Surprisingly how despite immense popularity, an NBA career celebrated by Detroit Pistons fans to this day and yet Isiah Thomas’ private life remains a mystery to many. If you ever found yourself running to any of the search engines with the question of who Isiah Thomas is married to, you are probably not alone. So let’s have a closer look at what life has been like for Zeke, off the court. Turns out, Isiah Thomas has been… Wait for it!

Yes, Thomas has been happily married since 1985 to Lynn Kendall Thomas. Their story, however, begins way back in their college years. According to information shared by Nicki Swift, Lynn was raised in suburban Chicago. She’s the daughter of a U.S. Secret Service agent and a nurse, and she was also attending Indiana University during the same period as Thomas. Their connection? Almost instant. And you can’t stop reading more of the 80s love!

Lynn became Thomas’s college sweetheart, standing by his side as he won an NCAA title and eventually took his talents to the NBA with the Detroit Pistons. As various reports have noted, Thomas married his college sweetheart, Lynn Kendall, in 1985. So, how did their relationship move from campus romance to wedding bells? After their college years, the love between them only grew. By 1984, with Isiah Thomas already turning heads in Detroit, he decided it was time to take the next step. In a heartfelt and thoughtful move, he asked for Lynn’s father’s blessing and planned a special surprise, as reported by Sports Illustrated.

Under the guise of needing to practice basketball, Zeke brought Lynn back to Bloomington, Indiana. Once there, he led her to the steps of the Indiana University library—the very spot where they had their first date—and proposed. As Sports Illustrated put it, “ring in hand, he asked her to close her eyes” and popped the question right there. Lynn said yes, and the following year, they tied the knot. According to SI, “they were married a year later and settled into a spacious five-bedroom house at the end of a cul-de-sac in [Bloomfield Hills, Michigan], just a few miles from the Pontiac Silverdome, where Thomas played.”

Since then, the couple has been married for over three decades. And the fact that Thomas shares a great bond with not just his wife but also his in-laws shows his commitment to the matrimonial bond.

The time when Isiah Thomas used his father-in-law’s position to claim his innocence

At the height of his career, Zeke had the world at his feet. He had just led the Detroit Pistons to back-to-back NBA championships and was named Finals MVP—cementing his place among the league’s biggest stars. But even as the champagne from the 1990 title run had barely dried, a different kind of spotlight found him. You might remember the headlines that followed.

Word got out that Isiah Thomas was allegedly on the FBI’s radar over a massive illegal gambling ring sweeping across the country. The whispers? Zeke was hosting high-stakes dice games right inside his Detroit home. But Thomas wasn’t having any of it. “There’s never been a craps game at Isiah Thomas’ house,” Isiah said as per an article by Basketball Network. “Very few people have ever been inside my house. I could name to you on one hand the number of people who’ve been to my house.” So, how did his name even get dragged into the mess?

It all came down to a series of checks totaling $100,000—his name on them, cashed at a local grocery store. The store? It was run by Emmet Denha, Thomas’s close friend and next-door neighbor. And according to Zeke, he wasn’t doing anything unusual. His explanation was simple—his mother had taught him to cash checks at grocery stores. Fewer crowds, more ease. But that store was linked to Henry Alan Hilf, a bookmaker under grand jury investigation for running a multi-million dollar betting operation.

Denha was reportedly helping Hilf move money, and that’s how Zeke’s name got caught in the crossfire. Still, Thomas wasn’t backing down. “I will take a lie-detector test, I’d pee in a bottle, they could take some blood,” he added. “My father-in-law is head of the Secret Service in Chicago. There ain’t no way in hell I’ll be doing something wrong.” That one statement, even in the face of adversity, goes on to show how much he cares for his in-laws’ reputation. Guilty or not, Isiah Thomas, for sure, holds a strong position for his in-laws in his life.