Last week we unleashed some photos of Nick Offerman — he who so deftly embodies the persona of Ron Swanson every Thursday night on NBC’s Parks and Recreation — from his high school yearbook that were sent in by a reader onto the web. Earlier today I received an email from a reader who knew him from his days in junior high who, knowing we’re mildly fascinated with him, wanted to share a photo of a young Nick Offerman in the Minooka Junior High basketball uniform. Doesn’t he actually look like he could be one of the basketball playing kids on the receiving end of the Swanson Pyramid of Greatness inspirational speech?
“You will grow from boys into men. From men into gladiators. And from gladiators into Swansons!”
Our tipster writes:
He’s #51 on the left obviously. If you added bags under the eyes and a mustache he would look the same then as he does now!
I’m kind of loving that UPROXX is becoming the go-to place for Nick Offerman childhood photos. Now if we can just get tipsters to send in some pics of Nick in middle school, elementary school, pre-school and as an infant, we’d have a pretty comprehensive thing going on! (Oh, by all means… tips at uproxx dot com)
Now, prepare yourself for the amazing Ron Swanson painting released today by artist Sam Spratt.
But first, a close-up reminder — boy (notice the quite passive hands-behind-the-back pose)…
And now — SWANSON (notice the more standoffish arms folded pose)!
Seriously, is this not amazing? Even better: you, or someone you love, can own a print of this bad boy for $70! You guys feel free to email me for my shipping address, okay?! Coupled with the photo at the top, it’s as if we’ve got an almost complete Nick Offerman/Ron Swanson cycle of life going on here or something.
Being a fan of high-quality comedy television and not watching Parks and Recreation might just be the second most blasphemous thing you could do (the 1st of course being not watching Arrested Development). If for some reason you are in the “yet to watch” category, I present to you Ron Swanson aka exhibit A on what you are missing (youtube video).
If you have “seen the light” and are already familiar with Swanson Greatness, I humbly give you my painting of him. Features include: High and tight Swanson haircut, Swanson body hair, Swanson mustache, Swanson mustache chest hair (not groomed, grows that way naturally), Tammy tattoo, Tammy 2 tattoo, Tattoo of the text from Ron’s Speech to the boy’s basketball team, copious amounts of meat, the Swanson Pyramid of Greatness, Food and Stuff grocery store desk sticker, and Mulligan’s Steakhouse apron.
We have truly come full circle, you guys…