Andre Iguodala

With Carvell Wallace The Sixth Man This book was published in 2019. It includes comments through the last championship series with Toronto. It doesn’t mention that he has now been traded from the Warriors team. It chronicles his life from the early years in Springfield, Illinois. 80%of the citizens were white and 20% black. They were separated by race. His early life was pleasant even learning of the divide. His mother was responsible for seeing that he studied and played hard. He started playing with basketballs at an early age and never stopped. He had good coaching mentors along the way. The first time he understood that being black made him different was when, because of his good grades, he was admitted as a freshman at what was a nearly all-white high school. When he entered his first class the teacher asked him if he was in the right place. He showed her his credentials and she led him to a seat. The idea that a black boy could be smart enough to be in this school was not realistic. He continued to grow bigger and taller and excelled on the court. He was recruited by Lute Olson of Arizona and played there for two seasons. Lute wanted him to stay but he opted for the NBA and off he went. As a U of A basketball nut case, I was disappointed that he had so few words to write about Arizona. He felt Lute was hard. He never mentioned the fans. We think we are special in the way we support the teams no matter who is playing. The rest of the book follows his journey from team to team ending with the great seasons with the Warriors when they became such an outstanding team winning three National Championships. He lets us know the strain that is a part of playing so intently for so long and the negative effect on your body. The overriding theme however was his always conscious belief that he was being used by white people for gain. He seldom let it be known publicly but in his writing it is clear. That does not detract from my belief that he is a fine family man who gave his all throughout his career to be the best he could be. You must respect him for that.