On Saturday, Carmelo Anthony was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame at Symphony Hall in Springfield, MA.
Hall of Famers Dwyane Wade and Allen Iverson presented him.
Anthony was also inducted into the Hall of Fame on Saturday for his contributions to the 2008 USA Men’s National Team, which won Gold at the Beijing Olympics.
The 10-time All-Star, who celebrated his family, including his mother, sister, and children during his speech, paid homage to his father, the late Carmelo Iriarte, who died when Anthony was two years old.
“You left this world too soon, but you never left me,” a visibly moved Anthony expressed about his father. “Your name was my name. Your spirit walks with me every step I take. You were a poet, an activist, a fighter. You taught me without knowing that words matter; that vision matters. Even in your absence, you gave me strength.”
Anthony, 41, who played 19 seasons in the NBA for the Nuggets, Knicks, Thunder, Rockets, Blazers, and Lakers, also paid homage to the game of basketball.
“To the game of basketball, you were my way out, but more than that, you were my way in,” he said. “You let me tell my story without words. You let me cry through jumpers. Shout through dunks, dream through wins. You gave a kid from the projects a passport to the world. You gave my pain purpose; you gave my past a future.”
Melo showed appreciation to the team that drafted him, the Denver Nuggets, where he spent the first seven years of his career, and, of course, the Brooklyn native, who played seven seasons with the Knicks, had to show love to New York City.
“To the New York Knicks, in the city of New York, the Mecca of Basketball,” he said. “You gave me more than a jersey. You gave me an identity. From the lights of Madison Square Garden, to the heartbeat of every borough. I felt that energy. I carried it; I became it. New York is not for the faint of heart. It’s pressure, it’s expectations, but it’s also pride.”
While Anthony never won an NBA title, he’s won everywhere else. He won a championship during his one year at Syracuse and won three Olympic Gold Medals, but according to Anthony, legacy is not always about winning a championship.
“I never got an NBA ring,” he said. “Some will always define me by that, but I know what I gave to this game, and I know what this game gave back. Legacy isn’t always made in championships. Sometimes it’s made in consistency, and a refusal to quit, and showing up, over and over again, when no one is clapping. I played the game with fire, with passion, with love, with joy. I gave it everything I had every single night.”
Joining Anthony in the Hall were Dwight Howard(individual, 2008 USA Men’s National Team), Sue Bird, Maya Moore, Sylvia Fowles, Chicago Bulls coach Billy Donovan, Miami Heat managing general partner Micky Arison, 2008 USA Men’s National Team, and NBA referee Danny Crawford.
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