Carmelo Anthony is an American basketball player who currently plays for the New York Knicks NBA team. He was born in Brooklyn, New York on May 29, 1984 to Carmelo and Mary Iriarte. His father was Puerto Rican whereas his mother was African American. He had a difficult childhood growing up in Baltimore, Maryland. His father died when he was 2 years old and his mother worked as a housekeeper to support him and his three siblings. The neighborhood where he grew up was famous for its pervasive drug culture and street crime but Anthony had a strict upbringing which kept him away from these influences. Anthony’s mother was very particular about her children’s school performance and as a result, he always worked hard at school.
Using sports as a divergence from his brutal surroundings, Anthony turned to basketball at an early age. He studied at Towson Catholic High School where he made his name as a skilled and talented player. During the summer of 1999, he had a growth spurt of 5 inches which added to his strengths. Soon, he began to be scouted by colleges including University of North Carolina and Syracuse. He also received awards and media attention including being named Baltimore’s County Player of the Year, All-Metropolitan Player of the Year and Baltimore Catholic League Player of the Year. The sudden fame affected his personality and he was even cut from his high school team for a while for skipping classes. In the end, he decided to accept the offer made by Syracuse University but in order to bring his grades up to par, he first had to attend Oak Hill Academy, a private boarding school known for training several NBA stars.
Anthony enrolled at Syracuse in 2002 and led his team to its first national championships in the spring of 2003 for which he was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. In 2003, he decided to go pro and join the NBA, where he was enlisted by the Denver Nuggets. As in college, his rookie season with the NBA was extremely successful with a 21 point average and 6 rebounds per game. He
