INTRODUCTION

IF YOU INCLUDE THE VERY FIRST TIME I sat behind a microphone as a twenty-year-old, sweaty-palmed junior at WUOG, the University of Georgia’s student radio station, I have been broadcasting for forty years now. I’ve made my living on television for the last thirty-eight, most of those as a sportscaster, and yet there is no guarantee you know who I am.

Maybe you’re not a sports fan, or perhaps you’ve made a conscious effort to keep your TV viewing to a minimum. I have no problem with that; in fact, my wife, Cheryl, fits that description on both counts, especially the “not a sports fan” part of that equation. In the pages that follow, you’ll get to know Cheryl very well, and I am certain you will find her as enchanting as I did when I met her thirty-seven years ago.

So all of that being said, let me introduce myself. I am Ernie Johnson Jr. Those of you who already know me from my work on the Turner networks, TNT and TBS, will probably refer to me as the guy who hosts the show Inside the NBA, which features NBA Hall of Famers Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal and two-time NBA champion Kenny Smith, or as the guy who calls Major League Baseball with another Hall of Famer, Cal Ripken, and all-star pitcher Ron Darling. Still, while my appearances on television perhaps gave you a clear idea of what I do, they did not necessarily tell you who I am.

That changed dramatically in the spring of 2015.

It is quite rare in my business for one network to air a feature on a personality from a competing network, but that is exactly what happened in 2015. Jeremy Schaap, an award-winning journalist for ESPN, approached me about producing a profile of my family. He was aware that my wife, Cheryl, and I are the parents of six children, four of whom are adopted, three of whom have special-needs, and one of whom has a fatal disease (muscular dystrophy). Jeremy knew of my past battle with cancer and about the bond I shared with my late father, another longtime broadcaster, Ernie Johnson Sr.

Jeremy wanted to tell my story on the network’s E:60 newsmagazine show. My wife and I were hesitant at first to allow television cameras that kind of access into what had always been a very private part of our lives. But then we thought about the possible benefits. What if this feature struck a chord with parents who were considering adoption or were going through the daily rigors of caring for a special-needs child? What if it encouraged a man or a woman faced with the reality of chemotherapy? Or what if it helped to strengthen or repair the relationship between a father and a son?

We agreed to allow Jeremy and his producer, Dan Lindberg, to have at it. What they produced—a twenty-five-minute feature titled My Story: Ernie Johnson Jr.—did all of the things Cheryl and I prayed it would. The response was staggering and humbling, and more than a year later, as the program has re-aired and been distributed online, I continue to hear from fathers and sons and cancer patients and adoptive parents and moms and dads with special-needs kids who were impacted in some way by the heartfelt presentation Jeremy and Dan produced. We are eternally grateful.

And so now I have done something I have long thought about doing, even before that E:60 piece was ever conceived. I have written a book—the one you’re holding. I call it Unscripted not only because it is the perfect description of the show I am blessed to work on with Charles, Shaq, and Kenny but also because my life away from the TV cameras has been one unscripted, unforeseen, unforgettable moment after another.

My wish is not that you regard our family in some glorified, elevated way. Far from it. My wish is that this book will speak to you on some level right where you live in the area of parenting or faith or heartbreak or triumph.

And my wish is that this book will honor my father.

And my heavenly Father.

Here’s to embracing the unscripted.

Enjoy.