Eddie Johnson is still getting over what he calls the worst day of his life.
He scratched his way out of the Cabrini-Green housing project in Chicago, fashioned a long and successful NBA career, turned that into an opportunity on TV and built a reputation as an all-around good guy who loves to work with kids.
His worst scrape with the law involved a couple of traffic tickets.
Now he's dealing with a case of mistaken identity that shocked him and his friends and, he fears, might have permanently sullied his reputation.
"Devastating. Hard to explain," Johnson said Thursday.
Eddie Johnson was mistaken in some media reports for another Eddie Johnson -- a retired 10-year NBA player from Florida who was arrested Tuesday night and charged with sexually assaulting an 8-year-old girl.