I wouldn’t neccesarily say that its back, because for a true fan of the afro puff, it never left.

Ladies and gentlmen, a tribute…

Not to skill or stature, grit or mettle, but to the old skool.

To a simpler time when a man was not judged for his Bentley or his blang, but by the sheer magnitdue of his follicular fortitude.

I present to you, in no particular order: Some  Awesome Athlete Afro’s.

An absolute hotbed for the fro was the ABA in the seventies, this is where the afro really grew a life of its own…

James Silas: aka “The Snake”, “Captain Late” and “The Late Mr. Silas”…?

This specimen my not be as kempt as some other examples, but you can’t help but admire the raw emotion that’s contained within its frazzly goodness.

It speaks volumes about his inner man beast wanting to get out…through his head…while issuing a statement to the budding hair product industry of the early seventees

“…I dont need your anti-frizz, your brylcreem or your hairdryer…all I need is me.”

Well said.

Richard Wesley “House” Jones (On the Right):

Played for the Dallas/Texas Chaparrals, San Antonio Spurs and New York Nets.

Unlike the Silas example, this do must be considered extremely “toight”.

He’s seen here in a very rare afro stare down with our next awesome afro…(pics like this certainly don’t happen often enough anymore.)

Darnell Hillman:

The sheer girth of this bad boy would have had me aplauding.

The vertical expanse of the frontal ledge of Hillmans hair is very hard to compete with. And to get the overhang from the picture above takes years of delicate manicuring.

And perching this crown of awesomeness atop his 6′9″ frame made him a wholly intimidating 9′ 7″ on the basketball court.

See, the uses of the fro goes far beyond an acute sense of style, it is a tool of soulful menace when applied properly, a sort of “Force” made of hair.

A “Hair Force” if you will.

Mike Jackson:

“The higher the hair…the shorter the shorts”~ MJ

For a few very short years in the early seventees, this was the mantra of Mike Jackson, the ABA’s Virginia Squires and Utah Stars player.

Granted Jackson never actually said those words, nor did he do much else during his career.

But his legacy lives on with a ratio of hair volume per square inch that is almost second to none. Sometimes its not about size, or girth…its the sheer density of Jacksons fro that really stood out…

Like a foam helmet…

…with its own matching beard piece.

Larry Kenon:

One of the greatest misconceptions facing fro growers out there is the insistence on symmetrical afro balance.

Perhaps it was the pressures of public opinion and confromity making its way into the world of big hair, I don’t know.

But we can ALL be certain that San Antonio Spurs forward Larry Kenon wanted no part in a life of traditional hairstyle compliance.

You just have to take a good look at a frontal view of Mr. kenons hair to understand the wild and majestic journey he takes you on as you follow the profile of his do:

Larry does not march to the beat of a certain drummer, he steals your drum, and kicks you in the throat.

Jack Sikma:

We’re not really sure if this is an attempt at competing with the hairstyles in the late seventees, or if this even counts as an afro, but we just feel bad for how difficult this must have been to manage.