MEMPHIS – By now, Tony Allen had the entire room hushed and hooked on his every word.
The veteran Grizzlies guard was nearly an hour into his message about the many breakdowns and breakthroughs he experienced in his journey from a youth in the crime-infested south side of Chicago to an elite NBA defender Kobe Bryant considers the toughest opponent he ever had to face.
Allen’s recent visit to a Shelby County jail to speak at a special program for young-adult inmates had reached the question-and-answer stage. And that’s when the special guest had promised he’d “keep it 100, and be real with y’all,” regarding any inquiry they tossed his way.
The third question came from a young man sitting six rows back in the room to Allen’s right.
“Is it true that you came up with Grit’N’Grind?”
Immediately, Allen’s hardened expression softened into a smile. He sheepishly dropped his chin into his chest, looked back up to scan the crowd of 43 inmates gazing toward him and locked in for the ride.
“A lot of people don’t know the real story behind this,” Allen began. “But I’m fixing to tell y’all.”
Most stories regarding Allen’s life on and off the basketball court typically begin this way. But on this particular day – an unseasonably warm, sun-drenched afternoon in early March – Allen was willing to let everyone in. He was open. He was honest. He was raw, rugged and rough.
But most of all, he was real.
And yet again, Allen continues to answer the call by lending his name and his real life experiences to address the mass incarceration and rehabilitation of young men, particularly black youths in Memphis. After opening March with a visit and presentation at the Youth Offender Unit at the downtown Shelby County Jail, Allen will close the month on March 30 with his 5th Annual ‘Tony Allen Karaoke Night’ at the University of Memphis Holiday Inn to raise funds and awareness for Juvenile Intervention and Faith-based Follow-Up (JIFF).
Whether he’s on the court, engaged in an intense matchup with MVP candidate Kawhi Leonard of the San Antonio Spurs or entering a detention facility where teenagers are facing life sentences, the best thing about Tony Allen is that he’s the same Tony Allen in either environment.
That’s what’s made the 12-year NBA veteran a folk hero of sorts in Memphis, where he’s anchored the Grizzlies perimeter defense the that past six years with the same hard-scrabble, blue-collar image that he greets passengers flying into the city on those promotional billboards as an airport ambassador.
“The bottom line is no matter what you might have heard or what you think you know, when I deal with people, I give them the real version of me and what I stand for,” Allen said. “I went through some of the same things as these young guys out here. I made some of the same choices and mistakes. I still make mistakes like everybody else. But I try to help them by giving them a piece of what I’ve tried to do to overcome it. If you can’t be real with them, you can’t really deal with them and help. You feel me?”
Feeling Allen, 35, wasn’t difficult for the young inmates or staffers he dealt with earlier this month. His presence was felt the moment Allen emerged from his vehicle at the facility wearing a bright orange and black Oklahoma State University hooded sweatshirt in support of his alma mater. At a lean 6-foot-4, Allen had to slightly duck his head as he walked through several doorways and slipped between steel bars before he got to an atrium-like courtyard that was lined with two stories of locked dorms and sleeping quarters for inmates.
The Youth Offender Unit started as a vision from Sheriff Bill Oldham to group young inmates between the ages of 18-25 to help teach self-development and life skills courses to build toward returning to society as productive and responsible citizens upon their release. Those facing longer sentences are encouraged to become mentors for others in the unit who are closer to being released.
Allen’s message was about responsibility and rejuvenation.
He started with how he was a “lookout boy” in his Chicago neighborhood for a local gang in order to earn money to buy the shoes and clothes his single mother couldn’t afford while taking care of four kids. At age 14, Allen was caught in the crossfire of a shootout between rival gangs. He explained the impact that near tragic event had on his life at the time.
“I ain’t never been that scared in my life – before or since,” Allen told the group. “I gave up that – what I was doing at the time – and got into this basketball thing. I had dropped out of school for 40 some-odd days, but because I wanted to play ball, I had to go back to school.”
One of Allen’s closest friends at the time was future NBA guard Will Bynum, who eventually encouraged Allen to transfer so they could attend the same school. It was Bynum who kept tabs on Allen to make sure he attended classes regularly enough to stay eligible to play football and then basketball.
“If I didn’t go to school and play ball, I’m going to be honest with you,” Allen said as he paused for effect. “I would be hustling (drugs).”
Each of Allen’s stories seamlessly transitioned to the next.
He would pivot with the same colloquialism: “To make a long story short, boom.”
One “boom” delivered the tale of catching a lucky break to land a junior college scholarship only to lose it and get kicked out months later after getting caught in his room with marijuana.
