Allan Houston was born in Louisville, Ky. and played at Ballard High School in Louisville where they won the 1988 Kentucky State Championship. Houston played collegiate basketball at the University of Tennessee where he was a star under his coach and father, Wade.
He told a Kentucky sports reporter, “Most people, when you’re in your four years of college, you grow more distant from your father. But we became closer because of getting to see each other, and see each other in intense moments and being together.”
When Houston graduated in 1993, he was a two time All-America and the school’s all-time leading scorer. Now twenty-five years after graduating, Houston remains UT’s all-time leading scorer with 2801 points. On March 6, 2011, the University of Tennessee retired Houston’s number (20) during halftime ceremonies at a Tennessee-Kentucky game.
Houston is best known for his years as shooting guard for the New York Knicks, (1996 – 2005). Touted as one of the “purest shooters” in the NBA, he finished his career as one of the NBA’s all-time greatest long-range shooters (#11 in three pointers made) and one of the all-time leading scorers in Knicks history (#2 in three pointers, #4 in total points, and #8 in scoring average). Houston is a two-time NBA All-Star, and in his last healthy season (2002-03) finished as the 10th leading scorer in the league. But for all his accomplishments he is especially proud of being named one of the “Good Guys in Sports” four times by The Sporting News and helping Team USA bring home the gold medal in the 2000 Summer Olympics games in Sydney, Australia.
Houston is currently the Assistant General Manager of the New York Knicks, General Manager of the Westchester Knicks, and Chairman of FISLL Media, LLC. FISLL is a multimedia educational platform teaching the principles of faith, integrity, sacrifice, leadership, and legacy as the fundamentals of life.
A man of faith and strong family values, Houston lives his life with the determination to apply his success as a professional athlete to help others. Since its creation in 2001, the Allan Houston Legacy Foundation (AHLF) has served thousands of participants across the country through programs that promote youth mentoring, responsible fatherhood, and entrepreneurship. In addition, he has served as a spokesperson for the National Fatherhood Initiative, an international ambassador for the NBA, and an analyst for ESPN.
Allan and his wife, Tamara, are proud parents of seven children: daughters Remie, Rowan, Jade, Jodi and Truth and sons Allan III and Asher.