‘We talking about love’
Former Georgetown coach John Thompson Jr. was asked about Iverson last month. He was preparing for a radio broadcast before an NCAA tournament game at Verizon Center.
“What I think about Allen Iverson is in my heart,” Thompson said.
Thompson, who took a chance by offering Iverson a scholarship after the bowling alley incident, is protective of Iverson and wouldn’t be interviewed. But he recommended a discussion with Lorry Michel, Georgetown basketball’s longtime trainer.
She answered her office phone, quick to say that she doesn’t do interviews. But for Iverson, she’d make an exception.
“You go along life,” she said, “and you run into people. And some really intrigue you more, maybe, I don’t know. Or they just treat you differently.”
Michel underwent surgery for a brain tumor in June 2011. Amid the emails and cards was a note from Iverson. It wouldn’t be the last time he checked in. She said he remembers people and their paths; because his was so unlikely, he appreciates how others reached their goals. “He would see people for what they were,” she said.
Earlier this year, Michel contacted Iverson. She’d heard about the divorce and wanted to know how he was doing. Fine, he told her, and she chose to believe him.
Shortly before Michel was inducted Feb. 9 into Georgetown’s Hall of Fame, Iverson asked someone to point a camera at him and ask him about practice. The blurry footage would be sent to Washington and played during the ceremony.
He stood at a lectern, his hat crooked, and mimicked his famous rant.
“We talking about love?” he began. “Not Coach Thompson. Not the baddest guard that ever played at Georgetown. Not Alonzo Mourning. Not Patrick Ewing. Not Dikembe Mutombo?
“I’m supposed to be here talking about Georgetown. But we talking about love. We talking about love? Miss Michel? Oh, we talking about love.”
He paused.
“I love you. I miss you. Well-deserved congratulations. I love you. I can’t put it in words how much I do love you.”