Famous Basketball Player Dog Names

Ok, laugh if you want to, but there’s something to be said about a Golden Retriever that helped to gross nearly $28 million in his first feature film. And the best part? He actually played basketball. That’s right. No CGI. This was the 90s, when CGI was still in its infancy. And he played with a regulation hoop. 

Realistically, the story of Buddy is pretty remarkable and a true testament to the relationship between human and dog. Buddy was found as a stray by Kevin di Cicco while up at his grandfather’s cabin in the Sierra Nevada mountains in 1989. Because Buddy was in such bad shape, di Cicco’s first intention was to nurse him back to help. After bringing him back to San Diego, he discovered that the dog had a lot of interest in different types of balls and eventually, sports, so he began teaching Buddy how to play various aspects of baseball, football, soccer, hockey and basketball. 

His abilities were enough to begin garnering notice. Buddy was first seen on “America’s Funniest Home Videos.” Then he went on to receive even more attention after appearing on David Letterman’s “Stupid Pet Tricks” and the NBA’s “Inside Stuff” show. But that was just the beginning. Di Cicco began contacting every team in the NBA, attempting to get picked up as half time show entertainment. It worked. In the first year, Buddy made three appearances. The following year, he did nearly 20. 

He was picked up by local television, CNN, and was even asked by the governor of Illinois to attend the state fair acting as its mascot. It was enough to inspire di Cicco to begin working on a screenplay with the same name, a story of a losing NBA franchise that starts winning after discovering a basketball-playing dog. 

By 1996, Buddy had already made an appearance in 1995’s Fluke and appeared in an episode of Full House as Comet, the Tanner family’s beloved Golden Retriever. In 1997, Walt Disney Pictures released the beginning of a franchise, Air Bud, and it grossed $4 million in its opening weekend alone.

Unfortunately, Air Bud would be Buddy’s final role, as less than a year later, he passed away in his home due to complications with his cancer. Air Bud: Golden Receiver was made and released in his memory a year later and several spinoffs were featured in the early 2000s as well. Before passing, Buddy had a litter of nine pups, some of whom the spinoffs were based on. 

While Buddy may have had limited acting roles in the grand scheme, he had not only continued to popularize the Golden Retriever as the great American family dog, but proved their significant intelligence, had a large influence on family movies produced after his time, and inspired millions of dog lovers everywhere, rewriting the canine form of the American Dream.