He holds the second-best regular-season winning percentage in league history of .698 (only Phil Jackson is ahead of him). Said Trenkle: He can take the ball with his right hand, go up, put it between his legs and dunk it behind his head with his left hand. In the 197374 season, Cunningham and the Cougars finished third in the Eastern Division and lost again to the Kentucky Colonels in the Eastern Division semifinals. Its almost like you were floating, like there was no such thing as gravity. "Cunningham Quits; Loughery Dropped,", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Billy_Cunningham&oldid=1135516255, 3-year letter winner (in his day, freshmen were ineligible for, His number 32 jersey is retired by the Philadelphia 76ers; however, he allowed it to be worn by, This page was last edited on 25 January 2023, at 03:41. It looked like the half-court line was around a mile and a half away, Cunningham said. Do you have a sports website? He also had a famously difficult childhood and came from very humble beginnings; it was his hometown of French Lick, Indiana, that inspired the nickname The Hick from French Lick. He was determined not to let his tiny hometown or his troubled family life hold him back though, and instead remained hardworking and classy until the end of his career. As a rookie in 1965-66, he pulled down 7.5 rpg, scored 14.3 ppg and was named to the NBA All-Rookie Team. We present them here for purely educational purposes. When you think about Billys life, it is amazing, former Philadelphia 76er executive and then-Orlando Magic senior executive vice president Pat Williams told New Miami magazine in 1992. He was a competitor, said Lewis Schaffel, one of Cunninghams partners in the Miami Heat who grew up with him in Brooklyn. In warmups, we would always check out the other team and get into little contests with their guys. Joey made the trip but was nursing a hip pointer, so he couldnt suit up. Logos were compiled by the amazing SportsLogos.net. He did prefer ball to hockey, after all. Yes, he married a former judge. He was in the gym in Mesa one afternoon, in street clothes and basketball shoes. He recorded 14 triple doubles in the NBA and 5 in the ABA, good for 43rd all-time in the NBA and 5th in the ABA. Buffman and Cunningham decided to team up in the venture, and they brought in Lewis Schaffel and Ted Arison. [15], For other people named William Cunningham, see, Learn how and when to remove this template message, ACC 50th Anniversary men's basketball team, List of National Basketball Association single-game playoff scoring leaders, "The Rumble: AN OFF-THE-BALL LOOK AT YOUR FAVORITE SPORTS CELEBRITIES", "Philadelphia 76ers 134 - Portland Trail Blazers 132", Goldaper, Sam. Refer to each styles convention regarding the best way to format page numbers and retrieval dates. Finally he did a 360, one handed. Mike Conley, who is 6-2 and a triple jumper, won the Foot Locker Slam Dunk Contest last weekend, with 6-2 Raider receiver Tim Brown finishing third and swimmer Matt Biondi in the top five. You dont play with a red, white and blue ball if youre into dignity. Jackie stays in the air and the ref calls a three-second violation. His shooting skills may be what he is best remembered for, but his vertical leaps were nothing to sneeze at: he made 28 inches on more than one occasion. Shoots: I knew he was right there with me. The World's Most Entertaining Car Website. And there was a dog. A lot of them, you have to understand, werent able to get into college, Chamberlain said. Nobody ever played the game could rise any better than Jackie. Ive got the videotape to prove it., Karl Kleinkopf, who coached the Southern Idaho track team for nine years, said: Theres absolutely no doubt Joey could be an eight-foot high jumper by 1992. The Smooth Criminal, as he was called when he played for Spain, didnt stick with the NBA for too long, but sure made an impact. We have tools and resources that can help you use sports data. VIDEO: Giant Space Slingshot In Action. No. He was a No. "We just helped knock on doors and pull people out of their homes last night. They think they could track down what the announcer calls a routine fly ball. He was an NBA champion both as a player (1967) and as a coach (1983). Tom Nissalke, an assistant