Samantha Stevenson
Alexandra
Watch this story on "Outside the Lines" at 9 a.m. ET Sunday on ESPN.
Posted on 12/18/2008 3:40:17 PM PST by STARWISE
She put her dad on a shelf and left him there for a quarter-century. Just because the rest of the world is preoccupied with Julius Erving doesn't mean she's had to be.
She says she has never Googled him, that she has never even heard of "The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh." Instead, everything she's learned about the man has come second- or eighth-hand.
She first found out he was her father when she was 4, and she first started denying it when she was 5. She'd say her father died in the war or that he was a sheik in Kuwait or that his name was "Ken."
She didn't celebrate Father's Day, she celebrated Grandfather's Day. On dad-daughter nights at school, she'd show up with an uncle or a neighbor. On registration forms that required a father's name, she'd write "N/A" or "None Of Your Business!"
Through the years, Dr. J wasn't so much a secret as he was a figment of her imagination.
Until two months ago, when the phone rang ...
***Uncharted territory
There's no manual for this. There are no instructions for: Basketball icon meets female sportswriter, has extramarital affair, gets sportswriter pregnant, misses childbirth due to game against Pacers, asks for separate lives, reads about the child 18 years later in the newspaper, has a broken heart, wishes for a way to reconcile, spends nine years thinking about it, can't pull the trigger.
There's no way to fix all that. Is there? There can't possibly be a happily ever after. Can there? There's no phone call that can heal everything. Correct?
(Excerpt) Read more at sports.espn.go.com ...
Samantha Stevenson
Alexandra
Watch this story on "Outside the Lines" at 9 a.m. ET Sunday on ESPN.
What an amazing story! For Alexandra to forgive all that went on and forge any kind of relationship with her father is truly impressive.
Whole story is incredible ... still sniffing .. ;)
I’d like to go after both parents with a baseball bat, though, except that the daughter has turned out so positively. Interviewed his wife about being a sports-star’s spouse and then had an affair with him - un-FReeping-believable. But somehow she raised a good woman under tough conditions, so I suppose we can’t define her just by the worst thing she did in life.
To this day Dr. J has the most exciting moves ever in basketball, that one handed reverse layup against the Lakers that you always see was done AFTER his prime, he could do even more when he was in the ABA. Don’t get me wrong, he was still playing way above the rim with the Sixers, but in the ABA in his early twenties he was playing above the backboard.
I once respected Julius Erving, but he was too pu**6 whipped by his wife to acknowledge his daughter. What a louse.
I am happy to see that his daughter was able to forge a relationship with him now. I had remembered when the story first broke and had kind of forgotten about it when the daughter dropped out of the limelight.
Dr. J. was the gold standard for NBA players at the time in how to handle themselves off the court (obviously we didn't know about this at the time). He never got into legal trouble, was never seen doing drugs (the NBA had a terrible cocaine problem at the time), and even ended up wisely investing his money. I believe he even purchased a piece of the local Coca Cola Bottling company in Philadelphia.
I wish him and Alexandra the best as they continue to repair what must have been a nightmare for both, regardless of what the article must say.
And I would also like to congratulate the mother for making the best of the situation. She showed determination and love towards a daughter that could easily have been aborted by a woman who would not have wanted to live with the consequences of her poor decision.
I hope this ends happily for all involved.
It’s clear that he chose to keep peace
with his wife at the time, but I think
it’s a pretty happy ending/beginning.
When you read the whole saga and hear
him describe his feelings about having
his daughter out there, wondering if she’d
want to deal with him, you can hear the
emotion. He seems like a loving man and
father ... if growing up late.
An amazing story and one I can relate to. I will look for and support her sponsors.
did people once respect the marriage vows or am I just naive?....why do women go after married men?....its not something we want done to us.....geesh....
Nice story, thanks for the post.
I remember a story a few years ago in ESPN The Magazine on Alexandria and her mom. Alexandria is a terrific young lady, but her mom came across totally self-centered and with a massive chip on her shoulder (not just for Dr. J, but the world).
There have always been people who didn’t respect their own or others’ marriages. I don’t know why women pursue married men - maybe just because it’s convenient, that’s who they work with or meet.
You could be right. The women who go after my husband tend to be single moms.
Always looking to take Daddy away from Mommy, yet they don’t really trust men. It’s sad.
bttt
DP had to keep chaperones with him for a while - at least two Cub Scouts at all times!
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