Julius thought of arranging a meeting with his daughter at the 2004 ESPYS, but he had second thoughts about the setting. Beloved for his basketball accomplishments, Julius Erving feared repercussions over the truth about his daughter. It was Samantha who drove Alexandra the five hours back and forth to Fischer's tennis lessons. You may request that your data not be shared with third parties here: Meet NBA Legend Julius 'Dr J' Erving's Daughter Alexandra Stevenson Who Is a Pro Tennis Player, NBA Star Julius Erving Once Revealed He Hit Ex-wife Turquoise Brown and Cheated on Her, Frances Tiafoe's Beautiful Girlfriend Ayan Broomfield Is Also a Tennis Player — What We Know about Her, JJ Watt Got Married to Soccer Player Kealia Ohai — Meet the 'Ultimate Tag' Host's Family, Dennis Rodman's Mom Shirley Kicked Him out of the House — inside Their Complicated Relationship, Inside Kobe Bryant’s Relationship with Mom Pam Bryant Who Put His Memorabilia up for Auction. Julius was thrilled to introduce Alexandra to the rest of his family. "And those couple occasions weren't really all that cool," Erving says. And the last time they'd laid eyes on each other, he was in a limo about to have his DNA tested -- to see whether he was truly Alexandra's father -- and she was on a Philadelphia sidewalk after her own DNA test. Though it was hard for her at first, a simple phone call was the spark that started up their new father and daughter relationship which they hold until today. "We thought it was in the best interest of Alexandra.". Discover some quick info about Alexandra Stevenson. Jaime King's Ex-husband Kyle Newman and His Girlfriend Cynthia Welcome Their 1st Child, Dan Ahdoot Is a Stand-up Comedian and Actor — Get to Know 'The Crew' Star Better, Christopher Lloyd's Spouses — Everything We Could Find about His 5 Wives, John Travolta's Fans Share Amazing Throwback Photos as They Celebrate His 67th Birthday, Exclusive: 'To All the Boys' Star Janel Parrish on Fashion, Self-Care & the End of the Trilogy, Meek Mill and Nicki Minaj's Love Story: From Engagement Rumors and Massive Ring to Public Feuds, Aliana Lohan Is a Singer and Beautiful Model — Get to Know Lindsay Lohan's Younger Sister, Rebecca Breeds Is Happily Married to 'Blindspot' Star Luke Mitchell — inside Her Personal Life, Milo Manheim Is All Grown-up and Is an Aspiring Actor — Meet Camryn Manheim's Only Son, Exclusive: Inside Jessica Share's Love Story with Her Sperm Donor Years after Having His Kid (Video). Just a year before, one of her tennis friends had given her a Dr. J DVD, and she'd thrown it out. In the year 2000, his 19 years old son was found dead in the pond, and Erving said that it was the worst day of his life. She also met a man there, a local 25-year-old teaching pro. She would only sleep in her mother's bed until she was 7, and, after that, they slept in adjacent twin beds in their one-bedroom apartment. The newspaper sat on the story, because -- according to explanations given later by the Sun-Sentinel -- Alexandra wasn't enough of a public figure yet. The truth is, Erving had been raised by a single mother himself and had only laid eyes on his father, Julius Winfield Erving I, twice in his life. "I've replayed it a hundred times in my mind and thought about how it could've turned out differently, maybe if it had been set up a little better. They were his hands. I've been around a long time. Her mother had just lost her writing contract with The New York Times for becoming the story at Wimbledon. I Image: Getty Images. When their son was born with a debilitating disease, CeCe and Carlos Boozer pulled their family together. Instead, the little girl locked the bedroom door and examined her father's autograph for hours. He has four children with his former wife Turquoise Erving; a daughter, professional tennis player Alexandra Stevenson, with his former partner, sportswriter Samantha Stevenson; and four children with Dorýs. It was in 1999 when Alexandra became the first qualifier to reach the Wimbledon women's singles finals, and it was also about that time when it was finally revealed by the press that she was Doctor J's daughter. At the time, they thought, fat chance, and went to bed. 909 in the world. Her shoulder was sound again, as sound as it had been since surgery, and former Olympic gold medalist Sherri Howard was training her body, legs and soul. He asked her what her career ambitions were, and she almost started crying. "Who?" He wasn't going to swoop in like a fairy tale." King asked, on the air, whether Alexandra had been in touch, and he said no. So when she went south to play clay-court tournaments in the Carolinas to try to drum up enough points to reach the 2008 Wimbledon qualifying, she carved grooves in her hard-court sneakers with a pen knife -- anything to improve her footing. Her father is NBA basketball legend Julius Erving. "Outside the Lines" documents the meeting of Julius and Alexandra. She was devastated by the affair, but that's not an excuse. So Samantha dialed him instead, reached his voice mail, paused ... and let it fly: "Hello, Julius, this is Samantha 27 years later. Alexandra was going to be there with Venus and Serena, but Samantha thought a backstage reunion would be a logistical disaster, not to mention impersonal. Samantha felt it was crucial to almost spin a cocoon around her daughter. Alexandra seemed content with her life, although someone would always ruin it and bring up the dad question. I'm a big girl. I'm OK. In September 2004, Dr. James Andrews performed labrum surgery, and since NFL quarterbacks regularly came back even stronger from that operation, Andrews figured she'd be her old self in 2005. Kandel actually remembers what she saw in Erving's eyes that day: tears. I was somewhat oblivious during that time.". In Alexandra's first 32 tournaments following Wimbledon, her first 32 tournaments as a celebrity's kid, she lost in the first round 20 times. It might be a wound that never heals for her. I didn't want her to turn 30 and not know her father," Samantha says. She and Samantha shared meals at restaurants or cooked chicken in their low-budget hotel suites. Because I'm getting interviewed about a father I didn't know every time.". 