Ex-NBA star Ralph Sampson jailed in Gwinnett; disputes claim of child support failure

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By Marcus K. Garner

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

College basketball great and four-time NBA All-Star Ralph Sampson is free after being jailed for several hours in Gwinnett County for numerous traffic violations.

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Gwinnett County Jail Ralph Sampson

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But Sampson, 51, says police got one accusation wrong.

"My license was not suspended for failure to meet child support obligations of any kind," he said in an email sent Wednesday afternoon to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The former Houston Rockets center, who lives in Duluth, was arrested Tuesday night for having, among other things, a suspended license that was the result of failure to meet child support obligations, according to police reports.

Sampson was pulled over that evening around 7 p.m., in the Peachtree Corners area of Gwinnett County by a police officer doing license tag checks. Sampson’s license plate was expired.

Subsequent checks found Sampson’s license was suspended and that the seven-footer had an open arrest warrant from Duluth for failing to appear in court on a 2008 auto insurance violation.

Sampson, through a spokeswoman's email, disputed a part of the police report.

"This issue had nothing to do with child support," he reiterated in the email. He said the suspension was "due to the non-payment of a $35 reinstatement fee."

In response to a question from the AJC about the accuracy of the police report, Gwinnett County police spokesman Cpl. Jake Smith said the information the arresting officer received came from the Georgia Crime Information Center and National Crime Information Center.

So, to the question of whether this was a case of officer error, Smith said, "if he put it in the report, I doubt it."

Sampson bonded out shortly after midnight Wednesday.

The 7-foot, 4-inch Sampson was a star during the 1980s, leading the University of Virginia Cavaliers to a Final Four appearance in 1980, and, as part of the ‘Twin Towers” tandem of centers (with Akeem Olajuwon), scored a buzzer-beater to bounce the L.A. Lakers from the 1986 NBA Western Conference Championship series.

He was a three-time NCAA College Player of the year, was named the NBA Rookie of the Year in 1984, and was named MVP of the NBA All-Star game in 1985.