Local hoops players recall first dunks

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope

Georgia, 2011-present

My first time was in ninth grade. I was at my high school, during a junior-varsity game. It was the first time I ever tried during a game. I was 6-2.

It was a one-handed dunk. I did it again later and did a two-handed dunk.

I was amazed that I did make it because I kept missing it during practice. I was amazed that I made both made of them.

First person I told after the game was my dad and then my mom. They were happy that I did it because they knew I had been trying. They were thrilled that I did it.

Derrick Favors

Georgia Tech, 2009-10; currently with Utah Jazz

I was 12, maybe 13, in seventh grade. I was at a gym. We were just playing around. I was about 6-0. Some friends were betting that I couldn’t dunk, so I just went up and dunked.

I had been trying ever since I started playing basketball. After I did it, I went and told one of the coaches. He also didn’t think I could dunk.

I was very excited. I was jumping all over the place.

Jason Morris

Georgia Tech, 2010-present

I was in eighth grade, we were in P.E., just fooling around, playing five-on-five.

I had a breakaway and just jumped as hard as I could. I got so high I dunked. When I landed everyone was standing there with their mouths open.

From then I just started trying all new things.

I actually started dunking with two hands instead of one. It took me almost a year to dunk with one hand instead of two.

I had tried once before that. Really what I did, my sixth-grade year, when we would work out we would do track workouts and squats. My dad said I should set a goal for myself. My goal was to dunk before I turned 13. I dunked three weeks before my birthday. I was 6 feet, 1 inches tall.

It was two hands, just straight up.

I called my dad first. My coach was in his office. He ran and got all the coaches and they were like, “You’ve got to be able to do it again.” I did it again. It was clean.

By next season, I just got explosive and started doing all sorts of crazy things once I got that first taste of blood.

Herb White

Georgia, 1968-70 (where he was known as “The Elevator from Decatur”); Hawks, 1970-71

First time I dunked on a 10-foot goal was the summer of my sophomore year in high school.

I was always trying to dunk. I was fascinated by dunking for quite a while. I always had calluses and scars on my hands and wrists from trying to dunk.

It was a basic one-handed dunk. It was at the Decatur Recreation Center, which is where Decatur High School used to play their basketball games and where I grew up playing. I had dunked on shorter rims and bent-down rims.

I was around 5-10 then. There were a couple of older guys there who were players on Decatur High’s basketball team I was trying to impress.

I had pretty much gotten it down. I had come close a couple of times. I would still miss a couple of times. I was always working on my jumping, running stairs with weights on my ankles.

I could do pretty much any dunk I wanted by high school. In the next six to nine months I really came on and matured.

Dominique Wilkins

Georgia, 1979-82; Hawks, 1982-94, among others; his nickname is “The Human Highlight Film”

I was in eighth grade in Baltimore, Md. It was at a high school playground. We were just playing around, seeing who could jump. I’d always been athletic as a kid. One time I went up. I was actually going to lay it up and kept going up. I was surprised and didn’t realize what I did. It was the first time I had ever dunked.

We had always attempted to dunk. We could grab the net. I just kept going up and threw it down. It was one-handed.

It was a sunny summer day. My friends couldn’t believe it. One of my best friends at the time said, “Do you believe what you just did?”

I was like, “What?”

It stunned me, until I realized what I did. Once I started, I never stopped.

I was about 5-9, 5-10. I told my brother, Gerald, first. He didn’t believe it. Then I had to go show him.

I was trying to be Julius Erving, everybody wanted to be like Julius Erving.