Often when you see the word “forgiveness” in the title of a newspaper story profiling someone, you know that somewhere along the line the person being written about made some significant mistakes or committed some terrible deeds.
Such is the case with Lamar Hunt Jr., 59-year-old son of the founder of the American Football League and the Dallas Texans/Kansas City Chiefs.
Like almost everyone else in the Kansas City area, I greatly admired Hunt Sr. and appreciate what he did for Kansas City. I also got to meet him and spend an afternoon with him at Arrowhead Stadium in the course of writing a story about him.
I never knew a lot about his family background, however, and during the 35-plus years I was with The Star, the paper never delved deeply into his personal or family life. And that, typically, is the way The Star covers most high-profile people — keeping the emphasis on whatever dimension of people has made them extraordinary.
But in today’s profile of Hunt Jr., who owns the Missouri Mavericks hockey team, The Star was obliged to dabble in the messiest part of his life. And that was, as The Star adroitly phrased it, “a sexual encounter he had with a sister-in-law” many years ago.
I’ve got to tell you, that line really took me by surprise and had me riveted to the ensuing paragraphs.
The writer, Eric Adler, who has been at the paper about 30 years, went on to relate the gist of the sordid situation, saying…
— that Hunt “doesn’t deny the encounter”
— that he and his then-wife Jocelyn, with whom he had seven children, split up
— that his action became “the crux of a lawsuit”
— and that the case ended in a settlement “for undisclosed millions of dollars.”
Whew! There’s a lot there, but, damn, it sure raises a lot of questions, doesn’t it?
Adler so underplayed the matter — and, again, I understand why he and his editors handled it that way — that it would provoke almost anyone with a grain of curiosity to want to learn more.
And, so, for those of you either didn’t read the story or who read the story but didn’t act on your curiosity, I’m here to tell you the other key elements, which a Google search quickly revealed.
Lamar Hunt Jr., owner of the Missouri Mavericks
— First: “sister-in-law.” Hmmm, I wondered when I first read the story, would that possibly be the spouse of a brother or sister?
Oh, no. Hunt Jr. lurched into the most dangerous of territory — having sex with his wife’s sister.
— Second: “a sexual encounter.” Hmmm, I wondered…really, just once?
Well, no. A 1999 Associated Press story that appeared in the Lubbock (Texas) Avalanche-Journal said the verboten deeds occurred “on consecutive nights.” It doesn’t say how many nights, but certainly more than one.
— And then the shocker: His sister-in-law had significant mental disabilities.
Oh, my…And not only did Hunt not deny the encounters, it turns out he also wrote a letter — cited in the lawsuit — to Jocelyn titled “Confessions of a Sex Addict.”
In May 2000, an Associated Press story quoted a Dallas Morning News story that said the case was settled for about $2 million.
Now, The Star’s story focuses, as it should, on Hunt’s redemption and his return to the role of solid citizen: For example, Adler writes about how Hunt’s faith in God helped him cope and how he went on to what appears to be a successful second marriage.
…Let me assure you, I don’t put forth this information out of prurient interest. I’m just a news hound who sometimes senses there’s more to a story than meets the eye, and my deeply instilled journalistic curiosity often compels me to dig deeper. I want to know the full story — whether it’s political, criminal, sexual or whatever else in nature — even though the newspaper has no particular obligation to satisfy that curiosity in a story like the one on Lamar Hunt Jr.
But I think a lot of readers share my instinct and want to know the full story, too. So, for today, there it is.
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
I believe concerns over this very subject surfaced when Mr Hunt and his wife were named to head up the a private appeal for the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas. Archbishop Naumann didn’t seem concerned about Mr Hunt Jr’s past problems. Pretty risky for any Catholic organization to align themselves with someone embroiled in this kind of controversy. Seems like the Prince’s of the Church just never learn…
Very interesting, og…He probably got an annulment through the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas. A source in the KC chancery told me the fee for an annulment in the KC-St. Joe diocese is a flat $500 but that in KCK it’s on a sliding scale, based on income. Could have cost him a pretty penny. Just speculating. though.
Jim:
I appreciate your good detective work but I wonder why the story had to appear at all. Does it do anyone any good? Lamar, Jr., the Chiefs, the Mavericks, the city? I don’t think so. Certainly hard on his family. Why now??
Laura
That’s an interesting point, Laura, and I would think the editors thought about that before giving the green light. The main reason for proceeding would be that by buying a successful sports team, and thereby more conspicuously following in the footsteps of his father, he could hardly be ignored…I think it was a valid story, and many people were probably satisfied not to know the sordid details.
Another thing I wonder about is if there was an agreement up front, with Hunt, about how that dimension of the story would be handled. I suspect there was. Adler and his editors might have even agreed to read that part of the story to Hunt before publication. As you know, that would have been very unusual, but not out of the question.
Let’s talk this weekend and I’ll give you the rest of the sister in law strory
Aha! I could hear a little voice in my mind — had forgotten whose — when I wrote in an earlier comment that Hunt might have written a big check to the KCK archdiocese to facilitate his annulment.
“…significant mental disabilities…”
One expects the absolute worst from the phrase.
Tho you profess anything but a pruient interest, why is that that’s all it seems like?
Nothing Shakespeare didn’t cover.
Such as…
Romeo: Blind is his love and best befits the dark.
Reading that it was Clark who led the NFL abandoning its own relocation plan for LA for Kroenke’s nuking of St Louis, perhaps it isn’t so unbelievable. Also fairly well-know. The Hunts, for lack of a better term, lived interesting lives.
Shocked that it would appear now after all these years in the Star. Maybe they will rerun the story of why Alvin Brooks really left the KCPD.
Quite a stretch…Clark “abandoning” St. Louis to Lamar Jr. forcing himself on his sister-in-law.
Thanks for your comment, Jim.
Laura
Will Notb: This from a newspaper story…
“Court papers in the lawsuit…claim the woman has been diagnosed with moderate to severe learning disabilities, cognitive deficits and social deficiencies. . . . She has lived with her parents or a sibling for 40 of the 41 years of her life.”
I was never enamored of Junior, but said behavior is beyond the pale. Worse, if that’s possible, is Junior’s continued references to ‘god’ and ‘moving on’, the all too common trait of a sociopath.
If I am not mistaken, he is also a big supporter of Bishop Finn on the Missouri side.