Where Did All the ‘Fros Go?
I’ve been fascinated by afros ever since I was a little kid. When I was growing up, I wanted a ‘fro more than anything in the world, and constantly begged my mother to let me get a perm for my wavy hair. In hindsight, I’m glad she didn’t listen, because I could never pull of a cool-looking Jewfro (at least, not as well as “Fletch“).
To make up for the lack of awesome afros in the early ’90’s — the apparent peak of the flat top era — I frequented local sports card shows, searching for new, um, hair-raising items to add to my collection. The ABA was the jackpot of amazing afros during the 1970’s. Among my favorites were classic styles worn by the likes of Darnell Hillman and Julius Erving, the Chia Pet on the head of Randy Denton, and Michael Jackson’s “thriller.” The unintentionally hilarious balding ‘fro would later find its way into the NBA, courtesy of World B. Free.
Thankfully, the late ’90’s and early 2000’s marked the triumphant return of the ‘fro, starting with Ben Wallace. Big Ben was one of the first players to switch between the increasingly popular cornrows and afro hairstyles from game to game. Although the trend never caught on as much as one would’ve liked, it game us a handful of memorable appearances, such as the ones below.
Ben Wallace
Shaun Livingston
Ricky Davis
Darius Miles
Moochie Norris
Ronny Turiaf
For a short time, several NBA superstars got into the act, popularizing the ‘baby afro’ look in the mid-2000’s. It’s a shame that Gilbert Arenas may have kept his bushy hairstyle a little longer, had it not been for an unfortunate conditioning incident. Even the usually plain-vanilla Tim Duncan busted out a fantastic mini-fro for the beginning 2004/05 season, before eventually going back to his patented bald look.
Kobe Bryant
Gilbert Arenas
Tim Duncan
Unfortunately, those hairstyles are long gone, and today’s NBA has a disturbing lack of hair creativity. Ben Wallace’s ‘fro is tired, and it’s only a matter of time before he starts looking like the aforementioned World B. Free (sorry, I just can’t get enough of that photo). I don’t know what Anderson Varejao, Robin Lopez, and Joakim Noah have going right now, but those are not afros. They look more like Sideshow Bob or Corbin Bleu admirers than Dr. J fans. To top if off, the only man who’s maintained a true ‘fro since coming into the league, Josh Childress, is now representing in Greece. And it’ll be at least a year until we see Brandon Jennings’ old school flat top on the NBA hardwood. We’re close to reaching a crisis stage here, people. If David Stern needs to get involved here, I’m okay with that — whatever it takes. Just bring back the ‘fro!
Josh Childress
Anderson Varejao
Robin Lopez
9 Comments »
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL
My afro
rap pro
black flow
trap skulls
assholes
try to front on how I do it..
not one Lady Of Rage reference????
Livingston’s fro was not a good look.
Big Ben had the best fro, just wild like his game.
@Nashty13: Ha…rock on, rock on! No one really sported the Afro Puffs though, unfortunately…though there’s still hope.
Moochie carried that torch all alone there for a few years. It would be nice to see tri-colored headbands to go along with the fro too.
Hey Did you realize you have Kobe’s Picture with a non ‘Lakers’ lettering?
@Mr E: Good catch…I thought it would go unnoticed. I’m a Kings fan for life…gotta sneak these in, haha.
[...] Quality Game DC. Antonio Daniels has a weird signature. Nothing outrageous. Just a goofy sig.SG: http://www.lowposts.com. Where did all the NBA ‘fros go?PG: TWolves Blog. Rashad McCants says Madsen "sounds like [...]
[...] Bernard Free, and I think changing it was a little gimmicky. I just wanted to use this time to once again laugh at his hilarious balding afro. This well never get [...]