The agent quickly told the publisher that Allred was a writer and Harper-Collins agreed to publish after reading what Allred had already penned. Allred was told his book had to be cut in third to make it more marketable and the book ended up 250 pages. As of last Tuesday, the book has been available at most bookstores in Utah and elsewhere around the country.

When you meet Allred in person, you'll find a very tall, handsome young man with a scruffy beard on his chin and an easy smile. At 6-foot-11, he's had to put up with insensitive comments from strangers, difficulty shopping for clothes and a lot of bumps to the top of his head.

He lives in an apartment on Salt Lake City's East Bench with his beloved black Scottish terrier, Mac, who goes with him everywhere (the dog even accompanied him to Europe when he played pro basketball there).

His room is decorated with posters of rock stars from the 1960s and '70s — Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors and Neil Diamond. He says he loves the "classic" music of that era because he can better hear the music with the individual instruments, rather than the "noise" of today's music.

As you converse with Allred, you sense no hint of a hearing problem unless you see the tiny digital aids inside his ears or notice how intently he looks at you. He speaks clearly and succinctly, with only the occasional dropping of the R sound in his speech. He's extremely articulate, using words such as "capricious" without acting the least bit pretentious.

Allred can entertain you all day with stories about his life in a polygamous cult, where he spent most of the first 13 years of his life in a commune in Montana before settling in Salt Lake near the University of Utah. "It's normal to me because I grew up there," he says. "I grew up with literally hundreds of cousins."

Allred can expound at length about the fascist and socialistic aspects of polygamist cults and why some aspects work and others don't. He believes it worked quite well in 19th century America, but is convinced, "in this day and age, it doesn't work."

In his book, Allred pulls no punches while making fun of odd aunts and uncles or even his grandmother and siblings. But he points out that he's harder on himself than anyone else. "I make fun of myself and everyone around me and have fun doing it."

His family escaped the cult at great personal risk and eventually converted to the LDS Church when he was 15. Today, Allred calls himself a "devout spiritual person" who loves the Book of Mormon but is not a religious person.

Allred still gets the credit or blame, depending on how you look at it, for Utah coach Rick Majerus' resignation in 2004 after stories of Majerus' mistreatment of Allred, when he called him "a disgrace to cripples" and other similar things became public. Contrary to rumors, Allred never filed any sort of harassment suit, but Majerus high-tailed it out of town soon after the news hit.