Beyond The GT: Whatever happened to Larry Johnson?

When I attended my first Charlotte basketball game, my thoughts immediately went to my first nostalgic association--Larry Johnson, the star player of the 1992-1994 Charlotte Hornets. For those who remember, he was known for endorsing Converse Reacts shoes and starred in a couple of Converse commercials opposite his fictional grandmother, dubbed "Grandmama".

"Grandmama" was basically Johnson in a blue flowered dress, grey wig, straw hat, cat's eye glasses and gold-toothed smile. The first ad launched from a very common insult: "[you're basketball skills are so bad] my own grandma can beat you on the court"

Wait a minute....blue dress? Grey wig? Cats Eye Glasses? Sounds familiar....

Anyway......

The "Grandmama" ads grew pretty popular and put Larry Johnson and Charlotte in the national spotlight. The character "herself" grew so popular that merchandising was made to cash in on the craze.
Merchandise from t-shirts to trading cards and posters.

I even recall a time in the Foot Locker when by chance I looked up at the ceiling to find a dangling inflatable dummy of Grandmama's legs (dress, sneakers and all), giving the impression of a slam dunk gone hilariously wrong. That was not the end of it, not by the slightest. The Grandmama phenomenon reached its peak when the character guest-starred on a episode of Family Matters.

But alas, as quickly as "Grandmama" appeared, she quickly disappeared and Larry Johnson left the public consciousness with her. With the Hornets returning to Charlotte this year, I had to find out what became of Larry Johnson since those days. Thanks to the advent of lovely invention I'm blogging on, I could find out very quickly.

Life After Grandmama

To be brief on the subject, Johnson's growing ego, fights with new teammate Alonzo Mourning, and financial strains on the team lead to public backlash and eventual relocation of the team to New Orleans. Johnson himself was relocated to the Knicks, where his rivalry with Mourning intensified and his behavior grew worse. By the early 2000s, he retired for health reasons and converted to islam.

Fellow "blogspotter" Basketbawful has more on this and the fate of the Hornets and John after the Grandmama Era: http://basketbawful.blogspot.com/2011/09/players-i-hate-part-2-larry-johnson.html A more neutral biography is available at wikipedia (ironically):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Johnson_(basketball,_born_1969)

Johnson may have not been the next Jordan or LeBron, but he did cut a deep notch into sports history thanks to one good promotional endorsement. Maybe one day he'll choose to bury the hatchet with his past and pay a visit to the new Buzz City Hornets at Time Warner Cable Arena. Both Johnson and "Grandmama" have made an impact that still resonate in the minds of nostalgic Hornets fans, Charlotte residents, and basketball pop culture fans alike.