Greatest dunkers in GHSA history: Help us compile the list
Those of us who cover high school sports for The Atlanta-Journal Constitution have seen our fair share of throw-down, rim-shaking, nasty dunks during a combined 100 or so years of coverage in this state.
We were in Thomaston in the 1980s when Kenny Walker of Crawford County flew over a couple of R.E. Lee players in the middle of the lane and brought the house down. We were at the B/C camp a few years later when Griffin’s Darrin Hancock put on a dunking exhibition, the last slam after flying over a large lunch room table he had placed near the free-throw line.
But we need your help to compile a list of the greatest dunkers in GHSA history. Here’s what we want you to do: Tell us below about the best dunk you’ve ever seen in a high school basketball game. Give us the player, the year (or estimation), the place and a solid description of the dunk. And if you want to possibly be part of our story, copy the post and send with contact information to sports@ajc.com.
The “Greatest Dunkers in GHSA History” list and story will be posted on ajc.com and published in the newspaper’s sports section on Jan. 13, which happens to be the same day we will begin taking nominations for the ajc.com’s annual Slam-Dunk video contest. That competition is for current players.And just to whet the dunking appetite, here are a few factoids you just might recall:
- Name three former Georgia high school players have won the NBA Slam Dunk Contest:
They are Walker (Crawford County) in 1989, Josh Smith (McEachern) in 2005 and Dwight Howard (SW Atlanta Christian) in 2008.
- Name three Georgia high school players who won the dunk contest at the prestigious McDonald’s All-American all-star game.
They are Hancock (Griffin) in 1990, Carlos Strong (Cedar Shoals) in 1992 and Donnell Harvey (Randolph-Clay) in 1999.
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241 comments Add your comment
POTF
December 6th, 2012
3:10 pm
The whole Richard Arnold teams back in the 70’s.
wttp
December 6th, 2012
3:19 pm
Reggie Tinch in the state playoffs at Georgia Tech 1988.
lumberjacket
December 6th, 2012
3:21 pm
Stephen Hill of Miller Grove, played at Ga Tech and now with the NY Jets. Saw him in a playoff game a few years ago steal the ball and do a windmill dunk that would make Wilkins proud. It was in a game and the whole place new he was going do dunk, but had no idea what they were about to see. Best HS dunk I’ve ever seen.
TripleEagle
December 6th, 2012
3:23 pm
Mark McSwain St. Pius 1983…..Melvin “Hollywood” Henderson Decatur……Those two could throw it down like nobody else I that ere
Scared
December 6th, 2012
3:26 pm
Bill Braski – Home schooled himself – I once saw Bill jump from the 3-point line, do a reverse 720, make love to my wife, toss the ball off Juanita Jenkins in the 3rd row (she was 6′2″ 461 lbs), then dunked the ball while cracking the foundation the gym on was. TO BILL BRASKI.
dublin fan
December 6th, 2012
3:29 pm
NYCDAWGFAN….the player you talk about is Jermaine Hall. He is now playing over seas. Played college ball at Wagner i believe.
dublin fan
December 6th, 2012
3:29 pm
Enter your comments here
Walt
December 6th, 2012
3:29 pm
Tim Gathier Gainesville High , Chezley Watson East Hall
Hubert Green
December 6th, 2012
3:35 pm
It’s obvious a lot of you didn’t watch Shaquille Johnson play. It’s not close.
NoDistrictLinesInDekalb
December 6th, 2012
3:53 pm
Lets go back a few years Herb White Druid Hills 1969 70 ?, Mike Dickerson Decatur High 1971, Mark McSwain St. Pius 1983…
just the truth
December 6th, 2012
3:57 pm
I second Herbie White. The first person to declare someone put a $ on top of the backboard in 1966,
NYCDAWGFAN
December 6th, 2012
3:58 pm
@dublin fan: Yessir! Just Googled and that is him.. Man that kid could fly! Glad to hear that he is still playing pro ball because he certainly had some serious game.
Red and Black til Death
college
December 6th, 2012
4:00 pm
I go with Herb White
just the truth
December 6th, 2012
4:00 pm
NoDistrictLinesInDekalb………… actually Herb went to Decatur High and was playing and @ UGA at that time. Some people may not know that Herbs roomate with the Hawks was Pete Maravich!