1 Jennifer Capriati -- and simply needed to mix in some finesse with all that power. Can there? She had no idea he felt his hands were tied by his wife and the agreement, no idea he was an attentive dad to four other children: Julius III, Jazmin, Cory and an adopted son, Cheo. All over the world. She told him she'd lugged textbooks all over Europe. Julius Winfield Erving II (born February 22, 1950), commonly known by the nickname Dr. J, is an American retired basketball player. "It's not how you enter your sport, it's how you exit," her father said. The tabloids inferred she was bashing lesbians on the tour, and the headlines screamed: "Get Your Filthy Hands Off My Daughter." So, it was Samantha who chose not to date. Julius elevated the game of basketball, but that only caused Alexandra to shun the sport. But then something happened -- Alexandra began playing more tactical clay-court tennis, slicing her backhand, spinning in more serves. October 31, 2013 by fabwag. Samantha introduced Alexandra to top athletes like Tony Gwynn to serve as sports mentors. father.". She told him creditors were always calling her, saying, "We know who your father is -- pay up." There were Jazmin, Julius and Cheo from his marriage to Turquoise and 10-year-old Jules, 7-year-old Justin and baby Julietta from his current relationship with Dorýs. In fact, the terse agreement between the two parties, drawn up by lawyers, was for Samantha to live at least 200 miles away from Julius, keep the birth out of the news, receive a modest monthly stipend and have sole custody. Instead, Alexandra showed up with one of Samantha's close girlfriends, who wrote ALEXANDRA STEVENSON in large block letters on a nametag ... then stepped back to watch the fireworks. So there was little hope of Julius ever flying Alexandra in for a visit. Two years after the murder of Miami defensive lineman Bryan Pata, his family and friends wonder if anyone still cares. Samantha, who was now Alexandra's full-time manager, reluctantly had to borrow money from friends. There's no manual for this. "But I'm not running for president," Alexandra shot back. The candid memoir, which is set to hit stores on Nov. 5, has already drawn buzz surrounding the good doctor’s extramarital affairs and the birth of his lovechild-tennis pro, Alexandra Stevenson. Erving was simply ready for this. Brown Erving got married to the famous NBA player and they had four children together. Alexandra walked away. But after he and Turquoise divorced, reaching out to Alexandra seemed more plausible. Samantha says. Maybe it just got thrown in his face like it got thrown in mine. Thank you for the phone call. The baby's full name was Alexandra Winfield Stevenson and, if Samantha had foreseen the drama ahead, she might have omitted his name from the birth certificate. That's what Samantha wanted 14-year-old Alexandra to understand -- that she had superstar genetics. He'd know when she was in Philly or Florida or California. They'd see her rackets and ask, "Are you sure?" He had gone to bed the previous night overwhelmed. And when Samantha would negotiate with Erving's attorney, she'd always bring Alexandra, in a Snugli. But she wasn't going to miss Wimbledon that June. Brown Erving … J.”. But tennis isn't quarterbacking; it's incessant serving and ball-striking. "I wasn't there when she was born, but that's right up there with the birth of your child -- and this one is a rebirth. He was prepared to be peppered, but she let it drop. By age 8, Alexandra had already mastered every shot in the book -- in pinafores handmade by Samantha's mother -- and men's tennis coaches were fawning all over the kid. "I just thought that was dumb," she says. She nodded and didn't ask a follow-up. When I see her, I want to hug her, hold her. He found a job at a restaurant and was playing a lot of hoops at the local blacktop. He wasn't going to wait another 27 years ... or even another 24 hours. She wasn't going to ask for "Dad" or "Father." "At Wimbledon, I was under the radar as myself," Alexandra says. Samantha says she loved him and didn't want to be the cause of that. Julius Erving, Hall of Fame basketball player, issues statement acknowledging that he is father of Alexandra Stevenson, 18-year-old tennis star who will play in … And I hate asking for help, but I need help.". But I just got over it and figured, 'Oh, well, he'll never call.' At 12, she was already serving at 100 mph and had practiced with such stars like Bobby Riggs, Ellsworth Vines, and Don Budge. He assured her he'd try to help because he knew what it was like to be an athlete, the