Ernie Johnson Jr.

ATLANTA — Ernie Johnson Jr., the studious host of TNT's Inside the NBA, is fanatical about his job.

He arrives at least eight hours before the tip-off of the network's first game to crunch numbers and pore over piles of newspaper clippings. Then, he'll color code his research with multihued pens, which he stacks by the dozens in a straight line on top of his desk.
But this particular night, he's delving deeply into a subject he's anything but obsessed about — himself.

"Hey, man, I heard that you referred to me as 'the coolest Caucasian on the planet,' somewhere on your Web site," Johnson says to his friend, Atlanta-based rap artist Chuck D of Public Enemy, who'd dropped by TNT's studios to hang out with Johnson and star analysts Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley. "Did you really say that?"


And Ernie Johnson, Jr. says this about his wife, Cheryl:


After you meet Cheryl," Johnson said proudly, "you'll want to write about her rather than me. She's a real dynamo."

In 1991, Cheryl's drive, determination and strong convictions changed the Johnson's' lives forever. They already had two children, Eric, now 17, and Maggie, 15. But after seeing a story on 20/20 about the horrifying treatment of Romanian orphans, Cheryl suggested that she and Ernie adopt one those children. So, in the middle of the NBA playoffs, she embarked on a two-month trip to Romania, where she fell in love with a 3-year-old boy, Michael, who'd been abandoned in a park. He had multiple medical problems.
"We were going to adopt a girl, between the ages of 6 and 18 months, without any physical handicaps," E.J. recalled. "Then, after the fourth day there, Cheryl phoned and said, 'I saw this boy, and he's everything we said we couldn't accept. But I can't live the rest of my life wondering what happened to him.'
"And I said, 'Bring him home.'"

WOW. If that doesn't make you proud to be related, I don't know what will!

Shirley Mae Anderson Hagen is the second cousin of Ernie Johnson, Jr.

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