SJohn alley

By Dina Morrone

Four-time NBA Champion, John Salley, is the first player in NBA history to win championships in three franchises. He is also an actor, TV host, wellness entrepreneur, and vegan activist.

In 2015, he encouraged US First Lady Michelle Obama to go vegan "for the planet."

When did you first realize that playing basketball would be your life's path?

When I was 12, I told myself, "I'm going to be a professional basketball player." You wouldn't have picked me out of a group of kids to be the one who became a professional player. But I told myself, "This is it." I worked hard. I'm not saying I worked harder than anybody else, but I worked in ways that I know those around me didn't, and I knew if I kept that up, there was no way for me not to become a pro.

But the initial seed of choosing that path actually happened much earlier. When I was six, I went to my friend Eric's house. His dad was sitting there eating dinner and watching a basketball game on TV. I remember him saying, "NBA basketball players got all the cool threads. They drive the best cars and have all the prettiest women." Those words stayed with me and stuck in my brain.

Another thing that convinced me I had to play basketball was an episode that occurred while playing football with my brother. My brother was a quarterback. It was very cold outside, and we played in the snow. This guy and I caught the ball at the same time on a button hook. I turned around, and this guy slapped me. I didn't drop the ball. Everyone asked if I was all right. I got up, took my helmet off, and started walking towards my house. My brother said, "We don't quit! You don't quit!" But I said, "I'm out of here."

Shortly after that episode, we were at the community center at my elementary school. It was nighttime, and the basketball courts were packed. . It was nice and warm inside. I liked that it wasn't cold like when we played football outside. The roof was closed and it was condensed. I liked the vibe a lot, and it was so much better than being outside in the cold.

Around that same time, my cousin Russell Carter, whose mom had passed away, came to live with us so he could use our address and go to my high school. He and I were always making so much noise in the apartment. We drove her crazy. My mother would say, "Get out. Go outside and play." Russell and I would take the basketball and go to the court outside. There was one light in the park where you could barely see if the ball was going in. We would play and play, and people would yell from their apartment windows, "Go home, go to bed, stop dribbling that ball." But Russell and I didn't stop.

While other kids were watching sitcoms or playing games, I was always thinking of a way to play basketball, even in my bedroom. We would put the garbage pail and played with a Nerf ball. The room was small. There was a bump badge over here, a dresser over there, and so many things we could destroy, but the good thing about it is we learned to play in a confined space.

I took my basketball with me everywhere I went. Now kids carry a nap sack. But back when I was a kid, mine was more like a duffle bag. I swung it over my shoulder. One side held my books. The other side had my basketball.

At what point did it become a reality that you were on your way?

At 16, I played for this team in the Bronx called "The Gauchos". This was an important part of my life because they built this $2 million basketball court in the South Bronx. College coaches would go there to watch players instead of going to the high schools. So, I would leave Brooklyn to go up to the Bronx to play in a game with guys on my team, and I didn't even know their names or my coaches' names.

I knew I had to be there at five o'clock for game time. I would get out of school, and it would take two hours to get up there. I would play for 10 minutes after being on the train for two hours. It was a different atmosphere to watch other people playing. I was learning so much. When I would get back on the train to go back home to Brooklyn, I would have my books on my lap, and I'd be dribbling my basketball between my legs, dribbling with my left hand. And I didn't care if I was sleepy because I had a basketball as my pillow.

I told myself, "When I become one with this ball, no one is going to stop me." That's why I didn't like anybody else touching my basketball. And I believe that is why I became who I am.

When did you switch to a Vegan diet, and why do you feel it was important to do so?

I decided to go Vegan in 1991. My coach, at the time told me I had high cholesterol. I was one of the three youngest guys on the team, and I had cholesterol higher than the oldest guys on the squad. They told me the big lie that it's hereditary, that my dad probably had high cholesterol, which goes along with high blood pressure, and that being Black, it was more common. All of it is a big lie.

I told myself there had to be another way. I'd heard about this lady, Dr. Jewel Pookrum. She is in Atlanta, GA now - @ DrJewelPookrum. But at the time, her health center was in this old Victorian mansion in Woodward, Detroit. She visited me and told me I was full of sugar, honey-iced tea. After that, I had my first colonic. I went from 235 lbs. to 219 lbs. My energy level was so high I was jumping out of the gym. My sex drive was through the roof. And my cholesterol went way down. I turned to a Macrobiotic diet, and she started me on herbs. She came to my house to talk to my chef and told the chef she couldn't feed me the way she was feeding me. My chef said, "Well, that's how I learned to cook."

I had to let my chef go because it was more important for my life to be healthy than how she learned to cook.

Before going Vegan, for about 15 years, I was what I would call a lying to myself vegetarian. By lying, I mean I would eat Turkey on Thanksgiving and special occasions. I would eat shrimp and lobster and tell myself I could be a pescatarian. You keep coming up with all these different ways to defend that you're not being true to yourself. At the age of 40, I decided to stop lying to myself. Finally, at 42, I stopped lying about food and lying to myself when I became a very focused vegan. And I have been focused on Veganism now for 16 years.

