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Wiedmer: Ernie Johnson Jr. a role model for us all

In this 2010 file photo, Inside the NBA host Ernie Johnson Jr., left, talks while analysts Kenny Smith, center, and Charles Barkley listen on the set at the TNT studios in Atlanta.
In this 2010 file photo, Inside the NBA host Ernie Johnson Jr., left, talks while analysts Kenny Smith, center, and Charles Barkley listen on the set at the TNT studios in Atlanta. In this 2010 file photo, Inside the NBA host Ernie Johnson Jr., left, talks while analysts Kenny Smith, center, and Charles Barkley listen on the set at the TNT studios in Atlanta.

By Mark Wiedmer 6 min read

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For ticket information about the Friday luncheon and the tournament, see www.mccallie.org/dpepper10classic.

Having secured nationally renowned basketball power Oak Hill Academy for this weekend’s inaugural McCallie-Dr Pepper TEN Classic at McCallie School, Blue Tornado coach John Shulman knew he wanted a Friday luncheon speaker to mirror the Virginia school’s fame.

“I’d just watched the ESPN E:60 film on Ernie Johnson (Jr.),” Shulman recalled Monday afternoon. “I told our people, ‘Would he not be phenomenal?’ He’s who you want your kids to grow up to be.”

So he called the longtime host of TNT’s “Inside the NBA.” And Johnson said what he usually does when asked to speak: “If you want someone to give you 45 minutes worth of (fellow hosts) Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal stories, I’m not your guy.

“But if you want someone to talk about love and hope, someone to talk about adoption and overcoming cancer, someone to talk to young people about checking your compass and trying to head in the right direction, I think I have a pretty good message to deliver.”