Anthony Davis grew up in Englewood, one of Chicago's most dangerous neighborhoods, where poverty rates doubled the city average and the sound of gunfire was part of the evening routine. His parents — Anthony Sr., a carpenter, and Erainer, a nurse — made a decision that shaped everything that followed: they enrolled their son at Perspectives Charter School, a math and science academy seven miles from home. Perspectives had a strong academic reputation and almost no athletic infrastructure. There was no gymnasium. The middle school basketball teams practiced at the nearby Second Presbyterian Church.
Davis was, by every account, unremarkable as a basketball prospect. He ended his freshman year at six feet tall — a guard who liked to shoot threes from the corner. His twin sister Antoinette and older sister Iesha were part of a tight family unit that kept him focused while Englewood pulled other kids in darker directions. Then his body changed. He grew an inch by sophomore year, then kept going — six-four, six-eight, six-ten. A ten-inch growth spurt across three years, with no knee pain, transforming a perimeter shooter into something no one in Chicago had ever seen: a near-seven-footer who still moved and thought like a point guard.
For three years of Chicago Public League play, nobody noticed. Perspectives played in the Blue Division, which the city's basketball media ignored. His junior year, the team went 8-15. His family considered transferring him to a powerhouse, but Hyde Park Career Academy coach Donnie Kirksey advised against it: "If you're good enough, they'll find you wherever you are."
They found him. In the spring of his junior year, Davis joined Tai Streets' Meanstreets AAU program, and suddenly the basketball world realized what had been hiding in a gymnasium-less charter school on the South Side. Syracuse was the first high-major program to visit Perspectives. Within weeks, every blue blood in the country was calling. By the time he was done — 32 points, 22 rebounds, and 7 blocks per game as a senior, McDonald's All-American, Parade first-team All-American, Jordan Brand Classic co-MVP — he was the number one recruit in America.
He committed to Kentucky on August 13, 2010, choosing the Wildcats over Ohio State, Syracuse, and DePaul. John Calipari described him simply: "A tremendous shot blocker with great size and length. He can make three-pointers, dribble the ball, and he can get up and down the court faster than some of our guards." The little guy who shot threes from the corner was about to become the most dominant player in college basketball.