Attendees (left) participate in an activity during former Michigan State University basketball player Anthony Ianni’s anti-bullying awareness presentation Sept. 18 at Henry Ford College.
By ZEINAB NAJM
Times-Herald Newspapers
DEARBORN — A packed room of students and residents listened as former Michigan State University basketball player Anthony Ianni detailed his personal journey with bullying throughout the years during an anti-bullying awareness presentation Sept. 18 at Henry Ford College.
The basketball-player-turned-motivational-speaker told the crowd stories about his Pervasive Developmental Disorder — which is a subtype of autism — and how that along with his height caused others to bully him growing up.
Ianni was diagnosed at the age of 4 in the early 1990s when autism wasn’t well known yet, and at the age of 5 a group of doctors and professionals told his parents not to expect their son to do much in life because he had autism.
The parents also were told that Ianni was going to barely graduate high school, never go to college or be an athlete, and that when finished with high school be in a group institution with other autistic children like himself for the rest of his life.
During the presentation, Ianni said he wasn’t told that story by his family until he was a freshman in high school and that he used it as motivation to prove wrong those people or any other doubters in his life.
“Each and every single day for me was a different day with a more difficult challenge,” he said, “but I had great teachers who sacrificed and supported a lot for me to help me get through those tough days and challenges and more importantly help me become the best student that I could be.”
Ianni not only graduated from Okemos High School, he played basketball there and also at Michigan State University under Coach Tom Izzo.
He is the first known athlete with autism to play in the NCAA and the Big Ten Conference where MSU won two conference championships and a Big Ten Tournament.
During his final year at MSU, Ianni was award a full-ride scholarship from Izzo. Also, Ianni graduated from MSU with a bachelor’s degree in Sociology
“I’m proud of two things in my life,” he said. “The first one is this: Everybody here in this room is looking at the first-ever Division I college basketball player in NCAA history diagnosed with autism and I’m very proud of that. And, I think I more proud of he fact that I graduated and got my degree in Sociology from Michigan State.”
The two obstacles Ianni said he had to overcome was being bullied for having autism and for being tall or big from kindergarten through high school.
Ianni said that when he was in first grade, a fifth-grader befriended him and told all the other bullies to stop bulling Ianni because that was his little brother. But the fifth-grader betrayed Ianni and bullied him with the information he learned about Ianni.
Fast forward 17 years later when, after a basketball game at the Breslin Center, that same fifth-grader was waiting with a basketball and marker to have the ball signed for himself and his little brother. Ianni said he remembered that the fifth-grader didn’t have any siblings and wanted it signed for himself, but he signed it anyway.
“Be careful what you say and do to others in life because you never know what that person will end up being like in the future,” Ianni said. “That person we may have bullied, teased, disrespect, pushed around, made fun of — could end up being one of the greatest athletes in the world one day.”
Ianni also used celebrities as examples of those who were bullied as kids citing names from a list he found a few years ago which included Eminem, Justin Timberlake, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez, Tom Cruise, Michael Phelps, Leo, Chris Rock and Michael Jordan.
After he called six up attendees for an activity relating to Timberlake, Ianni gave his wristband to a young man from Allen Park to thank him for participating and also remind him how he can be the change needed in his community.
“Ianni’s Relentless Tour is sponsored by the Michigan Department of Civil Rights and is a grassroots initiative designed to eradicate bullying across Michigan and beyond,” a HFC press release said. “Ianni has pledged his career to helping those who are bullied and facing similar challenges to those he faced. He has inspired countless individuals to ‘LYD’ – live your dreams.”
For more information on the Relentless Tour go to www.relentlesstour.com.
(Zeinab Najm can be reached at [email protected])