Eddie Johnson, a two-time NBA All-Star player from the Atlanta Hawks, has died at the age of 65 in Milton Prison, the Rocker-Susan Chapel in Lisburg, Florida, reported Tuesday.
Johnson’s basketball career was cut short by arrests that disqualified him from the NBA, as well as life imprisonment.
Johnson died on October 26.
In the third round of the 1977 NBA draft, the basketball player was watched by the Hawks, in whose ranks he immediately started playing, later becoming a member of the regulars.
He was famous for his explosive first step, earning the nickname “Fast Eddie,” and averaged 15.1 points per game in the 1980/1981 season. finishing the season with 19.1 points in the game. In 1980 and 1981, he participated in the All-Star Game.
On February 10, 1986, the Hawks exchanged Johnson for the Clavland Cavaliers in exchange for Johnny Davis. In 1987, Johnson signed a contract with Seattle’s SuperSonics. In 1987, he received a lifetime disqualification from the NBA for cocaine use.
Johnson was 53 years old when, according to the Florida Department of Corrections’ website, he received an unappealable life sentence in 2008 after being convicted of sexually assaulting an eight-year-old girl.
Johnson was sentenced to life imprisonment at the Santa Rosa Correctional Facility in Milton and died of an unnamed illness.
The chapel confirms that Johnson will be buried in the Weardale Community Cemetery on Saturday.
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