RealGM

After a sweltering workout in the gymnasium of his former high school last week, Wall sat on the first row of bleachers recounting his childhood. He hardly knew anything about his dad’s time in jail. He learned just this month that his parents got married in prison, after hearing relatives talking about the dress his mom wore. He still had no idea why his father was locked up.

Wall stretched out his legs, revealing his yet-unnamed personal line of Reebok sneakers, and leaned his elbows back on the second row, seemingly at ease.

“I think it was just for an altercation or something that happened,” Wall said, wiping sweat from his face. “I don’t really know. It was something that happened.”

The only record of what happened can be found in microfilm archives deep within a courthouse located just a half mile from where Wall lived on East Davie Street: On Sept. 30, 1991 — less than a month after his son’s first birthday — John Carroll Wall walked into a convenience store in Raleigh, removed one beer and continued to the checkout where clerk Cecil Ibegbu stood. Wall placed a $1 bill on the counter. He then removed a .22-caliber Ruger from the back of his jeans and pointed it at Ibegbu, demanding all the money in the register. He was convicted of robbery with a dangerous weapon.

Sitting in the gym following his workout, Wall was told his father robbed a convenience store. He offered a slight nod and said, “Uh-huh.”

Before meeting his mother, Wall’s father had served three other sentences, one for armed robbery, another for possession of a firearm by a felon and a third for second-degree murder, after shooting a 26-year-old housewife in the head following an argument.

Sitting on the bleachers, Wall learned for the first time that his father had served prison time before he was born and that the crime was murder. He offered no affirmation and looked away for a moment.

“Ohhhh,” he said, dragging the sound for a second. “Oh, I didn’t even know. I didn’t know.”

Grand Champ wrote:I would have punched the Journalist in the face, maybe shot the journalist

ok not really

but wow thats a DICK move, the journalist should have cleared it with his parents first

Grand Champ wrote:I would have punched the Journalist in the face, maybe shot the journalist

ok not really

but wow thats a DICK move, the journalist should have cleared it with his parents first

DuckIII wrote:If it was a shock to Wall, its his parents' and family's fault for never having had told him even though he was on the brink of international fame.

DuckIII wrote:I suppose it would have been more classy for the journalist to just write the story and publish it behind Wall's back?

I guess he could have pulled Wall to the side secretly and said "I'm running with this story" rather than telling him in front of other people, but I don't see what the big deal is with this.

If it was a shock to Wall, its his parents' and family's fault for never having had told him even though he was on the brink of international fame.

Jerry Krizause wrote:If John Wall doesn't like it, then he can give up the NBA millions and go be a carpenter or something.

Art Vandelay wrote:It's a bit of a stretch for a story. Sins of the father are not that of the son, as they say. I know the guy was probably trying to find some other connection with Wall's personality--overcoming adversity or whatever, but it rings a bit lame that he went through so much work to get something like this that really has no effect on Wall in 2010.

If we had a story on every absentee or jailhouse parent in pro-sports, we could fill multiple publications for multiple years. Who cares?

DuckIII wrote:Jesus was a carpenter.

Grand Champ wrote:Oh and i'm sure he'll cry himself to sleep at night on his pillow stuffed with hundred dollar bills just fine