Air Ball (1976); Slam Dunk (1972)

[Dennis R. Preston]

larry,

As I recall, from days before the ones you mention, "dunk" was very
common and "slam dunk" came later. "Slam" (alone) was unknown to us
hoosters in the 50's.

dInIs



>At 5:13 PM -0400 8/24/02, Rick H Kennerly wrote (incorporating Barry
>Popik below):
>>|o| (That's how I remember it.  Julius Erving, of the ABA Virginia
>>|o| Squires [in 1972].  So Chick Hearn, broadcasting for the Los Angeles
>>|o| Lakers, probably would not have coined it--ed.)
>>|o|
>>
>>I'm not invested in the Hearn story either way, but I don't see where an
>>east coast NYT quote would have much bearing on whether or not a west coast
>>broadcast personality did or did not coin a phrase during a play-by-play.
>>Indeed, as someone else recently pointed out, the terms could just as likely
>>have filtered up from street games--or high school or college rookies--and
>>began circulating as teams traded players and played each other before the
>>term was picked up by sports broadcasters or sportswriters.
>>
>The first time I remember the issue coming up was several years
>earlier.  Kareem Abdul Jabbar, who was then still known as Lew
>Alcindor, was in his freshman year at UCLA the same time I arrived as
>a grad student, in '66.  The NCAA decided to ban (what we now know
>as) the slam (dunk), many at the time believing the goal was to slow
>down Alcindor's expected dominance of the college game.  The upshot
>was that he developed a full repertoire, including his patented sky
>hook (most certainly coined OF, if not BY, Alcindor), and dominated
>the college game anyway; his legendary coach John Wooden always
>claimed that "Lewis's" skills were helped by the ban and how it
>forced him to work on his game.  Anyway, it might be useful to check
>the L.A. Times issues around '66 (possibly in Jim Murray's columns)
>to see how the slam was then described in articles and columns
>relating to the NCAA ban (which was, eventually, reversed).  Maybe
>"slam dunk" wasn't used, but "slam" was?  I can't recall.
>
>larry

--
Dennis R. Preston
Professor of Linguistics
Department of Linguistics and Languages
740 Wells Hall A
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1027 USA
Office - (517) 353-0740
Fax - (517) 432-2736