BLOOMINGTON, IL: An ordinary salesman was celebrating his first day as a millionaire after flinging a basketball 75 feet into a Chicago Stadium net before a standing room only crowd that had come to see the Bulls play Miami.
The salesman and part-time student had one try to hit the shot from the opposite foul line three quarters the length of the basketball court.
One try was all it took.
“I thought it was going in when it left my hands, he said as he celebrated with his parents, both janitors, at Illinois State University, where his mother works.
Don Calhoun was chosen at random from a crowd when his bright yellow shoes caught the attention of a promotions staff. During an interval in the game Calhoun stepped and flung the ball from his shoulders to net it.
Everyone, it seemed, wanted to tub shoulders with the man who had been chosen at random from the crowd when his bright yellow athletic shoes caught the eye a promotions staffer.
Then, during a break in the third quarter, Calhoun calmly stepped forward and flung the ball, baseball style, from his shoulder.
“It took me three years to make a million dollars,” quipped Bulls forward Horace Grant. “It took him five seconds.”
The shot was part of a 20 game promotion by a local restaurant chain and a soft drink manufacturer. Calhoun will receive $50,000 each year for the next 20 years.
Article extracted from this publication >> April 23, 1993
