Horace Grant spent 17 seasons in the NBA, and he became such a recognizable figure because of the protective goggles that he wore.
Over the course of his time in the league, Grant split years with four teams: the Chicago Bulls, Orlando Magic, Seattle Supersonics and Los Angeles Lakers. In total, he captured four championships, three with the Bulls and one with the Lakers, was elected an All-Star in 1993-94 after putting up 15.1 points and 11 boards and made four All-Defensive teams.
For his career, he averaged 11.2 points and 8.1 rebounds and was a legitimate double-double guy during his prime.
His brother, Harvey Grant, also spent time in the NBA. His career spanned 11 seasons, and he averaged more than 18 points a night over a three-year stretch from 1990-93. Harvey has two sons who play in the league currently — Jerian with the Bulls and Jerami with the Oklahoma City Thunder. His third son, Jerai, spent four years at Clemson and has been playing overseas since 2011.
During a Reddit AMA on Thursday, Grant was asked by user JDRoc why he wore the protective goggles, and his answer was nothing short of touching:
I got them because I was legally blind. I wore em because of that for a few years. After a few years I got Lasik surgery, but I kept wearing them without the perscription lenses because I had grandparents and parents come up to me and thank me for wearing them. Their kids and grandkids would get made fun of by wearing protective eyewear playing sports, so I kept wearing them to help make it cool to wear goggles for the kids.
A classy move.
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