This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. It needs additional citations for verification. Tagged since May 2009. It may contain wording that merely promotes the subject without imparting verifiable information. Tagged since May 2009.

Larry Johnson

No. 2
Small forward / Power forward
Personal information
Born	(1969-03-14) March 14, 1969 (age 43) Tyler, Texas
Nationality	American
High school	Skyline (Dallas, Texas)
Listed height	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
Listed weight	235 lb (107 kg)
Career information
College	Odessa College (1987–1989) UNLV (1989–1991)
NBA Draft	1991 / Round: 1 / Pick: 1st overall
Selected by the Charlotte Hornets
Pro career	1991–2001
Career history
1991–1996	Charlotte Hornets
1996–2001	New York Knicks
Career highlights and awards
2× NBA All-Star (1993, 1995) NBA Rookie of the Year (1992) All-NBA Second Team (1993) NBA All-Rookie First Team (1992) NCAA Champion (1990) Naismith College Player of the Year (1991) John R. Wooden Award (1991) USBWA Player of the Year (1991) NABC Player of the Year (1991) Sporting News College Player of the Year (1991) 2× Big West Conference Player of the Year (1990–1991) 2× Consensus NCAA All-American First Team (1991–1991) 2x National Junior College Athletic Association Division 1 Men's Basketball Player of the Year (1988, 1989) 1987 McDonald's High School All American selection
Career NBA statistics
Points	11,450 (16.2 ppg)
Rebounds	5,300 (7.5 rpg)
Assists	2,298 (3.3 apg)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Medals Men’s basketball Competitor for  United States FIBA World Championship Gold 1994 Canada National team Summer Universiade Gold 1989 Duisburg National team FIBA U19 World Championship Silver 1987 Bormio National team

Larry Demetric Johnson (born March 14, 1969 in Tyler, Texas) is a retired American basketball player who spent his professional career in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the Charlotte Hornets and New York Knicks. He was listed as a 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) forward.

High school and college career[link]

In his senior year of high school Johnson was a member of the 1987 McDonald's High School All-American Team that also included future NCAA and NBA stars like Marcus Liberty, Elliot Perry, Mark Macon, Rodney Monroe, Dennis Scott, Elmore Spencer, Chris Corchiani, and fellow Texas prep star LaBradford Smith. Johnson originally made a verbal commitment to Southern Methodist University, but began his collegiate career at Odessa College in Texas. He played in the 1987-88 and 1988–89 seasons where he averaged 22.3 points per game as a freshman and over 29 points per game his sophomore year, and became the first - and to this date, only - player ever to win the National Junior College Athletic Association Player of the Year award both years he played. There were even some basketball analysts who believed Johnson could have been a first round selection in the 1989 NBA Draft (even a possible NBA lottery selection) if he had declared for early entry.^[1]

Johnson eventually transferred to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas to play under head coach Jerry Tarkanian. Alongside future NBA players Stacey Augmon and Greg Anthony, Johnson faced Duke Blue Devils in the title game of the 1990 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. UNLV went on to win the contest by a score of 103–73, with Johnson contributing 22 points and 11 rebounds. The Runnin' Rebels set simultaneous NCAA records for the largest margin of victory and highest score in an NCAA Tournament championship game.

In a post-season mired by charges of recruiting violations and misconduct by UNLV, an agreement was reached between the university and the NCAA to allow for the defense of their title for the 1990–91 season, which would be followed by a suspension from post-season play the following season.^[2] Johnson and the Runnin' Rebels responded with a perfect regular season record of 27–0,^[3] with an average scoring margin of 26.7 points per game; this total included a 112–105 victory over the Arkansas Razorbacks, ranked second in the country at the time.^[4]

In the 1991 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament, UNLV won the West Regional Tournament only to be upset by eventual champion Duke in the Final Four. Johnson was named a First Team All-American twice, and won the Big West Conference Player of the Year and tournament Most Valuable Player awards in 1990 and 1991. He also won the prestigious John R. Wooden Award and was named Naismith College Player of the Year in 1991. To this day, Johnson is ranked 12th in career scoring and 7th in rebounding at UNLV despite playing only two seasons. He also holds the record for single-season and career field goal percentage. In 2002, Johnson and teammates Augmon and Anthony were inducted into the UNLV Athletic Hall of Fame along with the 1990–91 UNLV men's basketball team.^[3] To date they are the only UNLV team to make back-to-back Final Four appearances.

