On draft day in any professional sport, the highlight reels show young athletes celebrating the beginning of their pro careers, putting on a team jersey or cap, and smiling with the league commissioner for photo ops. Often, though, the next rite of passage for a young professional athlete in America is not exactly a photo opportunity – it’s a paternity suit.

For whatever social, psychological or sexual reason, pro athletes are having children out-of-wedlock at an epidemic rate. No sport is exempt – baseball, football, basketball, boxing, hockey and more. Child support payments are some athletes’ single biggest expense. Since Father’s Day is coming up soon, we thought we’d take a look at some of the more notable professional players (pun intended) who have been parties to paternity suits.

As you might expect, the list of athletes with one or two illegitimate children is extremely long. Much too long to list here in its entirety. Highlights from that list include:

• Mark Messier (NHL Hall of Famer)
• Brian Urlacher (NFL)
• Stephon Marbury (NBA)
• Jason Kidd (NBA)
• Allen Iverson (NBA)
• Latrell Sprewell (NBA)
• Juwan Howard (NBA)
• Scottie Pippen (NBA)
• Hakeem Olajuwon (NBA)
• Patrick Ewing (NBA)
• Randy Johnson (MLB)
• Matt Leinart (NFL)
• Tom Brady (NFL)
• Darren McFadden (NFL rookie)
• Dwight Howard (NBA) [one child with an Orlando Magic dancer]
• Warren Sapp (NFL)
• Larry Fitzgerald (NFL) [one child with a Los Angeles Raider cheerleader]
• Lance Briggs (NFL)
• Tracy McGrady (NBA)
• Chipper Jones (MLB) [one child with an Atlanta area Hooters waitress]
• Boris Becker (Tennis)

But it doesn’t stop there! The numbers get CRAZY – read below!

Then there are the guys who haven’t figured it out yet or just don’t care. The list includes these athletes with three to five illegitimate children each:

• Larry Johnson (NBA) – 5 kids by 4 women; 3 are illegitimate
• Charles Rogers (NBA)- Reportedly has 5 illegitimate kids
• Greg Minor (NBA) – 3 illegitimate kids
• Ricky Williams (NFL) – 3 illegitimate kids
• Priest Holmes (NFL) – 3 illegitimate kids
• Karl Malone (NBA) – 3 illegitimate kids – all born while he was in college; 2 of the 3 are now professional athletes
• Oscar de la Hoya (Boxing) – 5 kids by 4 women; 3 are illegitimate
• Elijah Dukes (MLB) – 5 illegitimate kids by 4 women (possibly 6 kids by 5 women now – the most recent one hasn’t been publicly confirmed)
• Willis McGahee (NFL) – 3 illegitimate kids in 2 years
• Michael Vick (NFL/current federal inmate) – 3 illegitimate children

These athletes take the cake with six or more illegitimate children a piece:

• Ray Lewis (NFL) – Rumored to have 6 children by 4 women
• Marshall Faulk (NFL) – Also rumored to have 6 children, but by 3 women
• Antonio Cromartie (NFL) – 7 illegitimate kids by 6 women by age 25
• Shawn Kemp (NBA) – 7 illegitimate kids by 6 women (some rumors put these numbers MUCH higher)
• Derrick Thomas (NFL) – 7 illegitimate kids by 5 women at the time of his death at age 33
• Jason Caffey (NBA) – 8 illegitimate children by 7 women
• Travis Henry (NFL) – 9 kids by 9 women by age 28
• Willie Anderson (NBA) – 9 illegitimate kids
• Evander Holyfield (Boxing) – 9 illegitimate kids
• Calvin Murphy (NBA) – 14 illegitimate kids by 9 women

And this paternity suit epidemic? Not exactly new territory for the big leagues. These guys were having illegitimate kids way back in the day:

• Steve Garvey (MLB) – 2 illegitimate kids by 2 women
• Julius Erving/Dr. J (NBA) – 2 illegitimate kids by 2 women
• Isiah Thomas (NBA) – 3 children; 1 is illegitimate
• Jim Palmer (MLB) – 1 illegitimate child
• Darryl Strawberry (MLB) – 6 children; 1 is illegitimate
• Pete Rose (MLB) – 5 children; 1 is illegitimate
• Tug McGraw (MLB) – 3 children; 1 is illegitimate (and happens to be country singer Tim McGraw)
• Bjorn Borg (Tennis) – 1 illegitimate child

As long as there are professional athletes, it seems that the folks who do paternity testing will always have jobs!

Legal Topics: paternity, child support, paternity testing