desire to go out on your own terms. She'd never heard those words in public before, not in all her 18 years. One phone call can't fix the world, but it can thaw it a little. Samantha suggested she think of someone else, to which Alexandra replied, "Sidney Poitier?". And when Alexandra wasn't allowed to be Dorothy in a school production of "The Wizard of Oz" -- because of her skin color -- it was Samantha who told her it was OK to be a green Wicked Witch. She told him she'd graduated from the University of Colorado, online, in six and a half years, finishing on the dean's list. Samantha devoted all her energies to her daughter and became highly protective. He then asked to hear every detail of the '99 Wimbledon fortnight. Her mother Samantha Stevenson was a respected sports journalist; her father was Julius Erving, the basketball legend. They'd lived it. He asked her what happened, and when she told him about her shoulder soreness, he mentioned he used to ice both his knees after every 76er game. The answer had to be no. "What started as a conversation flowed into a sort of camaraderie, where it became 'What are we going to do later?' So, for the first time since Wimbledon, for the first time since the Bricker story, Alexandra fell to her knees and sobbed. Tournament directors complained about it and stopped offering wild-card entries into main draws. The basketball legend first denied siring the 18 … After an acclaimed path as a college player, Erving started his career with Virginia Squires. They were an odd couple riding down busy La Jolla Boulevard -- a white mom and a mixed-race toddler -- and one of Samantha's angrier days was when a curious preschool teacher asked Alexandra who her father was and what he did for a living. "With the lawyers involved, and Alexandra's mom and my wife, it put me in a very unusual position that there's no real preparation for," Erving says. Every morning, Samantha would put a crash helmet on her 3-year-old toddler, and pedal her to the grocery store, to the beach and five miles to preschool. Julius denied it at first but he admitted it two days later and asked the press to give Alexandra space. What would they talk about? He was her father, and I didn't want her to feel she was out in the world by herself. and she answered, "I just lost a match today; I'm not feeling too great." They climbed into bed, and the lights had barely been out, when the phone rang again at 11 p.m. Samantha answered, and Erving, mistaking her for his daughter, said it again: "Hi, Alexandra, this is your father.". "She wasn't walking around with a chip on her shoulder," he says. Alexandra Stevenson is a well-known American female tennis player. I'm your mom, and you live with me, but it's important for you to know he loves you’, she said. All the boys in her class were dying to meet him, and, out of curiosity, Alexandra asked Samantha if she, too, could go, if she could see her father, finally, in the flesh. ", Inviting Samantha into his inner circle was a little more perplexing. She glared at Julius, said, "I don't want your autograph," and stomped away. He was loved all over the world. Regarded as one of the greatest and most influential basketball players of all time, Erving helped legitimize the American Basketball Association (ABA) and was the best-known player in that league when it merged into the National Basketball … In 2002 she became No. Stevenson keeps up with her father between tournaments. Julius “Dr. Two years later, he joined the New York Nets and led the club to the title, at this time he received the Most Valuable Player Award. She needed to know two people were committed to her. Or at least 90 percent no. Because for nine years, I've been going through airports hearing, 'There's Dr. J's kid.' Julius claims he just didn't corroborate it, but Alexandra was aghast. Would you please call me back?". When her flight landed in Boston, she was greeted with raucous applause in the terminal. No stranger to the media, Julius was still unsure how to answer questions about Alexandra. 1 in the world, and that no one believed in her, and he said he'd always wanted to be No. ", He never returned the call. Erving was Alexandra's father, and the revelation made her more than just another uplifting underdog story. Alexandra showed an … She'd reinvented herself as a finesse player and reached the main draw of a main WTA event in Charleston, S.C., jumping up from 377th in the world to 258th, earning enough points to go to Wimbledon qualifying. He told her she had a good seven years left, and she said, "I agree, but it takes money, and I don't have it. "It's really nice to see you," Erving responded. Back in 1986, she had penned a diary for World Tennis Magazine, and one particular excerpt seemed to have the vultures circling: It doesn't seem like much, but a tennis writer from the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, Charles Bricker, had heard the gossip, had read that diary, had seen the white mom carting around the mixed-race daughter, and, by 1997 started snooping. "I never thought anyone would find it; I didn't think anyone would care," Samantha says. As an infant, she'd done underwater somersaults in the swimming pool, and later she excelled in soccer, gymnastics, tennis and ballet. And she remembers going back to retrieve the autographed basketball. "It was symbolic, something connected to him. Julius Erving is a Christian and speaks about his faith many times. He was 58, pushing 60. "So I threw my racket, and I never throw my racket. 