J. Wertheim Resources

Wahl, G. & Wertheim, L.J. with Munson, L. & Yaeger, D. (1998, May 4). Paternity: Where’s Daddy? Sports Illustrated, p. 62. Guschov, S. (1998, May 30). Show Me the Paternity: NBA has Enough Players, but not Enough Men. World, p. 21.

According to Sports Illustrated,

Pro athletes have fathered numbers of out-of-wedlock children. One NBA star has seven by six women. Paternity cases have disrupted teams. What’s happening, and what does it mean for the kids left behind…Many (of these athletes) seem oblivious to the legal, financial and emotional consequences.

ESPN broadcaster and former NBA player, Len Elmore, has quit working as an agent partly because of frustration with the irresponsibility of his clients: " ‘For numbers, I would guess that one (out of wedlock child) for every player is a good ballpark figure…For every player with none, there’s a guy with two or three.’ "

Another of the league’s top agents says: " ‘I’d say that there might be more kids out of wedlock than there are players in the NBA.’ "

Shawn Kemp of the Cleveland Cavaliers is reported to have fathered seven children, and the burden supposedly contributed to the breakdown of his game in 1997. Obviously, it also affected the performance of his team. Kemp wanted to support and see his children and was rebuffed by women who wanted him to marry them. In all these stories there is a theme of irresponsibility and sometimes abuse on the male side along with some examples of opportunism on the part of those described as "bad women."

This article tells of the legal conflicts, DNA testing and alleged threats around Larry Johnson, married to Celeste for three years with two children. A flight attendant gave birth to Gabrielle Tyler Johnson and DNA determined the father to be Larry Johnson in 1993. Johnson had just signed a 12-year contract with the Charlotte Hornets for $84 million. In November of 1997 tests confirmed that Johnson was the father of an LA model who had faced pressures and threats to abort.

According to documents obtained by SI, Johnson is supporting five children by four women, including the two children he has with his wife. But his penchant for unplanned fatherhood hardly makes him unique. Consider this NBA All-Paternity team of players who have had children out of wedlock and have subsequently been the subject of parternity-related lawsuits: Larry Bird, Patrick Ewing, Juwan Howard, Shawn Kemp, Jason Kidd, Stephon Marbury, Hakeem Olajuwan, Gary Payton, Scottie Pippen and Isiah Thomas. Many other NBA players who have never been the subject of litigation are also supporting out-of-wedlock children, including Kenny Anderson, Allen Iverson and Latrell Sprewell, who had three children by three women before he turned 21.

Paternity suits are by no means the exclusive preserve of the NBA, nor are they unique to this generation. Athletes from Gary Sheffield to Andre Rison, Juan Gonzales to Alonzo Spellman, Mark Messier to Oscar De La Hoya, Roscoe Tanner to Pete Rose, Steve Garvey to Jim Palmer were all subjected to paternity suits and paid support for children born out of wedlock. (Pro-football star, Dave Meggitt, is said to have five children with several women.)

The facts reported here represent only the visible "tip of the iceberg," according to Gloria Allred, a Los Angeles family-law attorney who has represented dozens of mothers of mothers in paternity cases directed at athletes. She estimates that 90% of such cases are settled quietly out of court.

This problem is certainly not restricted to athletes. In the population at large 18% of the births were to unwed mothers in 1980. By 1995 that figure had risen to 32%. Still, the prevalence of paternity outside of marriage is higher among highly paid athletes with celebrity status.

To World Magazine, Len Elmore reflects further on the "lack of responsibility" in NBA players these days:

Today’s athletes don’t care. They’re hung up on instant gratification. There’s no view of the impact that present day decisions have on the future.

A.C. Green (once with the Lakers and then with the Dallas Mavericks) adds:

‘As professional athletes, we are role models, whether we like it or not. The question is whether we’re going to be good ones or bad ones.’

In the wake of these revelations Athletes in Action and Boston’s Ten Point Coalition sponsored a youth rally at which Boston Patriot, Steve Israel, spoke. This is what he told a few hundred teenagers:

‘Save sex for when you get married. Hold each other accountable. Draw each other in. Support each other…and keep each other strong. That’s what will help you get through these sort of temptations.’

‘For girls, you may have a baby to raise by yourself, maybe even while you’re still in high school. The guy might leave you and go on to college and continue his life. He might be less affected by it than the girl is. But when the guy goes away, then the baby grows up without a father there.’

Finally, it seems to us, someone got to the real heart of this story. It is finally about NBA players or women trying to hold on to a father…or get a lot of money. It’s about kids growing up without dads, a fatherless generation.

Still, we wonder about the phenomenon of big time sports and the high number of paternity cases. Some experts think the competitive nature of sports culture promotes proving masculinity through sexual exploits…as the boasting of Wilt Chamberlain and confession of Magic Johnson suggest. Sociologist Elijah Anderson says: " ‘The physical emphasis, the independence, the doing of battle with other men all underscore the male identity and dominance.’ " Others lament the failure of family and schools to put restraints on young athletes with exceptional promise. Consider the temptations of recent college grads (who saw their schools get rich while they scraped by unable to accept payment or gifts)…or even of teenage college drop-outs, suddenly flush with money and attention, and beautiful girls crowding to get into their limos or attend their wild parties!

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION

1. Think for a minute, is there any racist implications in this article? Do whites tend to consider sexual allegations against a white president as a personal or presidential matter, or revelations of white corporate sex parties as isolated organizational deviations, and cases of white priestly or ministerial offenses as pastoral indiscretions…but not as white problems. But when it comes out of the black community, it is suddenly a black problem. What do you think?
2. Do the wealth and lifestyle of professional athletes increase temptations and irresponsible behavior?
3. Has society glamorized promiscuous sex and pampered boys with extraordinary athletic skill?
4. Do some women target athletes out of personal obsession or in hopes of having a child and receiving lavish child support?
5. How much support per month do you think the courts should grant a mother on welfare when the proven father is making millions a year?

IMPLICATIONS

1. Our hearts must first of all go out to these athletes, whom society has ill socialized and then even manipulated. In this regard, we should note the story of young, pampered white athletes who went on to gang rape a retarded school girl they had grown up with. (Lefkowitz, B. [1998]. Our guys: The glen ridge rape and the secret life of the perfect suburb. New York: Vintage Books of Random House), The nice suburban town of not only contributed to such behavior, but many knew about it after the fact and refused to report it.
2. How many young women are raising children without a father figure or adequate support? Sex does have something to do, not only with love and commitment, but with family.
3. "There are no illegitimate kids; only illegitimate parents." Kids need a father, and men who breed children without a sense of paternal responsibility need instruction and legal constraints.