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By Bobby Ross Jr. | Religion Unplugged
Like King David in the Bible, George Shinn declared his faith in God as he rose to prominence.
A quarter-century ago, though, the millionaire businessman who brought the NBA’s original Charlotte Hornets to North Carolina’s largest city became embroiled in a sex scandal.
Sued for sexual assault, Shinn found himself the focus of a 1999 trial nationally televised by Court TV.
“A South Carolina jury acquitted Shinn, but on the witness stand the devout Christian had to admit to questionable behavior — including two sexual relationships with women other than his then-wife,” the Charlotte Observer noted in a 2023 article.
In “Full Court Faith,” a memoir published earlier this year, the 84-year-old Shinn (with Don Yaeger) details his stumbles and triumphs. He relates his own journey to flawed biblical figures such as David, Moses and Jonah.
“George Shinn is sharing his story — the thrill of action on the court, the horrors of humiliation in the court of law, and the realization that God will take it all and shape people’s ‘full court faith,’” Franklin Graham, president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan’s Purse, writes in the foreword.
Shinn was driving with his third wife, Megan, who is 30 years younger than him, when I called him to talk about the book.
I asked Shinn if he has figured out marriage or if he’s still a work in progress.
“I got it figured out,” he replied with a chuckle. “She’s right here with me, so I’m not going to mess it up.”
Megan chimed in: “He figured out that both people have to put God first for the marriage to work. If he was married two times before, maybe he tried to make God first, but maybe the others did not. And that goes for both of us.”
This column appears in the online magazine Religion Unplugged.
Photo provided by George Shinn Foundation
Faith. Family. Fastballs. 