Professional career[link]

Charlotte Hornets[link]

Johnson was selected first overall in the 1991 NBA Draft by the Charlotte Hornets, and won the NBA Rookie of the Year Award in his first season. He also competed in the 1992 Slam Dunk Contest at the NBA All-Star Weekend in Orlando, finishing second to Cedric Ceballos of the Phoenix Suns.

In 1993, Johnson was voted to start in that year's All-Star Game, making him the first Hornet in franchise history to receive that honor; he enjoyed his best statistical season with averages of 22.1 points per game and 10.5 rebounds per game in 82 games, which earned him All-NBA second team honors. Along with Alonzo Mourning, Muggsy Bogues and Dell Curry, Johnson played with the Hornets at the height of their popularity in the early and mid-1990s. During this time, Johnson, who went by his initialism "LJ" and the nickname "Grandmama" (because of a popular series of commercials for Converse, who signed Johnson to an endorsement contract following his entry into the NBA), was featured on the cover of the premiere issue of SLAM Magazine.

In October 1993, Johnson signed what was at the time the most lucrative contract in NBA history, a 12-year, $84 million deal with the Hornets.^[5] However, he missed 31 games after spraining his back on December 27, 1993 in a game against the Detroit Pistons. During the summer he played for the U.S. national team (nicknamed Dream Team II) in the 1994 FIBA World Championship, winning the gold medal.^[6]

Johnson had entered the league as an explosive power forward, averaging over 20 points and 10 rebounds per game. However, after the injury to his back, Johnson was forced to develop an all-around game with an improved outside shot. In the 1994–95 season, he made 81 three-pointers, nearly 60 more than in his first three years combined, and was selected to the 1995 NBA All-Star Game.

Friction between Johnson and Mourning forced the organization to make a change, and the resulting moves made by the Hornets left both players on other teams. Prior to the 1995-96 season, Mourning was traded to the Miami Heat for Glen Rice and Matt Geiger. Following that season Johnson was dealt to the New York Knicks for Anthony Mason and Brad Lohaus.

New York Knicks[link]

Johnson averaged 12.8 points, a career-low, in his first season as a Knick, and although he would never return to his former All-Star form, he was a key member of the Knicks' 1999 Eastern Conference championship team.

During Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals, he was involved in a critical play in which he was fouled by Antonio Davis of the Indiana Pacers. Standing outside the three-point line with 11.9 seconds left, Johnson held the ball, and then began to dribble. He leaned into defender Davis before jumping up. The referee called the foul about a half-second before Johnson released the ball, but it was counted as a continuation shooting foul. Johnson made the shot and converted the free throw following the basket for a four-point play, which turned out to be the winning margin in a 92-91 Knicks victory.

During the 1999 NBA Finals, Johnson characterized the Knicks as a band of "rebellious slaves." Bill Walton later called Johnson and his performance a "disgrace." When Johnson was asked about the play of San Antonio Spurs point guard Avery Johnson in Game 4, Johnson again shifted the topic to slavery: "Ave, man, we're from the same plantation. You tell Bill Walton that. We from Massa Johnson's plantation."^[7] He went on to say, "Here's the NBA, full of blacks, great opportunities, they made beautiful strides. But what's the sense of that ... when I go back to my neighborhood and see the same thing? I'm the only one who came out of my neighborhood. Everybody ended up dead, in jail, on drugs, selling drugs. So I'm supposed to be honored and happy or whatever by my success. Yes, I am. But I can't deny the fact of what has happened to us over years and years and years and we're still at the bottom of the totem pole."^[7]

On October 10, 2001, Johnson announced his early retirement from basketball due to chronic back problems that had plagued him for several years, after his point production had decreased for three straight years.^[8]

Post-playing career[link]

In July 2007, Johnson expressed interest in making a comeback with the Knicks in some type of "leadership role".^[9] On December 21, 2007, Johnson received a bachelor of arts degree in social science studies from UNLV.^[10]

He was hired by the Knicks as a basketball and business operations representative on April 8, 2012. He will focus on player development and be involved in business initiatives.^{[citation needed]}

Personal life[link]

Johnson has converted to Islam. During the NBA season, he observed Ramadan, the holy month of fasting.^[11]

Film and television[link]

In 1993, Johnson appeared on the sitcom Family Matters as his alter ego "Grandmama", who becomes Steve Urkel's teammate in a basketball tournament.^[12] Later that year he was a guest on The Late Show with David Letterman.^[13] Three years later he appeared as himself in the movies Eddie^[14] and Space Jam;^[15] in the latter he was one of the NBA stars who lost their talent alongside Muggsy Bogues, Shawn Bradley, Charles Barkley and Patrick Ewing.

