Anyone who has met former NBA sharpshooter Eddie Johnson wouldn't have believed it. A story in the Chicago Tribune last week said the former University of Illinois player had been charged with sexually assaulting an 8-year-old girl in Florida.
Too bad the story identified the wrong Eddie Johnson. The Eddie Johnson I interviewed several times played in Seattle, Phoenix and five other cities. He was polite, good-natured and a fine citizen. He now does TV commentary for the Suns, runs shooting clinics for teens and speaks to groups about avoiding drugs, gangs and weapons.
So it was a shock for him to find he had been confused with another Eddie Johnson, a troubled former NBA guard who played 10 seasons.
The Good Eddie played 17 seasons in the league, terrorizing opponents with his deadly perimeter jumper. The Bad Eddie — sometimes called "Fast Eddie" — had a rap sheet the length of the free-throw lane.
Good Eddie returned home from a vacation to Hawaii last week to find his phone busy. Friends, family and former teammates and coaches were calling to tell him he had been accused of an unspeakable crime. Ever since, he has been trying to distance himself from what Bad Eddie is charged with doing. He's trying to get his reputation back.
Though the Chicago paper printed an apology, Johnson has said it's not enough. It takes just one article to ruin a good name but quite a bit more to rebuild it.
Fans in Salt Lake are familiar with the Good Eddie. He demoralized them many times with remarkable shooting. But nobody hated him.
After games he was a great interview — insightful, articulate, humorous.
Unfortunately, he was also a rarity. That's where the irony lies. He is what all athletes should be. But unlike Johnson, most athletes want it both ways. They complain about the media not telling the full story, yet mislead, dodge or stonewall reporters on even minor stories. They want full disclosure only when it serves their purposes.
A case in point was in the 1994, when the Jazz's Luther Wright ended up at a rest stop in Tooele County, banging a knee brace on garbage cans and scaring motorists. There were rumors of drug use, but Wright's agent insisted it was an overdose of prescription Ritalin.
Wright was a friendly guy. He even pulled me aside in the locker room one night, having seen quotes by several players on the JumboTron, and asked how he could get his name up in lights. But when he landed in the Tooele County Jail, there was no Wright to be found. Repeated phone calls went unanswered. I even went to his house in South Jordan, trying to get his side of the story. His mother kicked fellow Deseret News writer Jay Evensen and me off the premises, shouting at us as we left.
Seems the guy anxious to have his face on the JumboTron suddenly had a change of heart.
Johnson is understandably upset that the Chicago Tribune, on tight deadline, didn't check its facts. But in most cases, famous athletes make it difficult to do so. A phone call that has a news organization's name on caller I.D. is viewed as a warning, not a greeting. Seldom do athletes return calls from the media unless they can see something in it for them.
Three years ago I called former BYU golfer Dean Wilson when he played in the Colonial Invitational, paired with Annika Sorenstam. I made seven or eight calls to his cell phone in the next few days, but he never answered or returned any messages. I may as well have been a phone solicitor.
Monday afternoon I left a message with him again, saying I hoped to do a column about his win last weekend at The International.
Again, as of deadline Tuesday, no acknowledgement. It couldn't be because he gets too much media attention. Wilson, 36, only got his tour card four years ago, and Sunday's win was his first on the tour.
That doesn't mean he's necessarily a bad guy, just an inaccessible one.
There is no real excuse for the Chicago Tribune getting its story on Johnson wrong. It didn't check its facts. Johnson is the last guy who should be worrying about this sort of story. If there is any good to come from this sad situation, it's a reminder for news organizations to be more careful. But it's also a call for athletes to be available and open with the media.
It's a lot easier to get the facts when the answer is just a phone call away.
E-mail: rock@desnews.com