HOUSTON — The University of Houston Cougars have extra incentive to beat the Florida Gators for their first-ever NCAA championship.
Houston rapper Paul Wall said he and celebrity jeweler Johnny Dang will give the Coogs custom Grillz if they win it all in the March Madness title game Monday night. You can watch the game on KHOU 11/CBS.
Editor’s note: The above video originally aired in 2023.
Wall made the promise on X after the Coogs’ thrilling comeback sent the favored Duke Blue Devils packing on Saturday.
Dang, Wall’s longtime friend, has a history of gifting Grillz to Houston athletes, coaches and other celebrities.
RELATED: WHOSE HOUSE?! Cougars storm back to stun Duke, advance to the national title game!
If @UHCougarMBK wins the championship….. OF COURSE me and @JohnnyDangandCo are gonna give them Grillz!!!!!! #GoCoogs
— Paul Wall – The Great Wall (@paulwallbaby) April 6, 2025
In 2023, Dang and Wall gave former Houston Astros Manager Dusty Baker one to celebrate his retirement. During Baker’s four seasons with the Astros, he led the team to the American League Championship Series four times and the World Series twice, winning it all in 2022.
“I wanna say congratulations to Dusty Baker on an amazing career. Thank you for coming to manage the @astros,” Paul posted on Instagram. “It was an honor to watch you lead the Stros and make history! I wish you joy and blessings! As a retirement present me and @johnnydangandco got some grillz ready for you 🥶🙌🙏🤘.”
The entire Astros team got their Dang Grillz when they won the World Series in 2022. Wall then led the partying crowd on a chant of “World Series Grillz! World Series Grillz! World Series Grillz!”
One of the first customers was World Series MVP Jeremy Peña. KHOU 11 was there when Peña was getting fitted for his grillz and we asked him if he had a message, “for all the women who want to marry him.”
RELATED: ‘World Series Grillz’ | Houston jeweler makes promise to Astros players after winning it all
WATCH: Peña’s heartfelt message to female fans
Peña and Dang both grinned and held up the heart sign that helped Peña win the hearts of fans in Houston and beyond. When asked about it during the playoffs, Peña said the heart sign he holds up after getting a hit is a message to his mom.
Celebrity jeweler Johnny Dang had ‘real tough’ childhood
Before all of his famous friends, sparkling diamonds and shiny gold, Johnny Dang came from humble beginnings. He was a child during the war in his native Vietnam.
“I had no electricity at all,” Dang told KHOU 11 reporter Zack Tawatari in 2023. “Real, real tough. Yeah, not only for my family, for all Vietnamese.”
Dang’s father, a soldier in the South Vietnam army, escaped prison and narrowly made it to the U.S. on a small, crowded boat that lost power in the middle of the ocean.
“They just flowed in the ocean for like two weeks. So luckily they got rescued by one of the big ships,” Dang says.
Johnny arrived in Houston years later, in August 1996, when he was 23.
On his second day, Dang, who had a background in jewelry, went to work for his brother at a Houston flea market.
“He started giving me my salary, you know? And then we started to make like $35 a day.”
His talent was apparent and he’d eventually open a store in Sharpstown where he met Wall, who was a DJ back then. Their friendship would become a life-changing collaboration.
“Paul was the DJ in the club, he could help me to promote,” Dang said. “I said, OK.”
RELATED: ‘A dream come true’ | How Houston’s jeweler Johnny Dang became the ‘King of Bling’
And among his many custom pieces, he might be best known for “Grillz,” which he says started at the dentist.
“The dentist, they got to make the custom crown. So see one made to put a one diamond on the top of it for a customer. So that’s how I started,” Dang told us.
With Paul, Dang met some of the biggest names in entertainment and made them “Grillz.”
“We work like 20 hours, 22 hours, 18-hour minimum days,” he said. “That’s because they blow up so fast.”
Nelly’s song “Grillz” didn’t hurt either.
In between the all-star clients and the glitz and glam, Dang gives back to his hometown and Houston.
“A lot of families are very successful here. Because we have the opportunity to work,” he said.
His story — proof that you can turn dust into diamonds
“This really is, you know, the American dream,” Dang said.