“At this point, I don’t think my kids would recognize me without it,” he jokes. (Strahan has four children from previous relationships: Tanita, 20, and Michael Jr., 17, with first wife Wanda Hutchins; and twins Sophia and Isabella, 8, with second wife Jean Muggli.) “They’d be like, ‘Who is this stranger in the house? Call 911!’”
He took that same pride during his Hall of Fame ceremony. While most Hall of Fame busts depict non-smiling players, Strahan insisted that his famous gap be included. The current issue of the New Yorker profiles Hall of Fame sculptor Blair Buswell, and discussed Strahan’s decision to go smiley at length:
Buswell lets players choose the likeness they prefer (young or old, bearded or clean-shaven), but he typically discourages them from smiling. “I give them disclosures, and one of them is that bronze teeth never look right,” he said, noting that the former Broncos quarterback John Elway complained, in 2004, that his teeth looked like Chiclets. But Strahan was insistent—”I want to be the smiling giant”—so the sculptor agreed. “I’ll do it,” Buswell said. “I’ll just say it’s not the most popular choice.”
Michael Strahan: “Why I Never Closed The Gap In My Teeth…” was originally published on blackdoctor.org
