Basketball Hall of Fame member Isiah Thomas is back in the news. With the old feud between Michael Jordan and Thomas popping up due to the 2024 ESPN documentary The Last Dance, the former Detroit Pistons player has once again become the center of attention.
Thomas has experienced many ups and downs in his life. One of the highs was when he married his college girlfriend, Lynn Kendall, in 1985. According to the New York Post, Kendall is the daughter of a Secret Service agent and a nurse. She met Thomas while they were both attending Indiana University, and they stayed together when he signed with the Pistons in 1981.
In 1984, just three years after his contract, the Pistons allegedly elevated Thomas to a 10-year, $ 12 million contract. Later that year, Thomas proposed to Kendall on the steps of the Indiana University campus, the place where the couple met for their first date, Sports Illustrated reported. Before asking the question, the NBA star allegedly asked Kendall’s father for his blessing, then took her to school to surprise her with his proposal.
They have two children together, a son named Joshua, born in 1988, and a daughter named Lauren, born in 1991. Although the couple is still going strong today, their union has endured a good deal of controversy, including unexpected love.
Isiah Thomas and his unexpected loving son
Nick Laham / Getty ImagesNot long after Isiah Thomas and Lynn Kendall were married in 1985, the couple was put in the spotlight by a shocking paternity lawsuit involving a loving son. According to the New York Post, a Michigan woman named Jenni Dones claimed that after a “close, exclusive, and ongoing relationship,” she and the basketball star conceived a child on May 26, 1985. That date is just two months before Thomas married Kendall. Dones gave birth to a son, Marc Edward Thomas Dones, in February 1986.
Jenni and Thomas reportedly struck a deal in 1987, and the NBA star agreed to pay around $ 50,000 and provide $ 2,764 per month until Marc turned 18. At that time, Marc would receive a one-time payment of $ 100,000. According to the New York Post, Dones filed another lawsuit in 1992, alleging that the original settlement was not sufficient to provide support and education to Marc. “Dones was able to obtain an undisclosed amount of additional support for his son,” New York Post reported.
Marc spoke briefly about his father to the New York Post in 2006. “I don’t care what’s going on with him now, that’s his concern,” said Marc. “Our lives are separate. He lives his and I live mine. He has not been a good father to me. He has never returned my calls, that’s just him.
