For you old timers, Whatever happened to Larry Johnson who played PG for us from 1973-1977
- Thread starter Uncle Adolph
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Good player, good defensive player, fair playmaker, not a great shooter...but seems I recall his going full court, end to end to hit game winning layup in a NIT game maybe?
Not a ton of info outside of basketball, but here's his Wikipedia entry:
Larry O. Johnson (born November 28, 1954) is an American retired basketball player who had a brief career in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was a 6'3" shooting guard and played competitively at Kentucky's Union County High School and the University of Kentucky (UK) from 1973 to 1977. He was the first of three African-Americans from Union County recruited by UK.[1]
Johnson was selected in the second round in the 1977 NBA draft by the Buffalo Braves. He played only four games for them in 1977–78 season, averaging 1.5 points per contest.[1] Johnson would go on to play internationally for many years.[1] Most notably in Japan for Matsushita Denki, which later became known as the Panasonic Corporation, from 1979 to 1989 and eventually coached the team after he retired.[2]
Larry O. Johnson (born November 28, 1954) is an American retired basketball player who had a brief career in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was a 6'3" shooting guard and played competitively at Kentucky's Union County High School and the University of Kentucky (UK) from 1973 to 1977. He was the first of three African-Americans from Union County recruited by UK.[1]
Johnson was selected in the second round in the 1977 NBA draft by the Buffalo Braves. He played only four games for them in 1977–78 season, averaging 1.5 points per contest.[1] Johnson would go on to play internationally for many years.[1] Most notably in Japan for Matsushita Denki, which later became known as the Panasonic Corporation, from 1979 to 1989 and eventually coached the team after he retired.[2]
I am not certain but seems like he was the all time assists leader when he graduated. He was a steady point guard who was the backup for Mike Flynn on the 75 runner-up team and a 2 year starter at pg. Kyle Macy was the starter after LJ so I guess it kinda made it easier to forget about him since Macy is one of the best (if not the best) pure point guards at Kentucky. I always liked Larry Johnson as a player, seemed like one of the most most underrated players for Kentucky.
I distinctly remember LJ trying to chase Phil Ford all over the floor withUNC Chicken$hit playing a 4 corner stall ( no shot clock era) so they could beat the best team in the NCAA tournament.
I'm an old timer so I'll tell you what I know...that I just found out on Wikipedia. 
He played pro ball in Japan from 1977 to 1989 and then coached that team he played for some undetermined amount of time and is still alive at 69 years young. That's all they've got so it's all I've got.
He played pro ball in Japan from 1977 to 1989 and then coached that team he played for some undetermined amount of time and is still alive at 69 years young. That's all they've got so it's all I've got.
That game ingrained my deep, deep dislike for Dean Smith and UNCheats.
I think he was the best on ball defender in UK history.
Larry Johnson was a good player.
I think he's not as well remembered as other players from that era because he was the only starter on that squad to never win an NCAA title. He was one of just two scholarship seniors on that team (Merion Haskins was the other) so he missed the 1978 championship by 1 year.
Another reason may be that not very long after graduating and a short stay in the NBA he went to Japan where he seems to have had a long career as a player and coach (Japan Times did an article on his influence in bringing American players to Japanese pro basketball) but I don't recall him staying connected with UK and being overseas back then meant he kind of got lost in the collective memory of UK fandom.
I also remember this game as well. UNC played a great first half and led 53-41 at the half. UK came out as a different team in the 2nd half. UNC went to the 4 corners with 15 minutes left in the game. UK continued to chop away at the lead and got it down to 1-2 points with a minute or two left. UNC hit FTs and sealed a win that I still despise to this day. For the game UNC shot 33-36 from the line while UK was 16-18. Steve Krafcisin and John Kuester combined to score 27 points with 21 of those points were FTs. SMH!
I totally agree. I had a conversation one day with a UK starter on the 1973 team. He told me that in practice Johnson stopped Jimmy Dan Conner cold. IMO, he did the same to just about everyone he guarded in games too. In a 1977 game at UT, Joe B decided to put Johnson on Ernie Grunfeld. He stopped him pretty well, but ended up in foul trouble as one might expect, especially on the road against UT. I thought that probably cost us the game that we lost 85-82. We picked our poison, but Johnson's defense was stellar as always. Without him on the court, we not only lost his defense, but his terrific ability to handle and distribute the ball.
Johnson was really good defensively. I have always felt like Cliff Hawkins was a bad man defensively.
I remember that as THE most frustrating UK game I've ever watched. I also remember it exactly the way you do. Many who saw that team might not agree with me, but I thought that 1977 team with LJ was a better team than the 1978 team that won it all. That team was just so good at ball movement and Shidler was much better that year as a starter than he was as a sub in 1978. I thought LJ's presence made us much better defensively and much quicker than the 78 team with Macy running the point. Yes, I know Macy was an AA, but I just think that team was better and had there been a 30 second clock in 1977, we would have beaten UNC and gone on to win it all.
I believe Kuester went 21/21 from the line. If he had missed one or two front ends, UK probably wins a Natty.
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You're right Johnson might have been the best on ball defender to ever play here. A big powerful point guard at 6'3" 205 pounds he combined strength and quickness that was more than other guards could handle.
Johnson came from the same high school that gave us Dwane Casey & Fred Cowen.
Heard earlier today that Larry passed away. I haven’t found anything online but I live in his home county. He lived in Georgetown. Union County Brave great! May he rest in peace.
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A very good ball handler with end to end speed(maybe not in the Dwight Anderson class) but
in the Dirk Minefield vicinity.
in the Dirk Minefield vicinity.
And this is why I always hated UNC. Dean Smith was a pussy POS
I have a friend who lives in Union County, and he said he was overseas for a long time, but I think he is back now. I heard he's really been in poor health. He was the first of the Union County pipeline that sent us Freddie Cowan and Dwane Casey, they all had good careers at Kentucky.
I just read that he had passed away on a publication called 90minute sport, it didn't say when or give any details? This article said it was published 30 minutes ago. Updated, I just got a text from my friend that said he passed away last night.😪
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This.
No one took the ball away from Larry Johnson. NO one!
He might travel once in a while, he might double-dribble, he might make an occassional bad pass.....
NO ONE took the ball away from him.....at least that I can remember.
And yes, he was very quick.
He won the Bernie Shively award (player of the game) his Soph. year in the Notre Dame game at Freedom Hall. Had like 15 or so points playing off the bench.
Kyle Macy has put it out on Facebook. I couldn’t figure out how to attach a screenshot of his post.
Larry died yesterday in Lexington.
He had been ill for a while. 😰
He had been ill for a while. 😰
I couldn’t imagine basketball without the shot clock. Just a ridiculous tactic. I even despise HS for not having it. So many teams hold the ball with the lead and it irks me. One thing I wish the IHSAA would change. I thought we would end up losing our state championship game far leading all second half after finally getting down 1 with a minute left. Luckily the other team drove and caused some fouls and we got the ball back enough to tie it for OT.
The four corner chicken basketball that Dean Smith & his academic cheaters played costed them the national championship game a few days later against Marquette.
I hope the devil is making Dean Smith play monkey in the middle 24/7 365 till the end of time.
Let’s not forget that we did not win the SEC that year. We lost twice to Tennessee that year. That was a good team but not the best in the country.
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