See also[link]

• 1998–99 New York Knicks season

References[link]

External links[link]

• Larry Johnson historical page at NBA.com
• Larry Johnson at Basketball-Reference.com
• Larry Johnson at DatabaseBasketball.com
• Larry Johnson at the Internet Movie Database
• Article on the effect of Johnson's conversion to Islam
• 1991 Oscar Robertson Trophy

Larry Johnson is the name of:

• Larry Johnson (American football) (born 1979), American football running back
• Larry Johnson (baseball) (born 1950), baseball player
• Larry Johnson (basketball, born 1969), American basketball player
• Larry Johnson (basketball, born 1954), American basketball player
• Larry Johnson (coach), American football coach
• Larry Johnson (film producer) (1947–2010), American filmmaker
• Larry Johnson (lineman) (1909–1972), American football offensive lineman
• Larry Johnson (musician) (born 1938), American blues singer and guitarist
• Larry Johnson (wrestler), American professional wrestler, best known as Sonny King
• Larry Johnson (pool player), American professional pool player and BCA Hall of Fame inductee, best known as "Boston Shorty"
• Larry C. Johnson, American political commentator and former CIA analyst
• Laurence F. Johnson (born 1950), American futurist, author, and educator
• Larry Johnson (author) (born 1960), American author of the book Frozen
• Larry R. Johnson (1944–1998), meteorologist

See also[link]

• Larry Johnston (disambiguation)
• Lawrence Johnson (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles about people with the same name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Dave Bing
Mayor Dave Bing
70th Mayor of Detroit
Incumbent
Assumed office May 11, 2009
Preceded by	Kenneth Cockrel, Jr.
Personal details
Born	(1943-11-24) November 24, 1943 (age 68) Washington, D.C.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Yvette Bing
Alma mater	Syracuse University
Profession	Professional Athlete, Businessman, Politician
Religion	Baptist

David "Dave" Bing (born November 24, 1943) is the mayor of Detroit, Michigan, a businessman, and a retired American professional basketball player who played 12 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), primarily for the Detroit Pistons (1966–75). He was a seven-time All-Star. After retiring, he founded the Bing Group, which was one of the largest steel companies in Michigan.

His #21 was retired by the Detroit Pistons, and in 1996 he was named as one of the NBA's 50 Greatest Players of all time.

He was elected mayor of Detroit in a special election on May 5, 2009 and was sworn in on May 11, 2009.^[1] Bing won the full-term mayoral election on November 3, 2009, defeating challenger Tom Barrow.^[2]

Early life in DC[link]

Bing was born and raised in northeast Washington, D.C., as a son of a bricklayer. At age five, Bing accidentally poked his left eye with a nail of a wooden horse that he improvised. With the family unable to afford an eye operation, the eye healed on its own but left Bing with fuzzy vision since then.

Bing's basketball career began in 1959 at Spingarn High School in Washington D.C., where he played in the footsteps of the great Elgin Baylor who had set all the city scoring records playing there in 1954. At Spingarn, Bing played in 3 straight Interhigh championship games. In 1960 and 1961, he teamed up with the great Ollie Johnson, and Spingarn won easily over Dunbar (67-53) and Eastern (81-64). The Green Wave went on to defeat DeMatha 63-50 for the 61 City championship. Bing averaged 16.2 and 16.9 ppg in 1961 and 1962.

Bing was a three-year letter winner, all–Inter High, All-Metro, and All-East member. In 1962, Bing was in Parade magazine and made the All-American Team.

College[link]

Bing attended Syracuse University, where he was once roommates with Jim Boeheim.^[3] He led the Orangemen in scoring as a sophomore (22.2) in 1964, as a junior (23.2) in 1965, and as a senior (28.4) in 1966. During his senior year, Bing was fifth in the nation in scoring and was Syracuse's first consensus All-American in 39 years. He was also named to The Sporting News All-America First Team and was named Syracuse Athlete of the Year.

National Basketball Association (NBA)[link]

Bing's playing style was somewhat unusual for the time. As a lean, athletic and explosive point guard, he functioned as the playmaker distributing the ball, but also did more shooting and scoring than most others who had this position. At one time a joke about him and his backcourt partner, Jimmy Walker, was that it was a shame they could only play the game with one ball at a time.

