Former Pittsburgh Pipers forward John Brisker was married to their wife, Michelle, but their marriage ultimately ended in divorce after she filed on the grounds of abuse.
Starting his professional basketball career in 1969, John garnered significant attention for his skills and aggressive playing style.
Highlights
- John Brisker had a strained relationship with his wife, Michelle, who filed for divorce, citing physical abuse as the primary reason.
- John had two daughters, one with his wife, Michelle, and another from his relationship with his girlfriend in Seattle.
- After the divorce and the subsequent disappearance of the NBA star, Michelle led a low-profile life, staying away from the public spotlight.
John and Michelle were parents to their single daughter. Despite the outward appearance of a perfect marriage, their relationship was far from it.
The couple mostly kept their marriage and personal family lives away from the public eye, leaving little information about the dynamics of their relationship.
However, in 1978, John Brisker mysteriously vanished after traveling to Uganda.
The disappearance of former NBA player John Brisker remains a mystery…
— NBA TV (@NBATV) April 14, 2017
An all-new #BeyondThePaint premieres tonight at 10pm/ET! pic.twitter.com/NMV2ovZgdv
The NBA star was last seen on April 11, 1978, and reports claimed that his last known contact was a phone call to his girlfriend in Seattle.
Moreover, the news of his divorce case with his wife was also disclosed only after his unexplained disappearance.
The divorce and the subsequent legal battles over child support and his estate added to the challenges he faced in his final years.
John’s wife, Michelle, Detailed Her Personal Experience Of Abuse At The Hands Of Her Husband
Following the mysterious disappearance of John Brisker, he was declared legally dead in 1985, but concrete evidence has never surfaced to explain what happened to him.
In 1977, a year before his disappearance, John’s wife Michelle filed for divorce, citing physical abuse.
According to a Seattle Times article, she described the abuse in court, saying Brisker left her deaf in her left ear. The court documents read:
He bounced me around the wall and threw me on the bed, He smothered me until I couldn’t breathe.
Seattle Times
Ultimately, the court granted Michelle custody of their daughter and ordered John to pay child support.
However, following the divorce, John failed to meet his child support obligations, and the court held him in contempt.
Meanwhile, in Seattle, Brisker fathered a child with another woman named Khalilah Rashad, who was also the last person he contacted before his disappearance.
What happened to former ABA & @NBA player John Brisker? Deadspin's @JulieDiCaro has the story on Brisker's disappearance in Africa. 🏀✈️ Watch the full video now: https://t.co/UZH17MU1be pic.twitter.com/wLR2wA0jTf
— Deadspin (@Deadspin) October 26, 2022
When he disappeared, John left behind two young daughters, a house in Redmond, and $29,000 in his bank account.
Investigators conducted many inquiries, extensively interviewing his loved ones and teammates after his disappearance.
His brother, Ralph, claimed that he had not seen his brother since 1976, while their mother mentioned she hadn’t seen her son in three years.
Interestingly, one of his former teammates, Tom Burleson, speculated that Brisker was involved as a mercenary and that he went to Uganda with his wife. He said:
He went to Uganda and it was as a mercenary and he was fighting over there, His wife went with him, and he was captured by Idi Amin’s men. And Idi Amin had him prepared and they served him and his wife banquet style.
Seattle Times
To this day, his life and mysterious disappearance continue to be a topic of fascination, filled with dramatic theories.
However, there remains no definitive information about what happened or how he vanished, leaving the mystery of John Brisker’s fate unsolved.
After the divorce, Michelle Brisker chose to keep a low profile, and as a result, there is very little information available about her life following her separation from John Brisker.
Additional Information
- The Philadelphia 76ers selected John Brisker as a supplemental draft pick in the 1969 NBA draft.
- Before playing professionally, Brisker played college basketball for the Toledo Rockets of the University of Toledo.
- He played six seasons in the ABA and NBA as a member of the Pittsburgh Pipers, Pittsburgh Condors, and Seattle SuperSonics.
- Brisker was a two-time ABA All-Star and had a reputation as one of the league’s premier tough guys, finishing his career with the Cherry Hill Rookies of the Eastern Basketball Association (EBA) in 1975.
