Larry O'Neal Johnson Sr. (November 28, 1954 – April 29, 2025) was an American

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player who had a brief career with the

Buffalo Braves The Buffalo Braves were an American professional basketball team based in Buffalo, New York. The Braves competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

(NBA). He played

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

for the

Kentucky Wildcats The Kentucky Wildcats are the men's and women's intercollegiate athletic squads of the University of Kentucky (UK), a founding member of the Southeastern Conference. The Kentucky Wildcats is the student body of the University of Kentucky. 30, ...

. Johnson was a 6'3"

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and played competitively at Union County High School in

Morganfield, Kentucky Morganfield is a home rule-class city in Union County, Kentucky, in the United States. It is the seat of its county. The population was 3,285 as of the year 2010 U.S. census. Name The city was named for Revolutionary War General Daniel Mor ...

, before attending the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical ...

from 1973 to 1977. He was the first of three African-Americans from Union County recruited by UK.Larry Johnson enters Hall of Fame
by Brandon Cole, ''Union County Advocate'' website, posted June 6, 2007 At Kentucky, he was selected as All-SEC Third Team his senior season. He helped the Wildcats finish as runners-up in the 1975 NCAA Tournament to

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

in coach

John Wooden John Robert Wooden (October 14, 1910 – June 4, 2010) was an American basketball coach and player. Nicknamed "the Wizard of Westwood", he won ten National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, nati ...

's last game, as well as becoming NIT champions in 1976 with a victory over UNC-Charlotte, in which he scored 16 points. Johnson was selected in the second round of the

1977 NBA draft The 1977 NBA draft was the 31st annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on June 10, 1977, before the 1977–78 season. In this draft, 22 NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball player ...

by the

. He only played four games for them during the 1977–78 season, averaging 1.5 points per game. Johnson would go on to play internationally for many years, including in Japan for Matsushita Denki, which later became known as the

Panasonic Corporation is a Japanese multinational electronics manufacturer, headquartered in Kadoma, Japan. It was founded in 1918 as in Fukushima by Kōnosuke Matsushita. The company was incorporated in 1935 and renamed and changed its name to in 2008. In 20 ...

, from 1979 to 1989. After he retired as a player, he also coached that team. Johnson died April 29, 2025, at the age of 70.

Career statistics

NBA

Source

Regular season

{, class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:95%; text-align:right;" !Year !Team !GP !MPG !FG% !FT% !RPG !APG !SPG !BPG !PPG , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", Buffalo , 4 , , 9.5 , , .231 , , .000 , , 1.3 , , 1.8 , , 1.3 , , .5 , , 1.5

References

External links

NBA stats
@ basketballreference.com

@ bigbluehistory.net 1954 births 2025 deaths 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen 21st-century African-American sportsmen American expatriate basketball people in Japan American men's basketball players Basketball players from Kentucky Buffalo Braves draft picks Buffalo Braves players Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball players People from Morganfield, Kentucky Shooting guards {{1950s-US-basketball-bio-stub