Allen Iverson was known for his scoring prowess and explosive athleticism. The former Philadelphia 76ers shooting guard averaged 26.7 points per game in his 14-year NBA career. He was a versatile player who made all-around contributions. Iverson made defenders look foolish on a nightly basis.
Advertisement
However, there was one person he wasn’t able to best and that was a piano player. Not just any pianist, but Grammy award-winning artist, Bruce Hornsby.
The unlikely friendship started from a friendly one-on-one matchup between the two in the 90s. Hornsby beat the future NBA legend, but the rules were altered a bit.
“There were a bunch of witnesses and I guess I caught him a little rusty. I just had one of those days where I couldn’t miss… We played three games of one-on-one. We played two dribble maximum,” Hornsby said.
In a typical one-on-one game, Hornsby understood that he stood no chance. However, he enforced a set of rules known as the ‘Piano Hand Rules’ for a reason outside of winning and losing.
In a recollection of the story told in Larry Platt’s Iverson biography, ‘Only the Strong Survive’, the reasoning behind Hornsby’s rules was revealed.
“As a piano player, however, Hornsby had to guard against any injury to his hands. So he’d come up with his ‘Piano Hands Rules’. Each player would get one shot each time they got the ball, and any rebound would be an automatic change of possession.”
Hornsby refrains from speaking on the story publically but first did so on ESPN’s Dan Le Batard Show in 2017. When Iverson was convicted of brawling in a bowling alley and sent to jail in his senior year of high school, Hornsby appealed to the governor of that time.
“… I thought it was a serious miscarriage of justice… Because we had elected the first black governor, I would say, in America, Doug Wilder… I started working with Spike (Lee). I told him about Allen Iverson before anyone knew about him, because he was a high school phenom around here…”
He further mentioned how Iverson learnt about this and wanted to meet him. “A couple months after this happened, I got a call from his high school coach at Bethel High School, Mike Bailey, saying, ‘Hey, Allen knows what you did, and would love to meet you… So I said, ‘Hey, why don’t ya’ll come up so we can play some basketball?’ So he said, yeah, he’d love that…”
He also humbly confessed what the final score of their matchup was.
“I feel so stupid saying it because it’s a joke. I beat him three games in a row,” Hornsby said.
Former Grateful Dead keyboardist, @brucehornsby, came by to talk about his music festival, pranking Jerry Garcia, and beating A.I.
-Lorenzo pic.twitter.com/vGdGn7ha2i— Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz (@LeBatardShow) March 21, 2017
Although the encounter between the two was meant to be a one-off occurrence, a long-lasting friendship was formed.
How Hornsby and Iverson became friends
The fact that Iverson and Hornsby are Virginia natives played a part in their gathering. However, it was Hornsby’s involvement in getting Iverson released from prison, which ignited the friendship.
In an interview with Uproxx in 2019, Hornsby shared what drove him to advocate on behalf of the young Iverson. He said,
“He was convicted of brawling in a bowling alley, and sent to jail his senior year of high school. I thought it was a serious miscarriage of justice… This was 1992 or 1993 when this happened, and I started working with Spike (Lee). I told him about Allen Iverson before anyone knew about him, because he was a high school phenom around here.”
At this time, Hornsby was a well-known musician for his work with the band The Grateful Dead. Iverson couldn’t believe someone of the stature of Hornsby would help him and wanted to thank him personally. Hornsby recalled,
“A couple months after this happened, I got a call from his high school coach at Bethel High School, Mike Bailey, saying, ‘Hey, Allen knows what you did, and would love to meet you. Hey, why don’t ya’ll come up so we can play some basketball?’ So he said, yeah, he’d love that.”
