Larry Johnson (basketball, born 1954)


Larry O. Johnson is an American retired basketball player who had a brief career in the National Basketball Association. He was a 6'3" shooting guard and played competitively at Kentucky's Union County High School and the University of Kentucky from 1973 to 1977. He was the first of three African-Americans from Union County recruited by UK.
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. Johnson would go on to play internationally for many years. 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.