NBA Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas sprayed champagne around the Detroit Pistons’ locker room after he led the “Bad Boys” to back-to-back championships in 1989 and 1990.
“My earliest experience with champagne was having it poured over my head,” said Thomas. “It wasn’t until then that I discovered I love drinking it.”
As the Chairman/CEO of his ISIAH International, LLC, his company is the exclusive United States importer of the Cheurlin Champagne brand.
“I am the largest African American importer of champagne in the world and I am the largest African American importer of champagne in France,” said Thomas. “It has really been word of mouth, because once people taste Cheurlin Champagne, they come back wanting more. The demand is there.”
[pullquote]“When I was growing up on the West Side of Chicago, there were many days we had no food, no gas, no lights…I had to get up at 4 a.m. to catch two buses and walk one mile to get to St. Joseph High School.”
[/pullquote]Thomas was in Pittsburgh promoting his new champagne line, Oct. 9 at the Fine Wine and Good Spirits store on Centre Avenue, where the New Pittsburgh Courier caught up with the two-time NBA world champion.
For decades, athletes have attached themselves to ventures in the food industry—George Foreman’s grills, Mike Ditka’s restaurant, Jerome Bettis’ Grille 36, Hines Ward’s Tavern 86.
“The NBA, NFL and professional baseball player today is a far more sophisticated person,” Thomas told the Courier. “He has more money, he goes to high-end restaurants, and he develops a taste for quality champagnes.”
Thomas is now 57 years old, 24 years removed from a legendary NBA career in which he was voted one of the 50 greatest players ever. But if you didn’t know better, you’d think he was still in the league. There is not a gray hair in sight and he’s in great shape.
“I don’t play basketball at all anymore, but I do shoot around from time to time,” said Thomas. “I keep in shape by swimming and bicycling.”
Growing up on the West Side of Chicago, Thomas, a multi-sport athlete, excelled at football, too.
“I played football in grade school and junior high school and football was my best sport. My favorite player was No. 88 Lynn Swann (Pittsburgh Steelers) and Ahmad Rashad (Minnesota Vikings),” said Thomas. “I wanted to play football in high school, but my older brothers and my high school basketball coach told me to focus only on basketball.”
Isiah “Zeke” Lord Thomas III (his full name) played high school basketball at St. Joseph in Westchester, which was a 90-minute commute from his home.
“When I was growing up on the West Side of Chicago, there were many days we had no food, no gas, no lights,” he recalls. “I had to get up at 4 a.m. to catch two buses and walk one mile to get to St. Joseph High School way out in Westchester, Illinois.”
Lord Thomas, the baby-faced assassin, won a state championship in high school. In college, where a significant influence in Thomas’ early days was Bob Knight, the legendary University of Indiana basketball coach, he won a national championship and won the Most Outstanding Player award. In the pros, he won two NBA championships and was voted NBA Finals MVP.
Who is the greatest NBA player of all-time? Is it Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Bill Russell, Shaq, Kobe or Thomas?
“To me, the greatest player to ever play the game that I’ve seen is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar,” Thomas told the Courier. “Arguably, the best basketball career ever. From grade school to high school to college to the NBA, there has never been a more dominant player that I’ve ever seen. He came into the league in 1970 and his last NBA Finals was against me in 1988. Two decades of domination.”
Isiah Thomas developed a serious passion for champagne during the second half of his NBA career and spent an immense amount of time learning about the champagne industry. He now owns a great tasting champagne that can be purchased for under $50.
“I met the family and they had a great story. They had been making champagne since 1788. Generations of champagne makers and growers. They had 200-plus acres of land in France. They wanted to go into the business and get it into the United States. Once I tasted the product, and met the family, it was kind of love at first sight,” he told the Courier.
You’ve probably heard the cliché a thousand times: Business is like basketball because you can only win with teamwork.
“I got a great team. You can’t have success without having a good team and good coaching,” said Thomas. “I made it to the Hall of Fame because I had a good team and good coaches. My hope is one day a bottle of Cheurlin Champagne is tasted by everyone. Because once you experience the taste, I’ll have a happy customer for life.”
Drink to that!
Isiah Thomas is still poppin’ bottles (Courier interview with the NBA Hall of Famer)
