True-blue home court advantage
Hiring Penny Hardaway as new head coach wasn’t just the right move for the beleaguered University of Memphis men’s basketball program. It was the right move for Memphis.
Anfernee Deon Hardaway is more than an accomplished basketball player and coach. He is a true Memphian, a man whose life has exemplified the grit and grind, the grace and generosity that define this community.
Like so many children in Memphis, Hardaway grew up in a distressed neighborhood and was raised by his grandmother.
Like too many young people in Memphis, Hardaway was a gunshot victim and a struggling student who was academically ineligible to play college ball.
Like countless kids he grew up with, played with, and later mentored and coached, Hardaway’s resilience helped him overcome the obstacles and beat the odds. His story isn’t just about his success on the basketball court. It’s about his relentless and faithful success here on his home court.
Hardaway grew up in the distressed Binghamton neighborhood, raised by his grandmother, Louise, an Arkansas sharecropper who bought her home working as a nanny, maid and city schools cook. She liked to call him “pretty” but his friends called him “penny.”
Hardaway played basketball at Lester Middle School and then Treadwell High and became a star, averaging 36 points and 10 rebounds as a senior and becoming Parade Magazine National High School player of the year.
He grew up wanting to be a Memphis Tiger, but he was academically ineligible and had to sit out the 1990–91 season. He stayed in Memphis and made the team and the dean’s list.
During his freshman season, he was robbed at gunpoint. A stray bullet broke three bones in his right foot. He stayed in Memphis, became a two-time All-American and led the Tigers to the Elite Eight in 1992. He was drafted by the Orlando Magic after his junior year in 1993, but he returned to school and graduated in May 2003.
In the meantime, Hardaway became a superstar and a multi-millionaire – an All-Star who helped lead the Orlando Magic to the NBA Finals in 1995, and member of the U.S.A.’s gold-medal Dream Team in 1996, and the face of the “Lil Penny” Nike ad campaign.
Injuries forced him to retire from the NBA in 2007 and brought him home. He didn’t rest on his wealth or his laurels. He donated $1 million for the UofM’s sports hall of fame building. He also volunteered to help Desmond Merriweather, a friend who was coach at Lester Middle, and then East High.
In 2012, he started Team Penny, which became one of the most successful youth basketball programs in the country. When Merriweather lost his battle with cancer, Hardaway took over as head coach and has led East High to three consecutive state championships.
Can he lead his hometown University of Memphis Tigers to an NCAA title? That would be wonderful, but at this point it’s irrelevant. He already has proven that he’s a champion in and of his hometown.
Penny Hardaway was born to coach the Memphis Tigers. He’s all-Memphis and true-blue.