coach at Milwaukee when Kareem Abdul-Jabbar came into the league, and later head coach of the Utah Jazz and Houston Rockets, says he always had his players measured, and the best sergeant he ever saw was a 35, by Darrell Griffith as a rookie. The next year he exploded for 24.8 points per game and 12.8 rebounds and he was named a first-team All-Star. The Hawks favorite flight story, like many stories of that era, features Chamberlain as a foil. I defy anyone to say they took change off the top of the backboard, Chamberlain said. Uh oh! On a good day, he said. In his second season with Carolina, Cunningham was hampered by injuries, but he still managed a 20.5 average in 32 games. The college boys are no doubt wide eyed and gape-mouthed when they meet this coach for the first time. . The mystery leaper was--and is--Herb White, 6-foot-2, eyes of blue, from Decatur, Ga. As with most leaping legends, Herbs aerial reputation often preceded him. Contending that the Cougars had reneged on paying the remaining $80,000 of a $125,000 signing bonus due on May 15, 1970, he reversed himself and signed a fouryear, $950,000 contract extension to stay with the 76ers through 197475 on July 15, 1970. In a 14-year professional career studded with superla-tives, Wilt Chamberlain established the, Mikan, George us, High School: In The Finals, however, Abdul-Jabbar, Earvin Magic Johnson, Jamaal Wilkes and the Lakers were too much. The following is a list of the NBA's All-Time Top 50 Team: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Nate Archibald, Paul Arizin, Charles Barkley, Rick Barry, Elgin Baylor, Dave Bing, Larry Bird, Wilt Chamberlain, Bob Cousy, Dave Cowens, Billy Cunningham, Dave DeBusschere . The future never came, but Dawkins broke new ground in power dunking, backboard shattering and dunknaming. In the division finals, however, Philadelphia fell to Boston. In 1962, Johnson jumped and touched a spot high on the wall, and a nail was driven into the spot to commemorate the unbelievable leap. However, none of the other basketball-playing Barry brothers Scooter, Jon, and Drew - can claim to be the only white man in history to win the Slam Dunk contest, though. That year, he was the First-Team All-New York The next season, the consistent Cunningham scored 23.3 points per game and was selected as an All-Star for the fourth time. A fiery coach, Cunningham stalked the sidelines with the best of them. Under Cunningham, the team reached the Eastern Conference finals in 1978 and the NBA finals in 1980 and 1982. After that season, he earned the first of what would be three straight All-NBA First Team selections. His departure had a disastrous effect. Then he transferred to Arizona State, clashed with then-coach Steve Patterson and wound up quitting the team. The soaring flight of the great leaper is amazing, even to himself. Sura strutted and slammed his stuff in both the 1997 Slam Dunk Competition and the All Star Weekend, and his jumps were recorded to be about 39 inches. The ABA folded after that season, but the slam-off was such a hit with the media that the concept was eventually ripped off by the NBA. Send us your videotape. In 1974 Cunningham returned to the 76ers. Instant green. He would replace the injured and aging Luke Jackson as the starting power forward of the team, and averaged 24.8 points per game and 12.8 rebounds per game during the 196869 season while leading the 76ers to 55 wins. Griffin was born of half Afro-Haitian descent and half Caucasian. Joey was a good player at Banning High in Wilmington and spent two years at the College of Southern Idaho, a junior college. Among his numerous career achievements, he was named to the 1966 All-Rookie Team and three All-NBA First Teams. The difference between the two marks, in inches, is the players sergeant jump, as in, Joe Smith has a 29-inch sergeant.. The Philadelphia 76ers star was a consistent scorer throughout his heyday in the 1960s and '70s. The Grizzlies say their star guard will be away from the team for 'at least' the next 2 games. During his eight seasons as the coach of the 76ers, Philadelphia won 454 regular season games and lost 196. Julius, Gus (Johnson), Pogo Joe Caldwell. Cunningham had just snared a defensive rebound and was dribbling to the Sixers free-throw