Ray Allen was born Walter Ray Allen on July 20, 1975.
Article from XXL Basketball Magazine
Few NBA stars would ever be caught playing blackjack at an Indian reservation casino next to their hometown. But sitting at a $10 table months after signing a 6-year, $71 million deal? For Milwaukee's Ray Allen, it's just a part of being a normal guy. "This guy walked up behind me and said: 'Shouldn't you be playing at the maximum table?'" said Allen. "I'm thinking just because I can, doesn't mean I will. This is just for pleasure."
Easily the Bucks' most recognizable player, thanks in no small part by his starring role in Spike Lee's film 'He Got Game,' Allen has continued living a normal life. "He still eats at Ma Fischer's," wrote Milwaukee Journal Sentinel columnist Michael Hunt of Wisconsin's riches athlete. "He still goes to movies at the Oriental. And he still hangs out at East Side arcades."
That may come as a bit of a surprise, considering his childhood was so unorthodox. Allen Senior was a welding technician for the U.S. Army which meant that family had to move a lot as Ray was growing up. He was born in California and lived for extended periods in Germany, Oklahoma, England, California, South Carolina, Connecticut, and finally, Wisconsin.
Some of the key formative years were spent in a tiny village outside of Ipswich, England. So while his team-mates today may have always seen basketball as the way of getting out of the ghetto, Ray adopted football (soccer) and darts as a way of gaining acceptance of his peers.
"Moving to England was neat because everything was different from what I was accustomed to," Allen said. "We needed to use a different vocabulary order to get certain things. They didn't necessarily do things the same way we did them in America. It teaches you early on that just because this is how we do things in the United States doesn't mean it is the right way."
Even in England, hoops were his first love. "I started plating basketball in England, around the time I was nine," said Ray. "With my dad and brother being players, it seemed natural that basketball was going to be my sport and that was what I was good at."
Overall, though, Europe was a good thing for Ray. "I loved living in England and I didn't really want to leave," he said. "I really enjoyed my time there and really enjoyed my experience. But I just wanted to get older so I could start playing basketball."
Ray Allen Notes
Has a daughter born in 1992 named Tierra
Alpha Phi Alpha
Worked out his own contract in 6-26-99 without an agent
Left UConn after his junior year
The Minnesota Timberwolves drafted him with the #1 draft pick (#5 overall) in the first round of the 1996 NBA Draft
Rights traded, along with a future first-round draft pick, to the Milwaukee Bucks for Stephon Marbury on June 26, 1996.
Starred with Denzel Washington in Spike Lee's movie "He Got Game" (1998)
Took two months worth of acting lessons for “He Got Game”
Dating Middletown, CT native Shannon Walker Williams, an actress who is on the soap opera "As The World Turns"
Has a role in the movie “Harvard” (2000)
Has written a book "Ray of Hope : More Than Basketball and Money" (Cronopio Publishing - ISBN: 096580481X) was released in September of 1998
Player of the Year (UPI), 1995-96
Unanimous 1st Team All-American, 1995-96
3rd Team All-American (AP, NABC), 1995-96
Big East All-Rookie team 1993-94
Big East Player of the Year, 1995-96
3rd on Uconn’s career scoring list with 1,922 points
5th Uconn player to be taken in the NBA Draft
Holds UConn single-season record with 115 three-pointers in 1995-96.
Only UConn player ever to earn All-America recognition in back-to-back seasons, after being named to AP's and NABC's Third Team as a sophomore in 1994-95.
Appears in the movie Havard (2001)>/p>
Spokesman for Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund
Has one brother and three sisters
Interview from Eonline with Ken Neville
So, When Jesus Gets Pushed into a Roomful of Naked Women During a Recruiting Trip--That's All Real?
"Definitely. They put out the word that a prospect is coming--'recruit party'--and everybody calls a lot of girls."
Which Must Have Helped Him Prepare for the Love Scenes.
"Lots of guys say they have game with women, but I challenge any man to make it in front of the camera. That is the true test of what you've got."
Jesus Is a Basketball God Because He Was Pushed by his Father, but Don't Some Parents Push Too Hard?
"When I was at UConn, I would see people so stressed about exams. One girl killed herself because of the pressure she put on herself--and her parents put on her--to do well. The same thing happens in athletics. People want to excel. Where I grew up, we wanted to excel in basketball."
Ray was traded to The Seattle Supersonics on 2-19-03
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