Before Kenny Anderson’s erratic path to adulthood, he met a young couple from Atlanta. A mutual friend arranged an introduction at one of his first Georgia Tech basketball games.
Through his early entry into the NBA, his 14 years as a pro and all the personal drama — the squandering of an estimated $60 million, the seven children by five mothers — Bryan Grant and Avis Franklin-Grant have kept their door open and a room just for Anderson.
When Anderson graduated from college in south Florida in May, the Grants shared the celebration as his surrogates. They regard his academic achievement as proof of the man they knew he was and could be.
“Now that you have that degree, the world is yours,” Bryan Grant, 50, told Anderson.
Potential has always followed Anderson, who some call the best player ever from New York City. He left behind the giant apartment complex of LeFrak City in Queens and his mother Joan, who told him to graduate from college for her.
A LeFrak friend put him in touch with the Grants, who watched him in an AAU game.
“He had a bum ankle and [still] scored 18 points with 17 assists,” Grant said. “We gave him our number and a month went by, and then he called. From then on, we never lost touch — in college, NBA. If not once a week, at least once a month. Even today if something important comes in the mail to Kenny, it comes here.”
“Atlanta is my second home,” said Anderson, whose college-aged daughter lives in Decatur. He spoke by phone from Pembroke Pines, Fla., where he lives with his third wife Natasha, a clinical social worker, her daughter and his son Ken Jr., who are both 9.
As a self-employed watch repairman, Grant wouldn’t fit in any NBA entourage, but he knew how to keep track of a young man in a fun city.
Before Anderson led the Yellow Jackets to the 1990 Final Four as a freshman, the Grants had already taken him to their place of worship, Mount Ephraim Baptist Church in Atlanta. Then it was on to life skills, like teaching him how to drive.
Franklin-Grant teaches second grade at A.L. Burruss Elementary in Marietta. When Anderson entered the NBA draft at age 19 as the couple accompanied him to New York, she echoed his mom: “Always get your education. It’s so important and it will take you a longer way in life. A degree is a tool you can use anywhere, when basketball isn’t there. Please do that for me.”
Anderson’s basketball gifts appeared to give him the world, and his personality and choices cost him almost as much. “A challenge with a smile,” is how the Grants describe their dialogue during his rocky years.
“We all have to go and get to the point where we can come back and take advice,” Franklin-Grant said.
“Even if Kenny lost everything, he’d always have his own room here,” Grant said of his extra guest room in Acworth.
The Grants stayed strong in what they believed, even as their spiritual protege went his prodigal way.
“I spent my money. Is it bad to spend your money? Was I too generous? I didn’t know how to say no. I needed more substance in life,” Anderson said.
“No. 2, people say Kenny Anderson is a womanizer, he has a lot of kids — seven kids. I like women, and I take care of all my kids. It was not a one-night stand. I was with them and do the best I can.
“What else are people going to say about me? What else? I was not abusive, a drug addict, a gambler, beating up people. No. I am not afraid to open up, and kids need to hear that.”
The Grants believed in Anderson’s character during that forging. When their son Bryan Jr., BJ, was born 11 years ago, they made Anderson his godfather. “Kenny flew in specifically from the league for the christening,” Franklin-Grant said.
In 2005, the Los Angeles Clippers let Anderson go. He was out of money. The same year, his mother died. “That was the low point,” Franklin-Grant said.
Anderson drew on their support and his mother’s wish for his education to return to college. St. Thomas University in Miami offers a degree in organizational leadership and gives credits for “experiential learning.” For a communication and speech class, Anderson created portfolios of his media coverage. He transferred 37 credits from Georgia Tech.
Perhaps the truest measure of the couple’s closeness to Anderson is that he understood their choice to bypass his graduation. As Anderson donned cap and gown, his godson manned right field for the East Cobb Tigers’ travel team in an important tournament game.
Today, Anderson runs two 24-Hour Fitness centers and trains kids who want to be like him on the court. Some are on the verge of adult life, where he was when the Grants met him.
“I count my blessings, not my mishaps,” Anderson said. “I’m on the path God chose for me, and I am right where I need to be. I don’t look back at nothing. I had to do what I did at 18 to get to the person I am today. I always believe experience is the best teacher. You’ve got to go through something to be something.”
He’d like to coach and one day take over Georgia Tech’s program. At 39, Anderson said he has time to reach that goal.
“I am so proud and happy for him,” Franklin-Grant said.
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