Who is Johnny Kilroy?

Today Nike released a version of the Air Jordan IX sneaker. As a sneakerhead and a big MJ fan I most definitely picked up a pair. This version is called the Johnny Kilroy, whose name dates back to the time of Jordan’s first retirement. Nike teamed up with Steve Martin, Phil Jackson, Alonzo Mourning, and others in an ad campaign to promote the AJ IX. There were sightings all around the country of guys looking like and playing like Michael Jordan with different names.  One of the aliases was Johnny Kilroy, hence where the name of this shoe comes from. Nike is looking to release other versions of this shoe in different colorways to resemble the different teams the “other guys” played on. Below is the video and pictures of Johnny Kilroy.

This got me thinking of other athletes who dressed up and had alter egos. Here are a few examples.

Grandmama: Who can forget Larry Johnson dressing up as Madea way before Tyler Perry thought of this character? Johnson was dressing up like an old lady to promote his Converse sneakers. I wonder if Larry got any money from Tyler Perry for royalties.

Shaq-Fu: Shaquille O’Neal had many different characters, but the one that always stood out to me was Shaq-Fu. I played this video game once and the next day I returned it back to Blockbuster. Not fan of the game, but the idea alone of got me. Shaquille O’Neal accidentally went into a kung fu dojo while going to a basketball game in Tokyo. While learning kung fu from his master, he falls into another dimension. This is where he has to save a young boy from an evil mummy. Sound plausible right?

Superman: Shaq was Superman and seems to be a bit upset that another guy that played in Orlando and now plays for the Lakers feels he is the real Superman. Of course I am talking about Dwight Howard. While I never saw Shaq dress up as Clark Kent, Howard did so bonus points go to Dwight.

Dolla Bill: Last, but not least is one of Clinton Portis’ many alter egos Dolla Bill. There was a period of time where Portis would talk to the media dressed up as someone else. Never breaking out of character he would talk to the press in costume and keep the gag going. I don’t know when or why he thought to do this, but I loved every minute of it.

Tags: Air Jordan, Johnny Kilroy, Larry Johnson

Category: Humor