National Basketball Association

Allen Iverson no-shows high school speaking engagement before Hall of Fame ceremony

Published Nov. 15, 2016 3:08 p.m. ET

Dan Carson

Allen Iverson is, as ever, a gamble.

At his best, he's an untouchable force on the court and the most loyal friend you can have. At worst, he's not there at all—an absence.

And while much of the past week has been filled with the candor and storytelling of Good Iverson ahead of his induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, there was an instance reminiscent of his Mr. Hyde version that cropped up Friday at Commerce High School in Springfield, Massachusetts.

According to Tom Westerholm of MassLive.com, Iverson had agreed to join fellow 2016 HOF inductee Sheryl Swoopes and Hall of Famer Calvin Murphy for a speaking engagement at the school before his induction into the Hall, but failed to show.

Students who'd piled into the school auditorium to hear Iverson speak chanted "We want A-I" as they waited, and Iverson—who was late to Thursday's HOF presser—never appeared.

Swoopes touched briefly on Iverson's absence when it came time to speak, per Westerholm.

"I'm not going to be here long," Swoopes said. "I know you guys have been sitting here for a while, you've been waiting on us. Well, you haven't been waiting on me, but I won't talk about it."

Commerce's chief communications office Azell Cavaan explained that Iverson missed the event due to circumstances out of control of the Naismith Hall of Fame, which put together the engagement.

"We were expecting him to show up," Cavaan said. "Due to some circumstances, he didn't...the organizers said there were circumstances that came up beyond their control. That's all we were told."

Dan is on Twitter. Allen will always Allen. That's both his greatest charm and downfall.