Part Four: Tony Skinn
 | Part One: Seeking Cinderella Part Two: Lamar Butler • Part Three: Jai Lewis |
 Tony Skinn Team: Stade Clermontois Location: Clermont, France Hometown: Takoma Park, Md. Ht./Wt.: 6-1/175 Position: Guard |
In mid-July, when Lewis and Butler still were looking for teams, Tony Skinn already had signed a contract in France for about $10,000 a month. But trouble surfaced before he collected his first paycheck.
The team, Roanne, wanted him to report for camp in early August. But Skinn's girlfriend, Weyni Ghebremedhin, was pregnant with the couple's first child and expected to deliver in the middle of August. Team officials suggested Skinn report to training camp, fly back for the birth, then return to France.
Not a chance, said Skinn, who saw no point in leaving before his girlfriend had given birth. Son Isaiah was born Aug. 12, and Skinn reported to the team a week later. He lasted only one month. Roanne was expecting a pass-first guard, and Skinn was more of a shooter. His agent and the team worked out a settlement and Skinn returned to Virginia hoping to stay. He wanted to be with his girlfriend and son, so he looked into playing in the NBA development league.
Then he learned all rookies in the NBDL make just $12,000 per season, plus expenses – not the kind of salary that will cover the cost of diapers, formula and baby food. His agent found him a better-paying job with a team in Croatia, where bombed-out buildings stood in ruins, victims of the bloody war between the Bosnians and Serbs. Croatia had provided Bosnia with military support and drawn the enmity of the Serbs.
Though the war had ended 13 years ago, the rubble and the tension remained. When his team played a game in Serbia, a police escort met the bus at the border. In the smoke-filled arena, Skinn recalled, more than 100 armed guards circled the court as raucous fans whistled and jeered.
Duke-North Carolina, UCLA-USC, Michigan-Ohio State, those were friendly rivalries compared to the games between teams from Serbia and Croatia, with tension from past battlefield slaughters lingering on the basketball court.
Skinn could handle the tension. The more serious problem was his team, KK Split, fell two weeks behind on payments. Then four weeks, then six weeks.
He kept asking for his money. The team kept putting him off. This time there was no settlement.
Skinn left Croatia and returned to Virginia, but only briefly. His agent found him a job playing for another team in France. Though Skinn declined to say how much he's making, apparently it's enough to support his girlfriend and son. He brought them with him to France, where basketball no longer is all consuming.
Not with Isaiah around.
During one recent phone conversation, his whimpering son could be heard in the background.
"Hold on," he said.
"Do you need any help?" he asked. "Really. Do you need any help?"
His girlfriend was trying to quiet their son.
Then he resumed the phone conversation. "We've got to finish up here," he said.
Three teams in a matter of months. Traveling around Europe in hopes of one day making it in the NBA, but in need of making enough money to support his young family. No, this is not what he expected, said Skinn, who thought the Final Four might be his ticket to the NBA and a big payday.
"It definitely ran across our minds," Skinn said. "Then reality kicked in."