Another “boom” included the story of how Allen transferred to a second junior college but caught two charges for separate incidents involving assault for his role in a fight outside a club and theft from a department store. Each time, his basketball potential helped him overcome his legal problems.
The troubles didn’t stop by the time he got to Oklahoma State for his junior season. Allen described how he spent three days in jail for his role in another altercation and the lesson he learned as a result from legendary coach Eddie Sutton.
“Coach could have bonded me out the night it happened,” Allen said. “But he didn’t. I had to pay for my choices. I had been warned before because of all the other stuff I did. But they let me stay in there for three days, and I think that got the best of me. I had time to think. I said, ‘Man, I can’t get into any more trouble.’”
The dead silence in the facility then erupted into laughter when Allen said, “’And you know what? I got into more trouble in my NBA career.’”
Allen then pointed out how two things kept him getting up every time he faltered.
Prayer. And a promising basketball career.
“I’m familiar with what y’all going through,” Allen insisted. “I got a past that put me sitting in those chairs right there, just like y’all. But every time I would just pray. And you have to find something that you’re more passionate about than doing that other thing. I got to the point where I had to figure out that I can’t keep doing this if you want to get where you want to go. I can’t be gang-banging in the NBA. I work in a billion-dollar industry.”
Allen then scanned the room again. Again, the room responded with reflective silence until he spoke.
“However you get through this jam, brighter days are going to come,” Allen insisted. “Right now, it is what it is. But you can get through it. You can come out on the other side. But are you going to be ready?”
Allen is first to admit that his path from the rough side of Chicago to becoming one of the most relentless defenders of his era in the NBA is paved with missteps and mistakes. But he’s always regained his footing. He won a championship in Boston and has spent the past seven years as the emotional leader of the Grizzlies’ Core Four alongside Mike Conley, Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol.
The perennial All-NBA defender is on the final year of his contract and is headed toward free agency this summer. When asked about his future and being in Memphis, Allen said he wants to stay and help bring a title to the Grizzlies the same way helped the Celtics win one a decade ago.
“It was incredible and refreshing, because for him to take out the time and talk to those that look up to him because of his position can now take a more personal view of him,” said Tamela Hayes, a counselor with the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office who works with the Youth Offender Unit. “He was open regarding his failures and childhood struggles. He touched those who were told to stop dreaming because you would never amount to anything. But he made those statements out to be all lies.”
Allen lightened the mood by answering a series of questions.
Who’s the toughest player to defend right now?
Was Conley mad he didn’t make the All-Star game?
Who shook you the hardest with a move?
Who do you want to most put on a poster?
What about LeBron?
But Allen’s best story was, of course, his version of how his famous Grit’N’Grind arrived.
“We were preparing to play Oklahoma City a few years back, and I went home and was watching all kind of tape on James Harden,” Allen started. “Last time we played them, Rudy Gay got hit up by 40-something points by Kevin Durant. And I was like, ‘Man, Harden ain’t gonna hit me up like that.’”
Allen goes on to explain that just as he got his mind locked in on the final details of the Harden assignment during the pregame preparations, Gay walks through the locker room to find the coaches.
“It’s 35 minutes before the game, and Rudy comes in and says, ‘Coach, I can’t go. I ain’t playing,’” Allen recounted as he twisted his face into a puzzling frown. “I’m sitting there thinking like, ‘What you mean you ain’t playing? I just saw you windmill dunking the other night. Now you saying your toe is hurting?’”
Gay sitting out meant Allen had to shift his assignment from defending Harden to guarding Durant. The Grizzlies end up winning an emotional game, with Allen matching a big game from Durant with one of his own.
“He may have gotten 30, but I got 27,” Allen said proudly to the group. “He wasn’t getting 40 on me. So our TV guy came up to me after the game for the interview and asked me what went into my performance. And that’s where you get that highlight from. I said, ‘All heart, grit and grind. All you have to have is a little heart.”
Allen then blushed.
“They thought I was talking about something else with the game,” Allen said. “But I was talking about Rudy.”
The room erupted in laughter and applause again.
The most compelling aspect of Allen’s visit was that it came during the most difficult time of his season. He was removed from the starting lineup earlier this month and saw his role and minutes reduced as the Grizzlies were in the midst of a season-long, five-game losing streak.
But two days after a demoralizing home loss to the NBA-worst Brooklyn Nets, Allen was in rare form on an assignment that mattered far more than any on-court struggles.
“I know I’m not going to get to everybody,” Allen said. “But I know there’s somebody in there who will be like, ‘Yo, T.A. was right, man. I’m not going to go back into this wrongdoing that I got caught up in last time.’ If I can get to just one, I feel like I’ve done my job. When I say all heart, grit and grind, this is the all heart part of that.”
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