Dalton's 50+ years of questionable history
December 6th, 2012
4:02 pm
who cares! its worth 2 f’n points! who can shoot a mid-range jumper..thats more relevant…
HGH
December 6th, 2012
4:04 pm
Dale Ellis / Marietta High School Late 70’s
DawgNole
December 6th, 2012
4:08 pm
I third Herb White–of Decatur and UGA fame in late 60s. Put on heart-stopping pregame displays in Athens, at 6-2–and he was white. Played briefly for Hawks before knee injury ended career.
THSclassof92alumni
December 6th, 2012
4:10 pm
James Forrest of Southside, He had a dunk against Tucker in the region final, in which they stopped the game for 5 minutes, because of the rim shaking.
iSAWit
December 6th, 2012
4:12 pm
Timmy Starr from Fairmount HS in Fairmount. The school is gone but the legend still lives. There wasn’t a player alive that he couldn’t dunk over. I saw him jump over a player from Bowdon one night. He had long arms and could absolutely fly.
just the truth
December 6th, 2012
4:13 pm
NoDistrict …….. you may of been thinking of another player who went to Druid Hills but graduated in 66. This player is the ” only 3 sport Parade All American ever” to this date. Ron Blomberg had over 125 basketball scholarships ( including one from UCLA and John Wooden ), and over 100 football scholarships but chose to be the first person drafted in the 1967 baseball draft by the NewYork Yankees. I played with Blomberg and against White.
Chriscosmo
December 6th, 2012
4:16 pm
Hands down Martice Moore of north Fulton high in the early 90’s. He was definitely best player and dunker in Georgia during that era. Can we also say ACC rookie of year in 92 @ GT. Enough said!!
TARRANCE
December 6th, 2012
4:18 pm
OK How you guys going to forget about Dieon Glover. I saw this guy in like 96 in a Christmas tournament drive base line take off and dunk backwards over like two guys. They had stop the game because people were running on the floor.
Back in the 60's and still champion...
December 6th, 2012
4:21 pm
…former Decatur High School star and UGA Bulldog – jumpin Herb White – a 6′ 2″ WHITE guy who could take a quarter off the top of the backboard and leave change…
Southside Ken
December 6th, 2012
4:22 pm
Enter your comments here
Mark
December 6th, 2012
4:25 pm
Jumpin Joe Ward Griffin GA 1981 & 1982. Legend. Started out at Clemson and ended up as star at Geordia for Hugh Durham
big daddy
December 6th, 2012
4:26 pm
Rodney Cothron, Bremen High school 1990
Big Al
December 6th, 2012
4:28 pm
Dontonio Wingfield’s alley oop dunk against Crim in the 1992 state playoffs.
Mark
December 6th, 2012
4:29 pm
I have to 4th or 5th Herb White of Decatur High School – not a very tall guy who could leap amazingly high at only 6′1″ or 2″ if I remember right. USed to watch him practice with the Hawks in the old Decatur Rec Center off the Square with Pistol Pete. The other I would recommend from back in the 70’s/80’s is Danny Buggs of AVondale – could pick a quarter off the top of the backboard at only 6′1″ or 2″ also. He went on to play for West Virginia and the Redskins. But Herb White was the best – any guy over 6′6″ should be able to dunk – but watching a ‘regular’ guy do it, was the best there was!
JCM
December 6th, 2012
4:29 pm
Jeff Sheppard for sure. Went to same high school as him. Even though wasn’t in a game, he once dunked over 2 students from a bit inside the foul line at one of the pep rallys………..and for a 6′ 3″ white kid!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He has highlight reel dunks from when he played at Kentucky
LCS
December 6th, 2012
4:37 pm
Ismail Muhammad from WD Muhammad (and later Georgia Tech) — most in-game carnage hands down. Also would put on dunk shows during pre-game warmups (at home, where refs wouldn’t T him up)
Jeff Shepphard – McIntosh (and later Kentucky) – something like a 47-50″ vertical, amazing sky-high dunks
para
December 6th, 2012
4:42 pm
SW Macon State and National Championship team Terri Fair – Read Ducks Boys by Henry Goss. Vertical out of this world…google Ducks Boys…
Metro Ref
December 6th, 2012
4:43 pm
I’m going to have to say between ‘84 – ‘89…Rueben Harvey 6′6, (Terrell Co) and “Moon” 6′9(Calhoun Co).
jvillebil
December 6th, 2012
4:52 pm
Jammin Jerry Javonawinski 1982-1988 @ Bestville High School in Guideville, Ga. Once stole the ball took off before he got to the 3 point line, did a 360 behind the back, between the legs, bounced it off the backboard caught it in mid air and did a referse two hand dunk and broke the backboard. Sure nuff, I was there, look it up in the records.
bonairedawg
December 6th, 2012
4:54 pm
Kenny “Sky” Walker – no one even close!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
joe in tucker
December 6th, 2012
5:06 pm
@NoDistrictLinesInDekalb – Herb White went to Decatur; and ditto on ‘Slim’ Dickerson!!
