In 1991, just months after Michael Jordan secured his first NBA championship, Gatorade rolled out a campaign that would eventually become a piece of sports marketing folklore. The “Be Like Mike” commercial tethered athletic greatness to mainstream aspiration.
And buried in the joyful montage of dunks, smiles and schoolyard admiration was a sharp-edged flash of pain for one man, Craig Ehlo.
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He was on the receiving end of Jordan’s world-famous “The Shot” in 1989.
Lifetime of Gatorade
That play, already immortalized in playoff retrospectives, found a second life in a national Gatorade commercial. And while Jordan stood triumphant at the end of the ad, sipping his drink with a boyish grin, it was Ehlo — once again — that carried the emotional load of defeat although he agreed to it.
“Gatorade actually called me to ask me if it was okay to use it,” Ehlo said. “And they didn’t send me any money; they just sent me Gatorade for life.”
The closing scene of the ad captured the seismic moment from the 1989 NBA playoffs. Game 5. Chicago Bulls vs. Cleveland Cavaliers. Three seconds on the clock.
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Jordan rose above Ehlo, suspended midair just long enough to seal Cleveland’s fate with a buzzer-beater. The image of Ehlo crumbling to the hardwood has since become one of the most enduring visuals in NBA history.
The lifetime supply of Gatorade is a strange sort of compensation for a man who had the misfortune of being on the wrong side of destiny. But for Ehlo, a lifetime supply of sports drinks became the odd silver lining to a highlight that has never stopped airing.
By the time Gatorade came calling, Craig had already made peace with the legacy of that moment. In truth, there was never any shame in defending Jordan. During that 1989 playoff series, Ehlo had been one of Cleveland’s most reliable two-way players. In Game 4, he dropped 24 points. In Game 5, the night of The Shot, he scored 15 and hit what should’ve been the game-winning layup with three seconds left.
But Jordan happened. And the NBA was beginning to understand that this wasn’t just a player. They were watching a phenomenon take shape.
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The Be Like Mike campaign branded Mike as the league’s brightest star and rewrote how basketball heroes were sold to America.
The commercial, produced by ad firm Bayer Bess Vanderwarker, aired during the 1991-92 season and quickly became one of the most recognizable sports advertisements ever made.
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For Gatorade, the strategy was simple: link their product to the face of dominance. For Ehlo, it was less straightforward. The call from Gatorade came with a request to license footage where he was visibly and painfully defeated. There was no contract, no royalty check, just a recurring shipment of brightly colored bottles.
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More than 30 years later, the clip still runs in documentaries, social media throwbacks and nostalgia reels. It lives on Wikipedia. It lives on YouTube. It lives in the collective memory of the sport.
“I need to renegotiate,” Ehlo said with a smile. “I don’t mind being part of history like that. The Wikipedia, the shot, the pull-up shot by Michael Jordan.”
Ehlo’ isn’t bitter. He’s self-aware and tinged with the humor of someone who’s long accepted the role he played in history. After all, not every player gets a moment that echoes through decades, even if it comes at their own expense.
And Ehlo’s career was far more than just that singular heartbreak. He played 14 seasons in the NBA, logging over 7,400 points, 3,000 assists and 1,600 steals. He was a dependable role player, a capable shooter and a tireless defender. But none of that — not the playoff runs, not the clutch shots, not the seasons of sacrifice — has outlived that one soaring jumper over his outstretched hands.