With plenty of big names being enshrined into the 2025 Basketball Hall of Fame this Saturday, Carmelo Anthony’s speech is already shaping up to be one of the best of the weekend. Carmelo Anthony delivered a powerful ode to basketball during his speech, and he also paid tribute to his late father who passed away when Anthony was very young.
“To my father, Carmelo Iriarte, Boriqua, you left this world too soon, but you never left me. Your name is my name. Your spirit walks with me and every step I take. You were a poet, an activist, a fighter. You taught me without even knowing that words matter,” Anthony said. “Even in your absence, you gave me strength. And in silence, you gave me purpose. And though I didn’t get to grow with you, I grew cause of you.”
“You gave me the first example of what it means to carry fire, and still speak with grace,” Anthony continued. “Your blood runs in mine, your dream lives through me. This Hall of Fame jacket that I receive, I’m not wearing it tonight, I wear it for the both of us.”
Long before his Hall of Fame induction, Carmelo Anthony was one of the most talented and highly-sought after high school prospects in the country. He began his high school career at Towson Catholic before finishing up at famed Oak Hill Academy.
Anthony was recruited by many of the top college basketball programs in the nation. He ultimately committed to Syracuse and then head coach Jim Boeheim. He led Syracuse to their only national championship in school history in 2003, before declaring for the NBA Draft. The No. 3 overall pick in 2003, Anthony would go on to be one of the league’s most gifted scorers.
Anthony is now a father of his own, with Kiyan Anthony having developed into a solid basketball prospect of his own. Kiyan announced his commitment also to Syracuse on Anthony’s podcast, ‘7PM in Brooklyn with Carmelo Anthony.’
