A couple of months ago I ran into a woman at a local mall. She and I went to the same high school, but we weren't really friends back then and we seldom spoke to one another. In fact, I could probably count on the fingers of one hand the number of times she and I ever had a meaningful conversation before that meeting at the mall. The woman seemed pleased to meet me though, and before long, we were trading stories about our kids and how they were fairing in the world.
At one point during our conversation, she expressed annoyance over the fact that her son was being hounded by a woman for child support payments that were overdue. She claimed her son was several months in arrears and thought her grandchild's mother should have been more understanding because her son was out of a job and only collecting unemployment. I tried to maintain a sympathetic face as I listened, but when the woman mentioned that her son was also paying child support to two other woman for three children he fathered with them, it took some effort to maintain a non-judgmental façade. Afterward, we said our good-byes and I haven't thought of her or her son since, until today. Here's why:
Former pro-football standout, Terrell Owens recently told a GQ (Gentleman's Quarterly) magazine writer that he's currently burdened by monthly child support payments totaling $44,600. Terrell has four children, each fathered with a different woman, and now that his NFL playing career appears to be over, he's finding it impossible to keep up with the child support payments. Apparently, the $80 million he pocketed during his NFL career is gone. I'm finding it hard to be sympathetic with his dilemma, though I do feel sorry for the kids. They're the pawns that usually end up suffering the most.
Terrell Owens isn't the first professional athlete to find himself in that kind of situation. Heavyweight boxer, Evander Holyfield went bankrupt after a financially lucrative career and stiffed a number of women for child support. Former Denver Bronco's running-back Travis Henry left 11 children to 10 different women without funds for support. 1990s NBA Hall of Fame inductee Calvin Murphy sired 14 children to 9 different women. Child support battles spanned his entire career.
I know that most professional sports leagues hold seminars for new players to dole out financial advice regarding the new-found wealth those players are experiencing. Perhaps those seminars should be expanded to include information on birth control…or maybe a film or two on what goes on in child support court. It couldn't hurt.
I hope my high school classmate's grandchildren are getting the child support they deserve. Their daddy wasn't a multimillion dollar athlete who went broke, but like the athlete's children, they still have to eat!
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