(Budd Bailey and Greg D. Tranter have written a book called "Buffalo Braves From A to Z," published by St. Johann Press. Early in the writing process, they wrote good-sized biographies of all 71 men who played a regular-season game for the Braves during their time in Buffalo from 1970 to 1978. Publishers weren't so enthusiastic about all of that material, so most (59) of the biographies were shortened to about 500 words. However, the authors hated to waste all of that material ... so they are presenting it here. It will appear three times a week. A bibliography is available upon request.)
Larry Johnson certainly ranks as one of the most anonymous players in the history of the Buffalo Braves. Johnson met the formula to avoid athletic fame. He grew up in a small town in Kentucky. From there it was on to a national powerhouse in college … except that he was overshadowed by big stars. Larry only played in a handful of games in the NBA before moving to another part of the world that is hardly associated with basketball. What has to be remembered is that even an unknown player on an NBA roster is a heck of a basketball player.
Larry Johnson was born on November 28, 1954, in Morganfield, Kentucky. That’s a town of about 3,000 people, located fairly close to the Ohio River in the northwestern part of the state. Johnson went to Union County High School, and that puts him in a class by himself. No other NBA player has come from that facility, which is located in Morganfield. However, a current NBA coach also came out of that part of the country. Dwane Casey currently is the coach of the Detroit Pistons. Kentucky also recruited another player from that school, Freddie Cowan, shortly after signing Casey. Larry’s decision, therefore, started something of a pipeline from Morganfield to Lexington for a few years. Johnson had the chance to play for a great coach; Ernie Simpson had a 166-36 record at Union County (1970 to 1977).
Johnson had a good career for the Braves (yes, that’s correct), which ended in 1973. He was a second-team all-state selection as a senior, and played in the annual All-Star game featuring seniors from Kentucky and Indiana. When it came time to pick a school, it must have been difficult to turn down the University of Kentucky. Adolph Rupp finally had retired after 41 years on the job in 1972. Joe B. Hall became the new coach, and Hall made it a priority to recruit African Americans. It’s fair to say that Rupp had very little success in that area during his tenure.
With freshman eligible to play varsity ball, Larry was on the Wildcats roster in 1973-74. He played in 21 games, averaging about 11 minutes and less than three points. In other words, he was waiting his turn. As for Kentucky, the team finished 13-13. There must have been a great deal of pressure on Hall at that point; replacing a legend is not a job for the faint of heart.
The Wildcats bounced back with a fabulous season. The team, led by Kevin Grevey, raced through the regular season with a 22-4 record, good for the SEC title. Johnson served as the third guard for the squad. Then it was on to the NCAA Tournament. The game of the year came on March 22, in the regional final against Indiana. The Hoosiers had gone undefeated up until that point, and they had beaten Kentucky by 24 early in the season. But Indiana’s standout forward, Scott May, was injured and could only play seven minutes. The Wildcats lifted their game and took a 92-90 thriller to advance to the Final Four. Kentucky used its size to beat Syracuse in the national semifinal, but fell just short of spoiling the final game of UCLA coach John Wooden in the title contest.
That season proved to be a hard act to follow. Kentucky lost four seniors and finished 20-10 in the regular season, but won a good consolation prize in winning the NIT championship. Johnson became a regular for the first time, averaging 11.2 points and a team-leading 3.3 assists per game. He had a moment to remember along the way to the title. With his team down by a point in the semifinals, he drove 65 feet up court to score with one second left to beat Providence, 79-78. “I’m not even sure I understood the coach’s instructions,” Johnson said after the game. “One of the things I thought about was that if I hadn’t missed the first shot of the one-on-one free throw situation, we might have been up by a point and we wouldn’t have been in that predicament. I’m glad I got the chance to make up for it.”
With a ton of talent back, the Wildcats had another great season in 1976-77 – Johnson’s last at Lexington. It would have been memorable in any circumstances, as the team played in the massive (23,000 seats) and beautiful Rupp Arena for the first time. The Wildcats were ranked in the top 10 throughout the season and finished 24-3 before going into the NCAA tournament. Johnson was the only senior starter on the team, and thus became a leader. “He’s really playing with a lot of emotion and he’s kind of giving everybody else confidence,” Hall said at the time. Kentucky beat Princeton and VMI before losing to powerful North Carolina in the East regional finals.
Johnson’s last college game was one to forget, as he shot 3 for 11 from the field for nine points and six rebounds. Larry had been an important part of a team that had some excellent seasons, and deserves some credit for that. The biggest sign of that was that he was voted the team’s best defensive player for his final three seasons. He also set Kentucky records for most assists for a season and for a career
The next step was pro basketball, and Johnson figured to have a chance to move up. The Buffalo Braves used their first pick in the draft – No. 24 in the second round – to take Johnson. The relationship got off to a rocky start, when the team reportedly only offered Johnson a one-year contract at the league minimum of $35,000. “I feel they are trying to get me for less than I’m worth, and they feel they probably can do it,” he said in August. Larry signed with the team at the start of rookie camp on September 21.
Buffalo had been busy revamping its roster that season, but the reconstruction became doomed to failure during the preseason. Guard Nate Archibald suffered a season-ending injury in a game played in Memorial Auditorium. Everyone could sense that a difficult season was ahead.
At least Johnson made the roster. His first game came on October 28, 1977, as he played 20 minutes and scored six points in a loss to Golden State. Those were his only points in the NBA. He played in a loss against Denver on October 29, and then was waived on November 14. Buffalo brought him back on the roster on November 26. Larry returned to action on December 3 in a home game with Seattle, and played his final NBA contest on December 6 against New Orleans. The Braves gave up on him for good two days later. The final numbers: four games, 38 minutes, six points, five rebounds and seven assists. Only Moses Malone and Clyde Mayes played fewer games as members of the Braves.
What’s that they say about when one door closes, another one opens? The door to the NBA seemed firmly shut to Johnson. But it turned out that he had another, unexpected way to obtain basketball success: He played in Japan. The idea of foreign players coming to Japan in basketball was very unusual in those days, but Johnson broke the mold. He signed to play with a team called Matsushita Denki, which was owned by Panasonic. Johnson won five Most Valuable Player awards in 10 years while in Japan, and also became a coach there. Other teams soon realized they needed to import players to keep up, and that raised the level of salaries of everyone playing Japanese basketball.
The trail of Johnson grows cold at that point. It’s easy to guess that he continued his basketball career overseas, and thus became much more difficult to follow from the United States.
(Follow Budd on X.com via @WDX2BB.)
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