requiring three
years’ probation. His association with two men arrested for drug activity while
driving his car in July 1998 didn’t do anything to change the opinions of
Iverson’s detractors. This is in addition to Iverson’s testimony on behalf of a
man called “dad,” a three-time convicted felon who was found guilty of
possessing cocaine with the intent to distribute in May 1997.
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Is Iverson just another star athlete from the ‘hood
who has the expectation of special privileges such as second chances? I can’t answer
that definitively, but his behavior during his 1993 trial certainly suggests
“yes.” On the eve of his trial (July 8), Iverson played in the Nike summer camp
- all expenses paid for by Nike, of course. Nike planned to fly Iverson back for the
tournament all-star game on July 10, unless he was convicted on July 9. As luck would have
it, Iverson’s trial was continued until after July 10. Dismissing the timing
quandary, Iverson was quoted as saying, “I knew something would happen.” An
expectation of special privilege? Possibly. Or, just rewards for a guy who proclaimed his
innocence all along? Maybe. But, draw your own conclusions as to whether Iverson has taken
his second chances and made a positive statement with his life beyond the hardwood.
Oh, in case you're wondering, neither Iverson nor the Sixers had any comment on this
article. M
February 2000
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