From Horace Grant to Stephen Nedoroscik -- five athletes that made glasses look cool

Sophie Hessekiel | Oct 17, 2024

Stephen Nedoroscik of the United States poses for a photo with his bronze medal on the pommel horse on the first day of gymnastics event finals during the Paris 2024 Olympic Summer Games at Bercy Arena. / Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

Stephen Nodorscik captured the hearts of the world at the 2024 Paris Olympics when he whipped off his glasses like Clark Kent and performed a mind-blowing pommel horse routine. While many athletes prefer contact lenses, some retailers, like Glasses USA, create special prescription safety glasses to protect athletes’ vision and ocular safety.

1. Horace Grant

May 14, 1995; Chicago, IL, USA: Orlando Magic forward Horace Grant (54) shoots against the Chicago Bulls during the 1995 playoffs at Chicago Stadium. The Bulls beat the Magic 106-95. / Matthew Emmons-Imagn Images

Chicago Bulls icon Horace Grant was born with myopia, and became famous for wearing his prescription goggles on the court. After he had LASIK, he continued wearing goggles for eye protection. He told fans in a reddit AMA, “The first couple years, they were prescription goggles. I had grandmothers, grandfathers, mothers and dads coming up to me, letting me know that it inspired their grandkids and kids to wear goggles or glasses. A lot of kids would get bullied for wearing glasses and goggles, so I guess I made it pretty cool to wear them. So then I just continued to wear them without the prescription in it."

2. Reggie Jackson

Right fielder Reggie Jackson, also known as “Mr. October,” began wearing glasses later in his baseball career, bringing his four-eyed look to home plate. Yankees fan site Pinstripe Alley credits Jackson with “Making glasses cool.”

3. Kareem-Abdul Jabbar

Milwaukee Bucks center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (33) in action against Cleveland Cavilers center Jim Chones (22) at Richfield Coliseum during the 1974-75 season. / Tony Tomsic-Imagn Images

Basketball has the highest incidences of eye injuries for athletes, and Kareem-Abdul Jabbar was one of the iconic users of protective eyewear. Heritage Auctions sold a pair of his goggles from 1974. In the description, they wrote: “Though Kareem first suffered an eye injury in a January 1968 game during his Junior season at UCLA, it wasn't until his fifth NBA season with the 1974-75 Milwaukee Bucks that a second injury inspired him to seek protective eyewear. In a preseason contest, an errant hand raked across Abdul-Jabbar's eye, once again scratching his cornea and sending him into a rage during which the star center compounded his woes by punching the backboard stanchion, breaking his hand. After missing the first 16 games of the regular season, Kareem returned wearing goggles similar in appearance to those a skier or scuba diver might use.”

4. Billie Jean King

Tennis legend Billie Jean King thinks she was the first woman to win Wimbledon with glasses. She told People in a May 2024 interview how much she still loves her iconic specs. “They are my jewelry.” According to the outlet, King has more than 16 pairs of glasses. “Because I change jackets or I change what I wear. I'm in different moods. I might have two or three blues, but they're different blues or different frames.” Her opponent at Wimbledon 1980, Martina Navratilova, also went on to incorporate glasses into her game.

5. Rebecca Andrade

Between Rebecca and Stephen, I want their Warby Parker brand deal and commercial tomorrow! Olympic gymnasts also wear glasses! pic.twitter.com/9xnlttGYsX

— Caroline Renard (@carolinerenard_) August 5, 2024

Though she didn’t wear them on the beam, Brazilian gymnast Rebecca Andrade charmed fans when she put on her glasses to see her scores. Andrade told Olympics.com that she actually prefers for her view of the beam and vault to be a little bit blurry.

Perhaps the popularity of athletes like Nodorscik and Andrade will inspire more athletes to wear their glasses — at least when they want to — in the future! If they do, Glasses U.S.A. is a great place to start looking for gear. They carry frames built with plastic lenses, which serve to lighten the weight of traditional glass lenses and prevent fragility, as well as polarized lenses developed to protect outdoor athletes from glare.

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