In 1966, Bing joined the NBA as a second overall first-round pick of the Detroit Pistons, where in his rookie year he scored 1,601 points (20.0 points per game) and was named the NBA Rookie of the Year. The next year, he led the NBA in scoring with 2,142 points (27.1 points per game) in 1968. Bing sat out 2½ months of the 1971-72 season due to a detached retina incurred from a preseason game against the Los Angeles Lakers, playing in only 45 games that season.^[4] While with the Pistons, he played in seven NBA All-Star Games (1968, 1969, 1971–1976, and winning the 1976 NBA All-Star Game MVP Award) and was named to the All-NBA First Team twice in 1968 and 1969.

After his career with the Detroit Pistons, Bing went on to spend two years with the Washington Bullets and one with the Boston Celtics before retiring at the conclusion of the 1977–1978 season. He averaged 20.3 points and six assists per game in his 12 NBA seasons and was awarded the J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award in 1977.

Bing was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1990. In 1996, he was named one of the NBA's 50 Greatest Players.

Life after basketball[link]

Business[link]

Aged 22 with an NBA contract worth $15,000, Bing was rebuffed by the National Bank of Detroit on getting a mortgage to finance a home. This led Bing to work at the bank during the offseason, holding jobs in the teller, customer relations and mortgage departments.

Immediately after retiring, he worked at a warehouse of the steel processing company Paragon Steel and was paid $35,000. He left after two years, after stints in the company's shipping and sales operations.

In 1980, Bing opened Bing Steel with four employees in a rented warehouse from $250,000 in loans and $80,000 of his own money. Losing all his money in six months, the company shied away from manufacturing to focus on being a middleman. With General Motors as their first major client, the company turned a profit in its second year on revenues of $4.2 million. By 1984, Bing was awarded by President Ronald Reagan the National Minority Small Business Person Of The Year. By 1985, Bing Steel had expanded to two plants with 63 employees posting revenues of $40 million.^[5]

Bing Steel would transform itself to the Bing Group,^[6] a conglomerate with headquarters located in Detroit's North End. The company, among other things, supplies metal stampings to the automobile industry.

At the 1990 NBA All-Star Game, Bing received the Schick Achievement Award for his work after his NBA career.

Politics and mayoral election[link]

On October 16, 2008, Bing announced that he would be a candidate for the mayor of Detroit in the February 2009 primary election (Detroit mayoral election, 2009). He finished first in a 15 candidate non-partisan primary on February 24, 2009. On May 5, 2009, the top two vote-getters faced off and he defeated interim Mayor Kenneth Cockrel, Jr. and was elected to complete former mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's term, which ended December 31, 2009.^[7] Kilpatrick had resigned as part of a plea bargain agreement after being charged with the crime of perjury. Bing was re-elected to a full term on November 3, 2009. [3]

Honors and volunteerism[link]

On January 19, 2009, Bing was to be named as a recipient of the National Civil Rights Museum Sports Legacy Award. The award honors athletes who have made significant contributions to civil and human rights and who helped establish a foundation for future leaders in athletic careers in the spirit of Martin Luther King, Jr.^[8] The honor was to be presented during the half-time show of the game between the Memphis Grizzlies and the Detroit Pistons in Memphis, Tennessee.

Bing volunteered in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program.

See also[link]

	Detroit portal
	Biography portal

• List of National Basketball Association career free throw scoring leaders
• List of National Basketball Association career assists leaders

Notes[link]

External links[link]

• The Next Wave of Urban Reform, City Journal, Fall 2010
• Basketball Hall of Fame
• Hoopedia bio
• Mayor Dave Bing's Biography from the City of Detroit website
• CityMayors profile
• Detroit Works Project - Mayor Bing engages with Detroiters
• Bing on cover of Forbes Magazine

v t e Mayors of Detroit (since 1824) Williams · Hunt · Kearsley · Biddle · Kearsley · Williams · Chapin · Cook · Chapin · Trowbridge · Mack · Cook · H. Howard · Porter · Bates · Jones · Pitcher · Houghton · Pitcher · Williams · Van Dyke · F. Buhl · C. Howard · Ladue · Chandler · Harmon · Hyde · Ledyard · Hyde · Patton · C. Buhl · Duncan · Barker · Mills · Wheaton · Moffat · Lewis · Langdon · W. G. Thompson · Grummond · Chamberlain · Pridgeon · Pingree · Richert · Maybury · Codd · W. B. Thompson · Breitmeyer · W. B. Thompson · Marx · J. Couzens · Lodge · Doremus · Martin · Lodge · Smith · Lodge · Bowles · Murphy · F. Couzens · Smith · F. Couzens · Reading · Jeffries · Van Antwerp · Cobo · Miriani · Cavanagh · Gribbs · Young · Archer · Kilpatrick · Cockrel · Bing