In my interview with former MC Hammer dancer/choreographer Alonzo Carter, last week, we wandered into the area of musicians wanting to be athletes.
Carter, now an assistant football coach at San Jose State, said that’s a common occurrence. That’s because of the similarity in professions. He recalled running at 4:30 a.m. as a dancer, then practicing moves all day.
The training isn’t to be overlooked by dancers. Carter said last week that he clearly remembers performing in Salt Lake back in the 1990s.
“That was the first time we performed in such high altitude. We were on stage 1½ hours, so that was tough,” Carter said.
Asked how athletic Hammer was, Carter said, “Oh yeah, he was in high school baseball and played pro baseball.” Hammer, a former Oakland A’s batboy, got his nickname from A’s players who said he resembled “Hammerin’” Henry Aaron.
Hammer (real name Stanley Burrell) even got a tryout with the San Francisco Giants.
Carter said when he was touring with the group “we had all kinds of battles.”
“We even went out and played 11-on-11 football games,” Carter said. The dancers and singers would play against Hammer and the security team.
“They were full-out games,” Carter said. “And we beat his team by a touchdown. So he loves sports, he’s a sports junkie. Most entertainers want to be athletes and athletes want to be entertainers.”