 Gus (Honeycomb) JohnsonGus graduated from Akron Central High School in 1958 where he was All City, All
District and All Ohio. He attended college at Boise Jr. College and Idaho State. He is in
the Idaho State Hall of Fame. Gus played 11 years as a professional and was five times an
All Pro. He played with Baltimore (1963-1972), Phoenix (1972-1973), and Atlanta
(1972-1973). He scored 9,944 points in 581 games averaging 17.1 points per game. His
rebounding total was 7,379. Gus made 44% of his field goal attempts and 69.9% of his free
throws. In addition to his regular NBA seasons he played 50 games in the ABA, 34 playoff
games in the NBA, 17 playoff games in the ABA and the 5 NBA All-Star Games.
After leaving basketball as a player, he took assistant
coaching jobs with the Pacers and later the Cleveland Cavaliers. Gus also worked on the
staff at Kent State. Many thought his ebullient nature would make him a good broadcaster,
and he did some work on a handful of national NBA broadcasts and Cavaliers games, but it
didn't pan out.
In the 1980s, Gus returned to Akron and worked for the
Blick Institute as a counselor for children with disabilities, and later as a recreation
supervisor. In 1986, he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer. He died on
April 29, 1987 at the age of 48 in Akron City Hospital. |
