The story of how Larry Johnson came to be known through his commercials as “Grandmama” is a pretty good one. However the story of how it almost never happened, is even better.
“Converse called. They said, ‘We’ve got a great idea for a commercial. We’re going to put you in a gurney, cover you up. We’re going to have Magic Johnson and Larry Bird operating on you. They’ll say, ‘Oh, We did it. A perfect basketball player.’ Then they say, ‘We’ve got to name him.’ Larry says, ‘It’s got to be Larry.’ And Magic says, ‘It’s got to be Johnson.’ They go back and forth. ‘Larry.’ ‘Johnson.’ ‘Larry.’ ‘Johnson.’ Then I raise up off the gurney. I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, I’m signing.’ … Six months later, they come back and say, ‘Are you ready to do the commercial?’ I say, ‘Yeah.’ They say, ‘We’re going to put you in a dress, put a wig on you.’ I’m like, ‘Yo, what happened to the gurney and those guys?’ They say, ‘No, no, we’re going to do this.’ I had already taken the million and bought my mom a house. So that’s how Grandmama came out.”
And that’s how a legendary undersized power forward ends up in a dress reserved for your dear old granny. Artwork by Muideen Ogunmola aka Blocknation.
H/N Sporting News
[…] awesome story of how Charlotte Hornets legend Larry Johnson became “Grandmama” keeps getting better […]