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Could Allen Iverson be the dose of family values the NBA needs? The man considered by many to be the bad boy of the current hip hop-driven NBA became a father for the fourth time Monday, August 15. Unlike many of his colleagues, though, the mother of Iverson's new daughter is his wife, Tawanna.

Over the past few years, the number of illegitimate children sired by professional athletes, particularly those in the NBA, has been at the center of various controversies. Some players have more children by more women than any two or three other men do. Shawn Kemp, whose basketball playing never quite lived up to expectations, has fathered seven children with several women. Even basketball legends who played in the days before the all-glory athletes of today, players like Larry Bird, have children who are not part of their lives.

Sports commentators and sociologists who study this trend have argued that this trend is more prevalent in the National Basketball Association than other sports for two reasons. First, basketball players, who do not don pads or helmets or facemasks on the court, have a much higher profile than other professional athletes. Second, basketball players on average make more money than athletes in other sports.

Iverson, though, has four children all with his wife. This newest addition, Messiah Lauren, joins a sister, Tiaura, and two brothers, Allen II and Isaish, in the Iverson mansion north of Philadelphia. Iverson married his high school sweetheart in 2001 after they had two of their children. Despite the turmoil and media scrutiny that followed them through the first years of their marriage, the Iversons have remained together and from all outward appearances very happy.

During this past July, Iverson sponsored his nearly-annual celebrity softball game along with a number of other charity events in his native Virginia. Iverson's Crossover Foundation had an unlikely co-sponsor for this event, the National Fatherhood Initiative. While Iverson doesn't seem a likely spokesperson for this group, he is, in fact, the type of fatherhood role model much of America needs.

Hailing from the city streets where more black men are killed or in prison than go to college, Iverson represents the potential for this segment of America. It is not his job and money that make him stand out; it is his place in his children's lives. Iverson spoke at his charity event of the importance of fathers being in their children's lives and of how special each of his children is to him.

He spoke then of the impending birth of his second daughter and of how exciting this time in his life is. Any parent knows how much anticipation fills the days before the arrival of a new person who will bring so much joy to your life.

This sentiment is not often shared by his on-court buddies or the men like him on the streets. In a world where fathering children is often free of any responsibility, Iverson stands up to the challenge of being a powerful force in his children's lives. And they will be better off for it.

by Julia Mercer