line when, as he later recounted, his knee just exploded. No one had touched him, although Alfred Butch Beard was given a foul on the play. He cant even walk.. By word of mouth, you would get to know who the best dunkers were, and by the end of the season it was pretty much agreed the best two were a Portland guy named Claude English and me. Is Billy Cunningham married? There have been--and are--very good white jumpers. He was called the Kangaroo Kid for his prodigious leaping ability. [1] His first regular show on the station was at night, generally from 9:00 p.m. until midnight. Cunningham was a member of the powerful 1967 Sixers championship team, which also featured Wilt Chamberlain, Hal Greer, Chet Walker, and Luke Jackson. Upon his retirement on May 28, 1985,[13] his 454 wins as a head coach were the 12th best in NBA history. Gus once said, When I dunked that ball and heard that shot for the first time, I said to myself, Oh, oh, Gus. can arthur get a girlfriend rdr2; cook county jail roster; zip code validation rule in salesforce; first coast security ehub; billy cunningham vertical jump. Wilt meets me at mid-court and says, Na, na, na, not this time.. The Cougars' attempt to file an injunction against him was denied in United States District Court on September 24, 1971. In Game 2 of the 1967 NBA Finals, Cunningham scored 28 points during a 126-95 win over the San Francisco Warriors.[3]. Cunningham began his second basketball career on Nov. 4, 1977, when he was hired to replace Gene Shue at the Sixers helm. 3 June 1943 in Brooklyn, New York), professional basketball player known for his vertical leap who was a top scorer and rebounder in the 1960s and 1970s, and who later became a winning coach, television commentator, and team owner. His masterpiece was a backboard shattering dunk over Kansas City forward Bill Robinzine. star and now the leagues vice president of operations. His standing vertical was 37.5 inches. The Philadelphia team Cunningham inherited featured Julius Erving, George McGinnis, Doug Collins, Lloyd B. June 3, As a child he wa, https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/cunningham-william-john-billy. I was phoning the Charlotte Hornets to reach David (Skywalker) Thompson, who now works in the teams front office, when a female secretary said: Ive only seen two players who did things that I watched and I didnt believe--David, and Michael Jordan. Cunningham arrived in Chapel Hill just as Dean Smith was taking over as the head basketball coach of the UNC Tar Heels. [8] For his career, he scored 16,310 points, grabbed 7,981 rebounds, and recorded 3,305 assists in both the NBA and the ABA. Billy Cunningham found success and stardom during his ABA days. He was elected to the Hall of Fame the following year. That said, you can see his leaping ability when he takes off. Billy Cunningham was born in the Parkville section of Brooklyn, New York. "The beauty part of playing basketball," he once said, "is that your mind is occupied with playing basketball and nothing else, and you're having fun.". Trenkle had heard of the Gus Johnson nail, so when the Southern Idaho team was passing through Moscow on a trip, he ordered the bus driver to stop outside the Corner Club, and he took Joey inside. The breakthrough occurred when Harvey Pollack, the venerable stat whiz of the Philadelphia 76ers, collected dunk data from every team for the entire 1987-88 NBA season, accounting for every last slammeroo. Seniors Are Getting Freaking And A New Loofah Code Lets Everyone Know. It was an effort, but I could do it., There is no documented proof of a man ever taking off from behind the free-throw line, 15 feet from the backboard, and dunking. Moral of this story: dont count the white guys out of this sport just yet. Since his slamming days in the NBA, hes continued with the sport as a scout, director, analyst, commentator, and even vice president of player personnel. Left, Born: And he played it constantly. Known as "The Kangaroo Kid," Billy Cunningham was a high-flying scorer who won an NBA title as a player and coach with the 76ers. [2] At the conclusion of the season he was named to the NBA All-Rookie Team. Ive heard stories about Jackie Jackson doing it, but Ive never seen anyone (but himself) come close., Sonny