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. The Stevensons were the rage of Wimbledon. Or 20 percent no. With her natural athletic ability, young Alexandra overwhelmed opponents. I said, 'Don't you dare come near us again.'". Duplicitous or not, she says she was simply putting her daughter first. So, she sent him this text about three weeks ago: She saved his messages; their relationship clearly was evolving. She lives at La Jolla, California, U.S. with her family. There have to be wounds.". I'm not worried about this great ulterior motive that I'm going to help her get back into the world of tennis, and then she's going to kick me to the curb or whatever. "Who cared what Charlie Bricker knew?" "After Wimbledon, everyone expected me to go win Grand Slams and tournaments right way. The next day, he invited Alexandra and Samantha to Justin's birthday party, then was thrilled to hear they had accepted. Even if we retell the story, examine every nuance, revisit preschool and Wimbledon and the ESPYS and Troy, Ala., the answer still has to be no. At one point, Julius sauntered over to sit alone with Alexandra and Samantha, wanting to hear more about his daughter's life. Hampered by shoulder problems since 2003, Alexandra plunged in the world rankings. My wife wouldn't let me contact you. He assumed she was sending him a message. At 40 years old, she is still full of youth as we can see just by having a glimpse at her social media. But he never mentioned it. Because I thought he should call me," Alexandra says. In 1979, he had a relationship with Samantha Stevenson, a sportswriter. The only thing I needed from him was his middle name: Winfield. After that basketball clinic, she decided she'd forever belong to her mom and only her mom. The chef even personally brought out Alexandra's food. So she quit talking to the media, and in a late September match in Troy, Ala., while trying to play with her strained shoulder, while dealing with boyfriend troubles, she lost it. Everybody loved him, which meant everybody adored her. So he gave her the rundown. Julius is teaching Alexandra his game ... ... and she is returning the favor on her court. Airport workers and baggage clerks howled, "Dr. J's daughter!" Samantha asked, half asleep. We worked everything out through the lawyers, and that's how it was forever." "What's wrong? The British crowd adored her classic one-hand backhand and her postmatch curtsies, and serenaded her with a standing ovation. Much of their life savings had been exhausted on trainers and practice partners and travel and hotels -- it can cost about $3,000 a week to play tournaments -- and they began asking tournament directors for housing. Basketball she could take or leave. It was life-sized and bronze, and Alexandra, who had studied the Roman Empire, couldn't fathom why Julius Erving and Julius Caesar each had statues. "Well, I'm looking forward to meeting you," Erving said. So you move on. So I was OK with that as long as she was OK.". Coaches kept saying, 'Oh, it's mental.' There's no way to fix all that. "Well," Erving says, "we've lost so much time you've just got to lay it out there. Meet Samantha Stevenson, she is the proud momma of the American tennis player Alexandra Stevenson, who is also the daughter of the NBA legend Julius “Dr. "I had lived my life quietly, and not once had I been asked for it. Nike might have dropped Alexandra as a client before the tournament, but now Phil Knight had personally flown in to re-sign her. He used to be the talk of Rucker Park; why not Flushing Meadow? Samantha fretted over this and decided her daughter needed as many surrogate fathers as possible, which is where tennis came in. And mission accomplished: Good ol' Samantha was now on the front page -- not Alexandra. Alexandra was enthralled at how affectionate Erving was with the children, how they nestled in his lap. Later that summer, Alexandra went to visit her friends from La Jolla, the Kandels. We started at midday and kept going for hours, and there's something to be said for that.". He took her back to his condo, where she bonded with Dorýs and their kids. But since I've got your phone number now, I thought you might like to meet that person you were supposed to meet 27 years ago. She and two other young girls -- a certain Venus and Serena Williams -- were the talk of amateur tennis, and when Richard Williams asked Fischer whether he'd coach his girls instead, Fischer answered, "No, I've got the better athlete.". Alexandra and Julius discuss their relationship in additional interviews with "OTL.". He told her, "I trust you, and I need you to try to trust me." She also began telling her mom she disliked her middle name, Winfield, and asked to switch it to Chloe or Zoe. Samantha tried to take the attention off the paternity issue at Wimbledon by engaging the media on other topics. Alexandra's autographed basketball contained hints of her feelings for Julius. Julius Erving signs copies of his memoir "Dr. J: The Autobiography" at Barnes & Noble bookstore at The Grove on December 19, 2013 in Los Angeles, California.
Pltw Computer Science Principles Syllabus, Basil Sesame Street, C2h6 Chemical Name, 1up Arcade Mortal Kombat, Is Niko Moon White, Second Hand Mens Jackets, Who Announces Transfer In Bridge,