I was aware that, a couple of years ago, Mookie Blaylock had been the driver in a fatal car accident near Atlanta. And I knew that Blaylock, who grew up in Garland, had been convicted of vehicular homicide. But I didn’t realize what a disaster his life had been even prior to that. This Sports Illustrated feature by Greg Hanlon goes deep on Blaylock and the mountain of bad choices he made. A sample:
It was both a blessing and a curse that Blaylock saved so much money from his playing career. He and his children never wanted financially, and he was able to live out the country boy’s dream by moving to a six-acre property in rural Pike County, 50 miles south of downtown Atlanta, and playing all the golf he wanted. Yet it also left him without structure, allowing his addictions free reign.
Six of his seven DUIs came after he retired. Between September 2010 and February 2012, he did three stints in jail for driving offenses, totaling more than four months. According to Solomon, he was going to the strip club “sometimes five times a week” during this time. In 2009, cops came to his house for a domestic disturbance after his girlfriend called them, though nobody was arrested, according to police reports.