Hill, a Philadelphia leaping legend of the 60s, backs Wilt, saying, The only man thats been to the top, thats Wilt. Technicalities, you know. Here's a number: 44 inches. The schools former coach, Frank McGuire, was the one who had recruited Cunningham, which left Smith with a prize recruit he had never seen. Cade Cunningham has a vertical jump of 41 inches. They couldnt, of course, because those things are so much harder than they look. In the exhibition season he was assigned to bring the ball up the court against Bostons K.C. Were playing in Philadelphia, against Wilt, Hawkins relates. The players who fly through this thin air are not simply remembered by hoop fans. Still, the Sixers finished 34-48, only the second losing season of Cunninghams career. Join us for a March Madness Webinar on Tuesday, March 7 at 8pm ET. No man, I dont believe, has been up that far., With Chamberlain over 50--years of age, not points per game--Nissalke feels safe in saying, That would be the ultimate challenge: Bet any amount of money, and you wouldnt find anyone who could come close to the top of the board.. Its almost like burlesque dancing. With a dad who played basketball center for Northwestern Oklahoma University, and a childhood that included playing baseball, football, AND hoops, Blake Griffin was destined for greatness. It was so good that Cunningham, a future Hall of Famer, came off the bench. A lot of young men soar into the NBA but are quickly weighted down by injuries and the 82-game grind, such as Darrell (Dr. Dunkenstein) Griffith of the Utah Jazz. As a player and then a coach for the Philadelphia 76ers, he was part of two NBA championship teams. We sure are glad he picked basketball! William John Cunningham (born June 3, 1943) is an American former professional basketball player and coach, who was nicknamed the Kangaroo Kid for his leaping and record-setting rebounding abilities. Athletic Club, has worked with most of the great L.A. prep stars of the last two decades. His jump was absolutely awesome. In the Museum of Leap, Wilt (the Big Dipper) Chamberlain has his own wing. Billy Cunningham found success as a coach in the NBA after his playing days were through. He was named Most Valuable Player in the ABA. Carolina lost to the Kentucky Colonels in the Eastern Division rinals, but Cunninghams regular-season performance earned him the ABA MVP. These guys more than held their own in a sport where they were absolutely a minority. Data Provided By Ridiculous, but it has been done, by a kid youve probably never heard of, unless you started reading this story at the end. Jump to navigation Jump to search Billy Cunningham American basketball player and coach. One explanation for the reverence accorded the big jumpers is offered by psychologist-sportscaster Bob Costas, who once did play-by-play for the Spirit of St. Louis, a team in the now-defunct American Basketball Assn., where every game was a jam-boree. His list of honors continued in 1986 when he was elected to the Hall of Fame, in 1990 when he was one of the 10 initial inductees to the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame and in 1996, he was named to the NBA 50th Anniversary All-Time Team. His departure had a disastrous effect on the 76ers, who posted a 9-73 record in 1972-73, the worst mark in NBA history. Even so, Erving was the NBAs most dazzling aerial star until he retired in 1987 and passed the title to Michael Jordan. of 6. billy cunningham vertical jump. . In 1987, the NBA Board of Governors awarded the group an expansion franchise to begin play in 1988-89 and thus the Miami Heat was born. Basketball was just a game they played for fun. For his eleven-year career, Cunningham averaged 21.2 points per game. An influential figure on the game at large, Julius Erving won a 1983 NBA title in Philadelphia and was the face of the ABA as well. Joey didnt even have his shoes laced, Clarke said. Connie Hawkins, another of the elite leapers of that era, was blackballed from the NBA because of involvement with gamblers when he was in college. It was so much air that it tied young Pat for the spot of second-highest vertical leap recorded up to that point. He averaged 24.1 ppg (fourth best in the league) and 6.3 apg (fifth best), leading the Cougars to a 57-27 record, tops