Tell me about your new Vegan Chicken Patty? I have a new Chicken Patty coming out soon and it’s not soy based. It's like a Burger Patty, but you can do so much with it. I'm planning on releasing it on TikTok Live. My goal is to do a whole line of plant-based products. I will start with the chicken patty and then tell them about the ribs. And remind them that no animal had to die to enjoy the delicious flavors in the food. Imagine you can be on your farm with your cattle, and they can watch you eat something that looks and smells like dead stuff, but it's not dead.

Then I'll move into lotions, potions, and pills. I want to build my audience of health and wellness, knowing I'm not for sale. If something is really good, I will tell you. If I like it, you get it from me, honestly. You're not going to have to worry. I will never say it because I am getting paid. I don't ever want to do that.

We've come a long way with Veganism and eating plant-based. But what about people who don't have the means to eat a plant-based diet?

Everyone can afford it. Let me tell you why. They call veganism poor food. If you're talking about processed Vegan, yes, that's expensive. Cooking vegetables or fruit or eating a hot meal will make it a vegan meal without an animal. Everybody has been doing that for years all over the world. Now, if you can't access vegetables or fruit, that's famine. But, if you can get access, then you can be a vegetarian, and that's not expensive. There's no excuse for it. It's affordable to be Vegan.

What do you do daily to stay focused and achieve peace of mind?

I learned that a positive focus doesn't mean you don't think of negative things. The first thing I do, when I wake up in the morning is have half a teaspoon of Celtic Sea Salt. I have this dispensary of spring water that's connected to my house. I put the salt in about 32 ounces of water and shake it until the salt melts. And then I sip it slowly while taking breaks in between. It's about 32 ounces of water. I've been doing it now for nearly ten years. It has flattened my belly and helped my prostrate too. As I started adding that to my water, my kidneys were able to absorb all the minerals better.

I have discovered that we are all mineral deficient. So, I started doing more and more minerals, eating more fruits and vegetables, stretching, and breathing. That's the main thing. I like to practice what I preach, which is a big thing in staying focused. Practice what you preach.

Are there any lessons you learned as a young man growing up in Brooklyn that stayed with you and served you well in life?

This is the crazy thing. I was pretty good in school. In high school, we had to take this test, and depending on how you did, they separated the students who did better on the test from those who scored low. So, suddenly, I was in a different class than all my friends because I did well on the test. I learned that I was being taught differently because I was smarter. Many of my friends who tested low were given no language skills, no advanced science, and none of what I got. I realize now that I'm older, if they considered them below average, they kept them there. They didn't say, hey, let's push these kids. They'd say this kid didn't do well on reading comprehension, so he will stay here.

Because of my grades, I was in classes with white people, supposedly the smarter students. This all felt so wrong to me. Firstly, I was raised in a place that told me I had to be ten times better than my white counterpart because that's what we were always told growing up. But suddenly, I found myself in a class with them and ready to compete. And so, the fear and the whole thing that we have to believe individually, I learned there that it is the right thing to do. People get stupid when they're in a mob with a mob mentality. That experience taught me to deal with people individually, and I used it as a learning lesson throughout my life.

How did each of your four NBA championships make you feel emotionally and professionally, and what was different about each of your wins?

I felt accomplished and satisfied. And then I felt hungry for another one. It's a crazy high when you win your first. Imagine this… for your first win, it's like you go into a cave, a Golden Temple, and you have to deal with all these elements to get there. But once you get there, you know how to get in and out of the Golden Temple. And it's not easy the second time, but you know what it takes each step of the way because you've been there.

When it's your first win, you don't understand the media. You don't know that you shouldn't watch the news or read the newspaper. You don't realize they're going to say so much about you because that's what they're paid to do, but when you win everything, the things they said that were wrong, no one calls them out on it.

You realize it makes no difference if they cheer or boo you. It only makes a difference to you if you win or lose. Once you know that, you realize all the rest doesn't matter. It's just about the guys in the row, your teammates bringing in a high level of competition every time they play, and they're on the court. So, when you have a team that does that, you're a two-time champion, and then, of course, three becomes extra hard because everyone is trying to compete and win.

What was the difference between each win?

The year before winning my first championship, we had lost in seven games to the Lakers. When we were on the plane on the way back home, we talked about how the next year, we had to win all of our home games and half of our road games. Imagine that. I'm looking at this guy and thinking, what is he telling me? You've got 41 home games and 41 away games. And he was saying, "Hey, we've got to win 62 games to have home-court advantage for us to get this right." We went 63.

How do you get the strength and emotional fortitude to get up and go each time?

That's the heart of a champion or a winner. I will say that I may not be a champion, but that doesn't mean I'm not a winner.

Phil Jackson would bring this guy in, George, a mindfulness teacher. This was the first time I saw somebody focus on being mindful. Phil also allowed us to have yoga on Wednesdays. Sometimes some of the guys wanted to leave because they didn't understand it. But it was necessary. We only had one injury that whole year, and that was Kobe when he twisted his ankle in the finals, and that didn't last long or hold him up.

The mind is a massive part of winning championships. Most people think it is the body – if I keep working out, I'll be okay. But you won't be a champion if you don't have the mental side. That's how I look at it. You will hear that with Olympic athletes when you listen to their stories.

Where would you like to travel to and why?

I would like to visit Tanzania, Alexandria, Gibraltar, Sicily, and Capri.