Allen Iverson is in a unique position to understand both the influence of the superstars and the anger of the family's victims. He has been a star basketball player himself, an influential figure who could have donned an "I Can't Breathe" T-shirt alongside other athletes, should he have been in the league. But 20 years ago, he looked more like the men whose lives were cut short. Back then, an 18-year-old Iverson found himself sitting in a Virginia courtroom being unfairly sentenced to 15 years in prison.

A star athlete in both football and basketball at Bethel High School in Hampton, Virginia, Iverson was considered a top recruit coming off of two state championship victories. But after a violent and racially-charged fight broke out at a local bowling alley in 1993, he was seen by some as a target to those who didn't want him to succeed.

The fight and its repercussions are the focus of a new documentary, "Iverson," airing this month on Showtime.