Jamal Lewis latest athlete to go bankrupt, problem more complex than frivolous spending

“Did you ever think that you would be this rich? Did you ever think that you would have these hits? Did you ever think that you would be the don? Have a crib with a 50 acre lawn?”

Lyric from: Did you Ever Think from the album R.

Written By: Curtis Mayfield, Robert Kelly, Jean Claude Olivier and Samuel Barnes

Performed by: R. Kelly

 

Jamal Lewis, Photo Courtesy of Chuck Crow/The Plain Dealer

Jamal Lewis, the former University of Knoxville, Baltimore Ravens and Cleveland Browns running back filed for bankruptcy in April listing $14.5 million in assets and $10.6 million in debts. Yesterday his pending bankruptcy hearing was postponed.

Today, this article in the Baltimore Sun gives us some insight into the lifestyle that landed Lewis in this predicament.

With that filing, Lewis becomes the latest in a long line of former athletes who have fallen into the money pit and can’t get up. The pit drives the illusion that millions of dollars will always be millions of dollars, no financial planning or reasonable decision making necessary.  

This year alone we’ve read court documents that say Allen Iverson owes a jeweler more than $850,000 and listened as Terrell Owens told Dr. Phil that he can no longer make his child support payments. Next year, the names will be different but the headline will be the same- star athlete spends frivolously, loses millions; now bankrupt.

But here’s the thing about being the latest in a long line…the line is long and it’s full of lessons. Why not choose to learn from those who have gone before you. Why not learn from Travis Henry that multiple mouths to feed in multiple households can get very expensive. And talk to Scottie Pippen about how buying an unnecessary status symbol such as a jet can quickly turn into the worst investment, and worst idea, ever.

Each new chapter 7 filed by a well known athlete revives the discussion around why this happens at all. We look at the number of houses, cars and children in each instance and think we have it figured out. We want agents, business managers and management across the leagues to take a more active role in counseling young athletes on the dangers of new money. We understand that some guys simply get swindled out of their money and we are sympathetic to that.

My guess is, though, that most of the cases of broke athletes likely have to do with the fact that poverty is a mentality and that mentality makes a lasting impression even with millions in the bank.

This isn’t Jamal’s first cry for help. In 2004 news surfaced that he had been caught in a drug trafficking sting and had been charged with conspiracy and possession with the intent to distribute cocaine. He ultimately reached a plea agreement and served just four months in federal prison.  When the news broke I remember thinking why would a guy making millions of dollars try to broker a deal to start a cocaine ring.

Poverty mentality.

There are varying factors that may trigger the poverty mentality in an individual but the results are always the same-a perceived sense of lack drives your decision making. And because you are making decisions from a place of lack, you ultimately reinforce an impoverished existence. Guys go pro, get paid and promptly buy as much as they can to relieve the shame of their poverty and end up broke. And in the biggest illogical twist possible to this scenario, even though they hate being broke, they’re comfortable with it. 

It’s the same type of confusing psychology of comfort that drives a person who grew up with a parent who abused drugs to use drugs, a person who was physically abused as a child to physically abuse their own children and a person who hated their alcoholic ex-spouse to get remarried to an alcoholic. Familiarity at its worst.

Reread my last two paragraphs over and over again and this theory still might not make sense and that’s why solving the riddle of the athlete who goes broke is far more complicated than simply sending him to a few financial management courses right after he signs his contract. In fact, their motivation to make it to the pros is usually rooted in the desire to escape poverty, to rise above the ashes of ghetto turmoil. And so asking a guy to believe that he no longer has to carry that chip of destitution on his shoulder is like asking him to become a new person.

Ask Jamal what happened and he will likely say he went bankrupt because he bought a lot of stuff that he can no longer afford now that his days in the NFL are done. Most people will say he’s right. And with that delusion, the next athlete in line for bankruptcy will not have learned from Jamal’s mistakes because he will never have been taught the real lesson.