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RETAIL PROFILE
Famed NBA star Karl Malone may be synonymous with Utah (Jazz), but for the Malone family home is in Ruston, La., where their Legends Cigar and Vape shop is a dream come true. > FRANK SELTZER
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ost people know Karl Malone as one of the best to ever play basketball professionally. “The Mailman” was Malone’s nickname because of his consistent delivery in games. During the 18 years he spent in the NBA, he racked up impressive records: twotime NBA Most Valuable Player, 14-time All Star, and two-time Gold Medal winner in the Olympics as part of the dream team in basketball and as a power forward. Malone scored just under 37,000 points, second only to Kareem Abdul Jabar. Most of his time was playing with the Utah Jazz and one year with the Los Angeles Lakers. But Malone is more
18 SMOKESHOP April 2019
than a star athlete—he is also a patient businessman who last year fulfilled his dream of nearly 30 years, namely to have a cigar shop and a cigar of his own. Last year, Malone opened Legends Cigar and Vape in Ruston, Louisiana, just five minutes from his home. The store is run and owned by his daughter Kadee. Karl owned the store initially, but Kadee did all the work. “I literally helped build this place,” she explains. “I painted everything. Me and my mom decorated it. I put up every cigar shelf and stocked them all.” Three weeks after the store opened, Karl called Kadee at 8 in the morning
Photo: La Aurora
Fulfilling a Dream
>Above: Karl Malone and his daughter Kadee, who operates—and now owns— Legends Cigar and Vape. Below: Malone in tobacco fields of La Aurora in the Dominican Republic.
