🏀 Faith And Scandal: Former NBA Team Owner George Shinn Opens Up 🔌
Weekend Plug-in 🔌
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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.
READ: Faith Deserves Better News Coverage — And Here’s How You Can Help
“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 reflects on his ups and downs in “Full Court Faith,” published earlier this year.
“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.”
George and Megan Shinn married in 2020. (Photo courtesy of George Shinn Foundation)
The first two times he married, Shinn said, he didn’t pray and ask God if he was making the right decision. He just liked that the women were attractive and had other positive traits, he said.
But when he met Megan, also married twice before, “the friend that introduced us said that Megan would not see another person unless they were born again and were Christians,” he said. “And so that was one of the first things that attracted me to her, that she was a Christian.”
The couple exchanged wedding vows in 2020 in Franklin, Tennessee, a Nashville suburb where they live most of the year. They told me they attend both a Baptist church and a Catholic church (her faith background).
“When I was younger, Southern Baptists held Catholics in minimum high regard,” said Shinn, who in 2017 gave $15 million to Lipscomb University in Nashville — which is associated with Churches of Christ — to establish the George Shinn College of Entertainment and the Arts.
George Shinn at the George Shinn Center at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo courtesy of George Shinn Foundation)
But when Shinn and Megan got together, they decided to honor both their Christian faith traditions.
“We leave the Baptist church … and I go to the Mass with her,” he said. “And so I have so much higher regard for Catholic churches now.”
These highlights from my interview with Shinn have been lightly edited for clarity and brevity:
On losing his father, George Shinn Sr., at age 8 and relying on his late mother, born Irene Sarah Cline
“She never remarried, and the only thing in her life was me, and the only thing in my life was her.
“She was so strong in her faith. She not only worked to keep me fed and keep me clothed and things like that. She kept me spiritually strong. She made me go to church. She prayed with me and had me focusing at a very young age on the Lord.”
George and Megan Shinn get into the Christmas spirit. (Photo courtesy of George Shinn Foundation)
On receiving pushback for having pregame prayers when the Hornets debuted in 1988 and why he believes God has rewarded the Oklahoma City Thunder, the only current NBA team with that practice
“I think that God rewards those, such as the Thunder, that acknowledge him.
READ: OKC Thunder In A League Of Their Own — When It Comes To Pregame Prayer
“That’s one reason that I decided to do it. He had blessed me abundantly. Really, at the time, that was the only way that I knew publicly that I could honor God. I didn’t call the league for permission. I just told my people to get a minister.
“When the commissioner called me, I told him I was in the Bible Belt, and if he was looking for a fight, he was going to lose it.”
George Shinn owned the Charlotte/New Orleans Hornets from 1987 until 2010. (Photo courtesy of George Shinn Foundation)
On the lessons he learned from the sex scandal, which contributed to him leaving Charlotte and moving the Hornets to New Orleans
“It was really a learning experience. I was in the news a lot. I didn’t have the best of marriages. I don’t want to blame it on anybody. I made a very bad judgment decision, no question about it, and I was punished publicly because of it.
“I know the Lord was disappointed in me. I think the whole thing was part of my legacy that proves, if you keep your focus on Jesus, that things will work out. I was brutalized in the press. But I just kept praying and asking God to help me get over this.
“It didn’t happen overnight, but it helped me focus and become a better person. I’ve asked forgiveness for my sins, and God has forgiven me. Sometimes it’s hard for the public to forgive you, and I accept that.
“I’m a human being. Everybody makes mistakes and errors, and I think no matter how bad they are, you learn from it. Most of my mistakes have been things that taught me a grave lesson and helped me get more focused on God and more focused on my direction to serve.”
George and Megan Shinn show their patriotism. (Photo courtesy of George Shinn Foundation)
On selling the Hornets for $300 million in 2010 and finding a new identity as a philanthropist through the George Shinn Foundation
“My remaining goal in my life is to use my assets — and my wife is going to be a strong advocate to keep my foundation going and to keep giving — because everything I have will be left to build and to serve God and to serve mankind and to help people.
“My biggest joy in life is not making money. It’s making friends. People that I help through my guidance and lead to the Lord, they call me back and say, ‘George, I just wanted to let you know what your conversation meant to me.’ Or they say, ‘The fact that you led me to Jesus, that means more to me than anything.’
“And that’s what I want to do a whole lot more of. I want to help people live longer. I want to help people get their life right with God.
“That’s my whole focus at this point in my life. I’m dedicated to spending the rest of my days serving him. I want to be remembered as a guy that loved the Lord and loved people and served God.”
On working to help the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio build a longevity center and hoping to celebrate it personally at age 100
“I want to schedule a speech for me to make on May 11, 2041. I want to be their poster boy of how much longer you can live if you take care of yourself and follow God’s rules.”
Inside The Godbeat
In my last Plug-in column, I mentioned Daniel Silliman’s departure as senior news editor for Christianity Today.
Here’s an update: Silliman has joined The Roys Report as an investigative reporter focused on evangelical abuse and scandal.
“Let’s go tell the truth and shame the devil,” Silliman wrote on social media.
The Final Plug
American Jerry Jones and his wife, Zoobi, who is British, have big plans for a former Catholic convent school in France.
They want to transform it into a Christian university for Europe. I traveled to rural northwestern France to interview them. Check out the story.
Happy Friday, everyone! Enjoy the weekend.
Bobby Ross Jr. writes the Weekend Plug-in column for Religion Unplugged and serves as editor-in-chief of The Christian Chronicle. A former religion writer for The Associated Press and The Oklahoman, Ross has reported from all 50 states and 20 nations. He has covered religion since 1999.