by Michael DeLuca
This Sunday morning, Dec. 21 at 9.a.m. ESPN will be airing a heart wrenching episdode of Outside The Lines deatailing Julius Erving’s reconciliation with his 27 year old tennis superstar daughter, Alexandra Stevenson. The story will delve into Erving’s extramarital affair that resulted in Stevenson’s birth as well as Dr. J’s longing for forgiveness so many years later. Stevenson is not the only child fathered by Erving as a result of adultery, who was apparently slamming a lot more than basketballs while on 76ers road trips. The following excerpt is from ESPN.com…
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 …
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