'Mad Max' threw away talent and much more By HUBERT MIZELL Published May 30, 2004 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Vernon Maxwell had towering basketball talent, but as a human being he is lower than sludge. Mad Max scored more points than any University of Florida player ever, but greed cost him the record. Twice in a 13-year, $15-million NBA career, Maxwell won titles with the Houston Rockets, but at 38 he's washed up; busted financially and personally. That's not even close to the worst of it. It could've been so sweet. Mad Max is a good-looking guy. His smile can have electricity. Vernon should be entering a delightful stage. Nearing his 40s, being cheered when coming back to Florida's arena, respected on Gainesville streets where he grew up, flashing those NBA rings. Instead he is a hometown disgrace, unwelcome on UF property. It's been a life of lousy choices. Doing drugs. Cheating his family. Smearing his collegiate legacy. Wasting his fortune. Abusing women. Disgusting his children. High point of Mad Max's basketball experience came in Game 7 of the 1994 NBA Finals. Teamed with Kenny Smith in the Rockets backcourt, Vernon scored 21 points and had four assists. Houston beat the Knicks to win its first championship. Maxwell was toast of the town. There was a repeat in 1995, with Houston beating Orlando. But soon, he would be just toast. Three years after his Houston glory seasons, Maxwell filed for bankruptcy. As late as 2000, he signed a $5-million contract with Seattle but child support records show Vernon has paid nothing since May 2001 to Myra Jenkins, mother of their 15-year-old son, Dominique. Last month, Max Max spent five days in a Gainesville jail on charges of failing to pay $150,000 in child support. He was extradited from Cobb County, Ga., after being charged with kidnapping and aggravated assault. Cobb County police told the Gainesville Sun that Maxwell abducted Belinda Beine, a recent companion. Records say Vernon locked the woman in her Marietta home, then beat her after an escape try. Upon being arrested, Maxwell told an officer his name was "Kenneth Shaw." A sweetheart, I'm telling you. Twenty-four hours after Maxwell declared bankruptcy in 1998, a Houston court ruled he should pay $592,000 to Shelia Rias, a woman who said Vernon knowingly infected her with herpes. Maxwell's pitiful story was told at length last Sunday by Sun reporter Kevin Brockway. For 10 years, Vernon was married. He and Rasharita divorced in 1999. She got their $348,000 house in suburban Atlanta plus his Porsche, Range Rover and bank account. But the couple lived together another two years and became parents of a fourth child, daughter Madison. Dominique is a strapping 6-foot-6 sophomore at Gainesville Buchholz High where his dad was once a hero but the kid chose not to go out for basketball. Coaches pleaded but Dominique's mom told the Sun, "When he found out what his father did, he said he wanted in no way be like him." Years ago, Myra would write postcards to Dominique and sign Vernon's name, so the boy would think his father cared. Mad Max reached out once, but that had a foul odor. Vernon took third-grader Dominique for a blood test. He gave $40 to the child as hush money. Dominique told his mother anyway. Results proved what Myra knew, that the son was indeed fathered by Maxwell. "He's a poor excuse for a human being," Jenkins told the Sun. "A poor excuse for a man." Gainesville never had a better high school athlete. After being named Mr. Basketball in the state, Mad Max promised the late Jim Valvano that N.C. State was the next stop, but Vernon went partying with UF players and decided to sign with the Gators. There was sizzle. Maxwell was 6 feet 4, quick and blessed with a gorgeous outside shot. Mad Max helped UF basketball to new plateaus, making two NCAA Tournaments. He hit a last-second shot to beat St. Johns in 1988's opening round. Bad stuff coming. ... Florida lost in the second round to Michigan. Maxwell, who had been warned there would be a drug test, flunked it and admitted to smoking mar1juana before leaving Gainesville. If the Wolverines had been beaten, the Gators would've been disqualified. Maxwell became the Gator career points leader (2,450), but his final two seasons were erased after athletic director Bill Arnsparger learned Vernon had accepted money from an agent. Mad Max averaged 18.8 per game. Penalties came from the NCAA. Rumors were thick that Maxwell used cocaine before games, the Sun reported. Word was, coach Norm Sloan knew but refused to act. Sloan later admitted to Jack Hairston, then Sun sports editor, that - in a scoreless, hopeless Mad Max appearance against Tennessee - "he was drunk." - Hubert Mizell can be reached at mmizell02@earthlink.net
That's an old article filled with hate! Max had too many gold diggers with him. You fail to mention the famous call to Sam Cassell when the Clips were in the playoffs. Vernon > Gold Diggers
New article filled with hate : http://brockblog.gainesville.com/default.asp?item=635645 New mugshot filled with mo hate (middle of page) : http://www.alachuasheriff.org/warrants/MostWanted/felony_warrants.htm
Tupac had arrest warrants and went to jail. So did Nelson Mandella. TUPAC FREED HIP-HOP MANDELLA FREED SOUTH AFRICA MAXWELL FREED HOUSTON FROM CHOKE CITY!
