BIues IeCjEncI Buddy Guy joiNs LEqENd iN tIhe IVUkiNq
FRANk ThoMAS iN NEW REEbok TElEVisiON COMMERCiAl
STOUGHTON, Ma ? Reebok has teamed a leg
endary musician with a baseball "legend in the mak
ing" to help celebrate the start of the 1996 Major
League season. Chicago icons Frank Thomas of the
White Sox and blues guitarist Buddy Guy appear in
the commercial, which is scheduled to break on
cable and network telecasts of the National
Basketball Association and other programs.
"With the kind of statistics Frank has put up,
tans may think it's all come easy to him throuthout
his playing career." said Scott Helbing, vice presi
dent of advertising for Reebok." As Frank points
Out, he had to overcome a number of disappoint
ments to get to where he is today. He could have
taken the easy way out and just 'cried the blues,"said
Helbing. "Fortunately for baseball fans he
perserved."
"Hasn't always been easy for me, Mr. Guy," says
Thomas as the blues legend listens in the back
ground while playing the guitar. "Missed the cut as a
high school freshman. Wasn't drafted out of high
school. Wasn't selected for the 'S7 Pan Am Games
team or the Olympics in *8K." Thomas recalls. "How
did I get where 1 am?" he asks. "Well," he answers,
"it the blues don't kill you. they'll make you a
michtv, michtv man."
Ill their respective fields, Thomas and Guy are
considered "mighty, mighty men." "The Big Hurt"
enters the 1996 season with a career .323 batting
average after hitting .308 last season with 40 homers
and III RBIs Thomas won consecutive American
League Most Valuable Player awards in 1993-94 and
was voted Major League Player of the Year by The
Sporting News in 1993.
In each of his five full seasons with the White
Sox. Thomas has batted at least .300. hit and least 20
homers and produced at least 100 runs scored. 100
runs-batted-in and drawn 100 bases-on-balls. No one
in the history of the game lias ever had five consecu
tive seasons above all those milestones, and.certain
ly not in their first five seasons in the Major
I *eagues.
Buddy Guy began his career in the 1950s. Like
Thomas, his roots are in the South (he was bom in
Lewttsworth, La) and moved to Chicago in 1957,
w here his career took off as a popular session player
and successful solo artist. In 1994 Billboard awarded
Guy its presitigous Century Award which is the pub
lication's highest honor for personal creative achive
ment. Eric Clapton has described Buddy Guy as "the
best -- the consummate-blues musician -- living
hisotry."
In 1989. Guy opened his now-famous blues club.
Legen Is, in Chicago. The club has become a stop
off point for visiting bluesmen and blues-influenced
rockers.
Rebok International Ltd., headquartered in
Stoughton, Mass, is a leading worldwide designer,
marketer and distributor of sports, titness and casual
toot wear, apparel and equipment. Principal operat
ing units include the Reebok Division", Avia Group
international Inc. and the Rock port Company Inc.
Sales for 1995 totaled approximately S3.5 billion.
Reebok can be accessed on the World Wide Web
at htt://plantreebok.com.
in. 11 I nail \l imwuf IWWW^KrXWIlMMiailinOT.-'llj ? ? ? ?