Larry Johnson

Larry O'Neal Johnson Sr. (November 28, 1954 – April 29, 2025) was an American basketball player who had a brief career with the Buffalo Braves of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Kentucky Wildcats.

Johnson was a 6'3" shooting guard and played competitively at Union County High School in Morganfield, Kentucky, before attending the University of Kentucky from 1973 to 1977. He was the first of three African-Americans from Union County recruited by UK. 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 in coach John Wooden'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 by the Buffalo Braves. 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, in Japan for Matsushita Denki, which later became known as the Panasonic Corporation, from 1979 to 1989. After he retired as a player, he also coached that team.

Johnson lived in Japan until 1990 before returning to the U.S. where he dedicated himself to raising his family and coaching youth sports in Lexington, Kentucky.

Johnson died in Mount Vernon, Kentucky on April 29, 2025, at the age of 70.

Source