Allan Houston arrived in Knoxville in 1989 as a state champion and McDonald’s All-America performer at Louisville’s Ballard High School. He graduated from UT in 1993 with a degree in African American studies, and was named a torchbearer. He was a two-time All-America and a four-time All-Southeastern Conference selection, as well as UT’s all-time leading scorer (2,801 points). He captured the 1993 SEC scoring title by averaging 22.3 points per game and also set UT’s single-season scoring record with 806 points as a sophomore in 1990-91. Houston played his way to MVP honors at the 1991 SEC Tournament, was named to ESPN’s five-man Silver Anniversary All-SEC Team and was selected to Tennessee’s All-Century Team.
Houston was selected 11th overall in the 1993 NBA draft by the Detroit Pistons, and in 1996 he signed with the New York Knicks as a free agent. He spent nine seasons with the Knicks before announcing his retirement in 2005. In addition to his NBA success—which included six playoff appearances (during which he averaged 19.3 points per game), two All-Star appearances and a career scoring average of 17.3 points per game—Houston also earned Olympic gold with USA Basketball’s men’s team at the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney, Australia.
He was inducted into the State of Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame in 2006, was selected as UT’s Chick-fil-A SEC Basketball Legend in 2007, and was selected as the New York Knicks’ Player of the Decade for 2000–2009. In August 2013 he was inducted into the Kentucky High School Basketball Hall of Fame, as was his grandfather, William Kean, Kentucky’s all-time winningest high school basketball coach, who coached from 1922 to 1958 and had an 856-83 win-loss record.
He established the Wade Houston Scholarships for minority undergraduate students at UT.
UT retired his number, 20, on March 6, 2011, at the halftime of the Kentucky game.