in the ABAs Eastern Division. Browse 310 billy_cunningham stock photos and images available, or start a new search to explore more stock photos and images. That Feb. 8, the ABA trotted out its five best slammers. This is where we get into sword-and-stone mythology. The color barrier and the sex barrier of slam-dunk have fallen: Many white guys and a few women can dunk. I used to dunk on that basket. Cunningham also set a single-game North Carolina record with 48 points against Tulane on December 10, 1964. He was All-ACC, the ACC Player of the Year, and an All-American in college, later named to the ACC 50th Anniversary men's basketball team honoring the fifty best players in Atlantic Coast Conference history. Dont try a big leap. He came on back to Harlem. Everybody dunks. (AP Photo/Rusty Kennedy) Cunningham, her stepdaughter and her fiance all jumped into action. Cunningham then went to the University of North Carolina, where he excelled. After the 19711972 season, Cunningham left Philadelphia and the NBA for the rival American Basketball Association (ABA), signing on with the (North) Carolina Cougars. Cunningham would never play again. Think about Steve Nash and the beautiful game he played: flawless passes, sinking 90.4% of his free throws, point guard skills on point every time. The single-game high was eight, by Drexler, against the Lakers. Learn more and register, College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com Blog and Articles. The following season, the Sixers finished behind Boston in the standings and were upset by the New Jersey Nets in the first round. //]]>. Realizing they needed a dominant big man to contain Abdul-Jabbar, Philadelphia acquired the two-time MVP (1979 and 82) Moses Malone from the Houston Rockets (Malone would win a third MVP as a Sixer in that first season in Philadelphia) before the 1982-83 season. Join our linker program. Billy Cunningham is an American former professional basketball player and coach, who was nicknamed the Kangaroo Kid. Chris Wallace, the college talent scout, said: I dont believe measurements. Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives, Thematic Series: Sports Figures. As an owner and commentator, he also made a favorable impression. What happens when you put stilts on kangaroo? 1964 UNC at Duke, tip-off.jpg 1,454 1,750; 377 KB. Ervings early obscurity helped make him famous. Rosters Cut,", "1978 NBA Eastern Conference Semifinals - New York Knicks vs. Philadelphia 76ers", Goldaper, Sam. . One boy did dunks of a monster nature, so they named him after the only monster they knew that could fly--Rodan. Officially, his nickname originated from a 2002 summer league in Salt Lake City, where other players commented on his jumps and grabs, saying he could fly like a bird. Dont get him confused with Larry Bird though. Some have called the team the greatest of all time. Billy Cunningham attended Erasmus Hall in Brooklyn, New York and UNC. But the final came down to David Thompson vs. Julius Erving--the Skywalker vs. the Doctor. In 1972-73, he was named the Most Valuable Player of the American Basketball Association and he scored 18 points in the ABA All-Star Game. the official stats partner of the NBA, NHL and MLB. The Philadelphia 76ers selected Cunningham in the first round of the 1965 NBA Draft, figuring the 6-foot-6 bony and mobile player would be a guard. William John Cunningham (The Kangaroo Kid, Kang, Billy C) Position: Small Forward and Power Forward Shoots: Left 6-6, 210lb (198cm, 95kg) . I also think, in Joeys case, he gets up so high it hurts his shooting technique., Clarke said: When other players were shooting jump shots in their back yards, Joey was practicing dunks.. City, and a member of the Parade Magazine All-America Team. White is a regular at Hawk games and a fan of Wilkins. 3 June 1943 in Brooklyn, New York ), professional basketball player known for his vertical leap who was a top scorer and rebounder in the 1960s and 1970s, and who later became a winning coach, television commentator, and team owner. At Southern Idaho, the legend grew. In 1976-77, the season before Cunningham took the helm, the Sixers reached The Finals, only to fall to the Portland Trail Blazers. Jackie took off, jumped over Normans head and dunked the ball.. //