Karl Malone: 2 paternity cases you might not know.

Every basketball fan in the world has heard of who Karl Anthony 'The Mailman' Malone is? The second all-time leading scorer in the history of the league (for now), an essential part of the 1990s Utah Jazz team, along with John Stockton who is the all time leader in assists challenged Michael Jordan and the Bulls in the 1997 and 1998 NBA finals, despite losing both of them, he then went on to team with up Gary Payton, Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant as the 2003-2004 Los Angeles Lakers superteam but were disappointed when they were dominated in the 2004 Finals by the Detroit Pistons, losing 4-1.

There is no argument that Karl Malone was one of the greatest basketball player in the 1990s, with every boxes in this résumé checked except for a championship but it's a decorated career nonetheless.

Yet, what about him as a person, off the court, in the street without a ball in his hand, without 'The Mailman' title to his name, how was he as a person during his NBA career?

Gloria Bell

Karl Malone didn't neccessarily grow up in a easy household, he was the youngest of nine children living with his single mother in a farm while his father was raising a family with another women and barely had a presence in his life, Malone's father ended up commiting suicide when he was only three years old.

Growing up in Louisiana, he didn't go far when choosing a college, he ended up going to Louisiana Tech over University of Arkansas, a team that had achieved a lot of success at the time under coach Eddie Sutton. Karl wasn't able to play his first season due to poor grades.

But that's not really what is important about his time in L-Tech, enter Gloria Bell, 13 year old Summerfield native, I can't find information on how they met but Karl was as grown as the picture above and a 13 year old is a 13 year old.

There isn't much information on what exactly happened available but one thing that is certain is that they did have sexual intercourse in a state where the age of consent was 16, even worst, Gloria got pregnant, this is why there isn't a word 'alleged' in thisp paragraph since there is definitive proof in Demetress Bell (Gloria's eventual son) and a positive DNA test that Malone was the father.

If this case had went to court, Malone would've been sentenced to prison and the story of Karl Malone was going to be different, he wasn't going to be the Utah Jazz star beloved by the state where an intersection is named after him, he would've been a 'what-if' who basketball geeks like myself would look back at and think 'What idiot would throw his life away like this' and obviously be thankful that a criminal was locked up.

So why didn't it go to court? Well, Gloria's family knew of Malone's potential to become one of NBA's biggest star and went along with the logic that with his upcoming wealth, he would be able to provide for this child easily.

However, they were right about one thing, Karl Malone was selected by the Utah Jazz at the 13th first round pick in the 1985 NBA draft. NBA players back then didn't get paid as much as they do now, still relatively a lot more than the general population, the highest paid athelete during the 1984-1985 season was Magic Johnson with $2.45 million while a rookie like Michael Jordan earned $550K who was the third pick in the 1984 NBA draft.

With that logic, let's assume that Karl earned $350K his rookie season(rough estimate), this should've easily covered the $200/week the family requested he pay (=$10,400), a small percentage of his annual salary. But here's the other thing, Karl Malone denied his paternity, this prompted the family to take his to court and when he didn't show up, the judge ruled him to be the father and ordered him to pay $125/month, which is literally 1.8% of his annual estimated salary but Karl Malone had to come up with another excuse, this time saying that it was too much money to give.

It wasn't until 1989 when Karl settled out of court and it isn't a coincidence that a year before, he signed a 10 year, $18 million with the Utah Jazz. If you read the previous paragraph, you might be thinking 'well, the court ruled him to be the father but there can be a minute possibility that he might not be the father. A paternity lawsuit in 1996 including a lab test proved with 99% certainty that either Karl or a brother of Karl was Demetress's father.

Demetress first met Karl after he graduated from high school, Karl told him that it was too late for them to have a father-son relationship. Demetress went on to have a short stint in the NFL. The apparently resolved their relationship in 2014 and have been in regular contact since 2018.

Bonita Ford

Back in 1980, when Karl was 17, he got Bonita Ford pregnant, at least Bonita was the same age as Karl and not an early adolescent like Gloria. Even though her children suffered the same 'dead-beat' father that Demetress suffered.

The story of Bonita Ford came a little later in 1998, the year Karl got to the Finals and lost against to Michael Jordan and the Bulls, the Globe reported that Karl was the father to the Ford twins, long story short, Karl was ruled to be the father but this time, Karl actually tried to integrate the twins into this family and built a relationship with them and was successful.

But it isn't all bad, Cheryl got to feel one emotion that Karl never did in his 18 year career in the NBA, a championship. Thrice.

" I didn't handle it right; I was wrong....Father Time is the biggest thief out there and you can't get it back."

-Karl Malone on his relationship with his older children.