The pre-game season opener of the Philadelphia 76ers paved the way for an Allen Iverson retirement announcement.

With his college coach, John Thompson; his professional coach, Larry Brown; Julius Erving and of course his mother wearing his jersey by his side during the ceremony, Iverson announced his retirement from the league.

The former 76ers superstar, who is set to have his jersey raised on March 1, said he is happy and blessed to see how he has influenced the game and for playing with the NBA.

"My whole thing was, just being me," Iverson said. "Now, you look around the NBA and all of them have tattoos, guys wearing cornrows. You used to think the suspect was the guy with the cornrows, now you see the police officers with the cornrows. You know what I'm saying? I took a beating for those types of things."

"I thought that once this day came, it would be basically a tragic day," the four-time scoring champion said. "I never imagined the day coming, but I knew it would come. I feel proud and happy to say that I'm happy with my decision and I feel great."

"I'm going to always be a Sixer til I die," the point guard who led his team for the 2001 NBA finals said who played for the team 10 years in his professional career.

AI's longtime mentor and coach Larry Brown expressed how greatly he appreciates Allen's achievements in the league and how greatly the former all-star MVP influenced players with how he played.

"He had an unbelievable career. I don't think any little player in the history of our game impacted the game like him, like he did. I don't know if many players impacted the game like he did. I can't go anywhere where people don't stop me and ask me about Allen."

Brown hopes that the league would pay tribute to the player because he said that he deserves to be treated that way.

"I just wish there was some way the league could honor him," the coach said. "It is one thing doing it in Philly when they retire his jersey. But he needed to go to every arena and have people show what he meant."