Anthony Edwards offers inspiration to Athens boy who lost family in fire. 'Never give up'

Anthony Edwards felt the loss of loved ones at a young age like Taeden Johnson now has so the former UGA basketball star reached out to the Athens 12-year old on Monday.

The 2020 NBA No. 1 overall draft pick connected with the Clarke Middle School student after the Minnesota Timberwolves rookie guard’s walk-through ahead of a night game at Cleveland.

Edwards learned from social media posts from his former UGA basketball teammates about Johnson losing his mother Penyada Fields, 9-year old sister Mariah Fields and grandmother Penny Fields in a predawn fire on Jan. 27 at Hallmark Mobile Home Park. Taeden escaped the fire.

More:House fire in Athens kills three; boy escapes the flames

More:GoFundMe established — quickly pulling in $50,000 — for Athens 12-year-old who lost family in fire

Bulldog junior Tye Fagan and Taeden’s mentor of five years, UGA graduate Zac Hendrix, both went to Upson-Lee High School in Thomaston and are friends.

That helped lead to an early afternoon FaceTime call of about 15 minutes.

“It was incredible,” Hendrix said Tuesday morning. “He just said, ‘Hey, Taeden, look man, I lost my mother, I also lost my grandmother at a young age and look where I’m at now. Never give up. Always give 110 percent to where you eventually want to go. Just follow your dreams and nothing will stop you from doing that.’”

Edwards, who is from Atlanta, was an eighth grader when his mother Yvette and grandmother Shirley each died of cancer within eight months.

The FaceTime call Monday wasn’t a one-time interaction. Edwards, 19, told Johnson he will stay in touch as much as he can, hopefully weekly.

“He said lock my number in, he said call me anytime you need me and I’ll be sending you something,” Hendrix said. “Taeden was so excited.

Maybe it will be a Timberwolves Anthony Edwards No. 1 jersey.

Edwards told Johnson about wearing No. 5 at Georgia and Hendrix said Taeden planned to change his jersey numbers to 5.

He plays football for the Downtown Falcons and also plays basketball and baseball.

Edwards leads all NBA rookies with 13.6 points per game to go along with 3.0 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game.

“He’s so excited to tell everybody, 'I talked to Ant-Man,'” Hendrix said.

Hendrix, who had a temporary job at Augusta National Golf Club, is now back in Athens.

“I feel led to be here in Athens,” he said.

Hendrix was paired with Taeden starting when he was a third grader through the Clarke County Mentor Program when he was a UGA student.

Taeden is staying now with his paternal grandmother and his father.

Hendrix set up a GoFundMe account that has raised $204,638 as of Tuesday morning. Those funds will go to Taeden and his half-sister Sha’Niyah for future expenses.