May 7, 1989 will forever live in his memory. Still, it’s not like there was anything he could have done differently. He nearly blocked the shot, but a man by the name of Michael Jordan (#6 BEIR) was able to hang in the air just a little while longer … long enough to see Craig Ehlo (#9 FCAR) descend to the earth while he was given a split-second clear view of the basket. The rest is history.
An article and video was recently posted about Mr. Ehlo, titled, “Craig Ehlo: Michael Jordan’s Most Famous Victim and the Lowest Point of His Life,” detailing Ehlo’s career in the NBA, as well as his addiction to pain medication drugs a few years ago after major back surgery. When he started buying drugs off the streets, Craig knew he was in trouble. Not long after he was arrested and thrown in jail overnight for domestic violence after he took his jacket and burned it in his driveway, thinking it was funny.
“I was up all night. It’s kinda like in the Old Testament, when some of those guys wrestled with God. I was wrestling with God in there.”
Thankfully, Craig Ehlo has been clean since August 1, 2013. By the way, when Jon Niednagel has been in Mr. Ehloa’s presence at different basketball venues, he’s always been a most cordial man wonderfully reflecting his #9 design. The FCAR design is likely the same as the great king of Israel, David, inherited via his DNA, which certainly didn’t inhibit his Old Testament reputation of man after God’s own heart.
You can catch the fascinating, sobering video below.
————————————
————————————
Written by: Staff
(click for source)
————————————–
Wow, Craig must have really been in pain to become addicted to painkillers, for #9 usually has the highest pain threshold. Then again, as a Q1, at the same time he is also prone to more addictive/dopamine-driven behaviors, so that could have been a major factor as well. Whatever the process, I’m glad he’s apparently getting some control back in his life. I’ll check out the video soon to get more insight.
It’s also interesting that you wrote of a #9 NBAer and how he coped with struggles just after I read this article on Larry Sanders today:
http://www.complex.com/sports/2015/05/larry-sanders-profile-walking-away-from-nba
I had been suspecting Larry Sanders lately as a #9 (initially thought he might be a #2), and this article seems to confirm it: the metaphorical speech, the need to find inner harmony, the need to create, the need for tons of emotional support, and even (negatively) some immaturity, lack of logic, lack of analytic thinking, lack of discipline, and lack of being more realistic and down-to-earth. Hopefully Larry, also, will find the balance he needs to get his life in order. Right now, he might seem happy, but much of what he says indicates there are still lots of things not in perspective.
In sum, #9s, as all of us, have their own unique-to-type struggles.