Even before making it to the NBA, millions of people already knew Carmelo Anthonyās name. Heās one of the greatest scorers in basketball history, one of Team USAās all-time leading scorers, and a future Hall of Famer.
Anthony was the third-overall pick of the 2003 NBA Draft and made an immediate impact in the league, leading the Denver Nuggets and New York Knicks to the playoffs before his career took a bit of a downfall.
But, long before that, it seems like people couldnāt even get his name right. Growing up in Baltimore after spending the first years of his life in New York, the young Melo had to start from scratch and even considered changing his name.
Carmelo Anthony Says He Almost ChangedHis Name To Tyrone Johnson
āIām in 3rd grade. Iām coming from New York,ā Melo said onArmchair Expert with Dax Shepard. āNobody knows who the hell I am [in Baltimore]. I come the summer of ā92. School starts in September. So I have two months to meet some people, hang out. Mind you, Iām 8 or 9 years old at this point. When I get to 3rd grade, first day of school you gotta write your name on a white index card.ā
āThat whole summer, people was butchering my name. It was just like āCarameloā and āCameloā. āThere wasnāt no nothing bad to it. I just didnāt like people fāing my name up. ā¦ So I write the name āTyroneā and Iām looking around and Iām like āwhat last name am I gonna go with?āSo I see a textbook and itās like āJohnsonā and something textbook. So Iām like, āTyrone Johnsonā,ā Anthony said.
Well, kids will be kids. Itās hilarious to think that a frustrated young Carmelo wanted to be called Tyrone Johnson, and itās even funnier to imagine all those children mispronouncing his name.
At the end of the day, Anthony decided to just suck it up and stick with his name. Now, Iām pretty sure that all of his former classmates are damn sure who he is.
Other Top Stories:
