Gus "Honeycomb" Johnson's style of play - a unique
blend of grace, speed, strength, and creativity rarely seen during his era - became the model for
future athletic power forwards. He scored, played defense, and leaped so high in traffic that other
players claimed to hear him jump. Johnson was one of the first players to fly above the rim on both
offense and defense making an immediate impact on the NBA after being drafted by the Baltimore
Bullets with the 10th pick in the 1963 NBA Draft. In 1963-64, Johnson was selected to the
NBA All-Rookie First Team along with Hall of Famers Jerry Lucas and Nate Thurmond. Gus
was also selected to the All-NBA Second Team four times and the All-NBA Defensive First Team
twice. Johnson averaged a double-double in points and rebounds (17.1 point per game and 12.7 rebound
per game) for all ten of his NBA seasons, scoring 1,000 points and grabbing 1,000 rebounds in the
same season three times. He was a five-time NBA All Star and made the All-NBA Second Team four
times in his career (1965, 1966, 1970, 1971). A key component of the Baltimore Bullets of
the mid-1960s and early 1970s, he led the Bullets to five playoff appearances in nine
seasons including the 1971 NBA Finals along with Wes Unseld and Earl Monroe, where they were
swept by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Oscar Robertson, and the Milwaukee Bucks. Playing on a team with
Hall of Famers George McGinnis, Mel Daniels, and Roger Brown, Gus and the Indiana
Pacers won the ABA Championship in 1973. This was during the last year of
Johnson’s professional basketball career. Johnson was a sculpted model of strength and yet
he could handle the ball, take it to the hoop, pass, and rebound with advanced skill. His
physique and basketball skill cause some to compare Gus to LeBron James. Johnson
was also a tenacious, lock-down defender. Gus died from inoperable brain cancer in
1987, twenty-three years before the Hall of Fame was to induct him and call Johnson
one of its own. Before he died, Gus would tell others that he knew he would make the Hall
of Fame one day. It was just a matter of time.