Therut
December 6th, 2012
5:09 pm
Jared Cook-North Gwinette
Therut
December 6th, 2012
5:10 pm
Yes I know how to spell Gwinnette
Therut
December 6th, 2012
5:12 pm
Played a little ball with Herb in the Atlanta rec. league. He could jump!!!
NYCDAWGFAN
December 6th, 2012
5:17 pm
The greatest dunker and player this state never knew has to be Jeffrey Gilmore from Burke County… One of the saddest stories ever. If you have ever seen this guy you know Im not being overzealous
Red and Black til Death
Jeff
December 6th, 2012
5:21 pm
Dequan Jones from Wheeler or Travis Leslie from Columbia, period. Scenario Hillman from Wilkinson County gets an honorable mention, along with Stephen Hill from Miller Grove. If I had to pick between Jones and Leslie, I’d probably pick Leslie (played against him in high school, dunked on our 6-10 center with ease).
Da Coach
December 6th, 2012
5:22 pm
Matt Harpring
Tom Ball
December 6th, 2012
5:31 pm
There is only one true legend. The elevator from Decatur , Herb White .you have to remember he played high school and college ball when the dunk was not allowed. Being only 6feet2.at the most fans would show up at Madison square gardens just to watch him warmup when he was with the Atlanta hawks. He did dunks that no one had ever seen before. I think his vertical was about 46 inches and o by the way he was a white leaper
tony montana
December 6th, 2012
5:31 pm
Skyler Williams of East Laurens High in the early to mid 2000’s! At only 6′2″ he would dunk on at anytime during the game when the fans and players least expect it ask Georgia Tech’s Lewis Clinch during a game in Dublin,Ga while he was at Crisp County.
Larry Purdom
December 6th, 2012
5:32 pm
Let’s go back a few years…RAY JEFFORDS from Ware County High back in 1966. He was the tallest white boy around in an age of two-point set shots.
In a game against rival Waycross High in the old WPA-built City Auditorium (where folks like Ella Fitzgerald, James Brown, Cab Callaway, and Duke Ellington once played), Jeffords’s dunk tore the goal right off the backboard. The game had to be delayed until they put up another goal. (yes, I admit to a little civic pride). Foks around town still talk about it. Jeffords went on to play FOOTBALL for UGA.
Max Sizemore
December 6th, 2012
5:38 pm
Mole, you are right about the Beach team of the late 60’s. When they came on the Alexander Memorial Coliseum court for the first time (I believe it was the first year of integration — 1967?) they starting throwing down dunks in warmups and the whole place, which was packed, just went nuts. I think 12 of the 15 players could throw it down. After watching and covering prep sports for years, I think it was the most electrifying thing I have ever seen. That was the year Beach beat South Fulton something like 92-56 in the final, behind Andrew Knowles and Gator Rivers and (can’t recall first name — David?) Hall.
TItletown USA
December 6th, 2012
5:40 pm
There are some nice stories on this forum…especially for basketball junkie like me.
Tom
December 6th, 2012
5:43 pm
The one and only elevator from Decatur. You have to remember he played ball in the late60s when the dunk was outlawed but when he played for the hawks they use to come to Madison square gardens just to watch him warmup. His vertical was around 46 inches and o by the way white men can jump. He selected by sports illustrated as the most under rated dunker ever to play in the nba. He was the legend before any of these other guys. There was another leaper from Roosevelt high that no one would remember by the name of Yule brooking
old man
December 6th, 2012
5:49 pm
remember herb white, decatur high school? early 60s
Roundball
December 6th, 2012
5:51 pm
Larmar Harris, Mitchell Co late 70’s and Rueben Harvey, Terrell Co. mid 80’s.
Roundball
December 6th, 2012
5:55 pm
Lamar Harris, Mitchell Co. was a long jumper in Track and Field.