Beginnings
Hardaway's nickname came as a result of his grandmother's calling him "Pretty" with a southern drawl, thus sounding like "Penny." Hardaway was raised by his grandmother while his mother was away working. His first love was football but his grandmother did not want him to get hurt. He grew up in the Binghampton neighborhood of shotgun houses in Memphis, Tennessee. As a teenager, despite his rising popularity around the city, in high school, and the nation, Penny continued to work as a referee of youth sports at the Memphis YMCA and played on the Memphis Y.M.C.A. Jr. Olympic basketball teams as a youth.
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“The beginnings of altruism can be seen in children as early as the age of two. How then can we be so concerned that they count by the age of three, read by four, and walk with their hands across the overhead parallel bars by five, and not be concerned that they act with kindness to others?”
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