The National Basketball Association recently reported that its Instagram account has 72.1 million followers. Many of them come from outside of the USA. Most live in Asia, making basketball one of the most popular sports in the region. For anyone who enjoys watching a game of basketball, one of the highlights is when a player delivers a slam dunk. A slam dunk never fails to impress, and professional players never fail to make it look easy.

In the early days of basketball, a wire cage surrounded the playing area. It was there, people said, to protect the players from the spectators – and the spectators from the players. It was sometimes quite a violent sport and basketball players were often called ‘cagers’. One of the early stars of the sport was an American athlete called Jack Inglis. He was a real all-round sportsman. He excelled not only in basketball but also in American football and baseball.

One afternoon, Jack jumped alongside the basket before grabbing the wire cage. Using all his strength, he pulled himself right up to the basket. A teammate passed the ball to him and with one hand he dropped it into the basket. It was the very first slam dunk and the spectators went crazy. Sadly, Jack Inglis was not around much longer to entertain the crowds. He died when he was just 31 years old during a deadly flu epidemic in 1918.

One of the next slam dunks was delivered by Joe Fortenberry in the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. Joe was two metres tall and captain of the US team. Other teams with smaller players were afraid of Joe. The Japanese team even asked that any player who was taller than 1.8 metres should not be allowed to play. A newspaper reported that Joe would drop the ball into the basket just like someone dunking a biscuit into their coffee. It was one of the first times that this style of play was referred to as a dunk.

Over the next twenty years, players became more skilled. They also grew taller. Slam dunks became more frequent. Smaller players began to get angry. When tall players were preparing a slam dunk, the smaller players would try and knock the tall player’s legs from underneath them. Many complained that performing a slam dunk was not a proper display of basketball skill. It was just a height advantage. During the 1967/68 season, slam dunking was banned from professional games. The ban lasted until the 1976/77 season.

It was probably not just the taller players who were happy once the ban came to an end. It was the spectators too. At any professional games the world over, players will demonstrate to the crowds their slam dunk skills. Soaring into the air, they slam the ball into the basket, making it look so easy. If only all of us could be that tall and skilful.

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VIDEO: Slam dunks are, today, a major part of the entertainment of basketball.

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