my goodness, how QUICK was hakeem? my god. there was a play a center gave him 5 ft and he still beat him haha. where is our kenny smith? robert horry? maxwell? cassell? to knock down open jumpers
tinman, please don't ever stop being the old-school clutch city loving rockets fan that you are, and bringing it up on this board. give as much props to Mad Max for his Rockets play as possible. just don't make it stupid. defending maxwell as a human being is stupid, and tarnishes what you've accomplished as the defender of Rockets history.
We don't know anything about Max except what's in the papers and in the Rockets history. I'm not like the YOFing people who care so much about his private life. i didn't start the Max bashing either. Why must people be so perfect? if Max has problems, fine with me. he's still a Rockets hero, regardless how many bad PERSONAL LIFE EXPERIENCES he had. its not like Max started beating up Rocket fans, he's just going after Phoenix and Portland fans. Go Max!
So, you condone beating one's wife/not supporting your children/kidnapping/rushing into stands to punch fans/etc. if a) that person's wife is sleeping around or b) that person makes basketballs go in hoops for your favorite team. Anyone defending that piece of trash is really no better than that piece of trash. I'm happy that he helped my team win a championship, but that doesn't change the fact that he's scum. You'd probably defend O.J. if you were a Bills fan. Hitler if you were from Germany. Osama bin Laden if you were Scottie Pippen.
dude you even have your own facts wrong: he never hit his wife 1. that was some other chick 2. Maxwell said it wasn't him. it was KENNETH SHAW WHO DID IT Thanks TMZ.comman95, tell me about Scotty Brook's martial life and Boki's thug life, cause we all know that's the most important thing in the GARM. The Topic is 'where's vernon?' the Answer: In the hearts of all Rockets fans
I know someone who saw it first hand. But go ahead and call one of my best friend's a liar and continue to defend this ****bag. He could rape your sister and you'd still defend him. You'd testify against your sister in court.
Since when was this "Do you hate Vernon" thread? Thanks Nancy Grace, maybe you should go ahead tell me what you think about Michael Jackson too. Carry on my wayward son There'll be peace when you are done Lay your weary head to rest Don't you cry no more Once I rose above the noise and confusion Just to get a glimpse beyond this illusion I was soaring ever higher But I flew too high Though my eyes could see I still was a blind man Though my mind could think I still was a mad man I hear the voices when I'm dreaming I can hear them say Carry on my wayward son There'll be peace when you are done Lay your weary head to rest Don't you cry no more Masquerading as a man with a reason My charade is the event of the season And if I claim to be a wise man It surely means that I don't know On a stormy sea of moving emotion Tossed about I'm like ship in the ocean I set a course for winds of fortune But I hear the voices say Carry on my wayward son There'll be peace when you are done Lay your weary head to rest Don't you cry no more Carry on You will always remember Carry on Nothing equals the splendor Now your life's no empty Surely Heaven waits for you Carry on my wayward son There'll be peace when you are done Lay your weary head to rest Don't you cry no more
Tupac didn't run! Mandella didn't run! Maxwell .... is on the run!!! Maxwell may have helped free Houston from Choke City, but nobody saved Maxwell from choking himself! Boooooo hooooooo!
