billy cunningham vertical jump billy cunningham vertical jump

When Cunningham got off the bus in Chapel Hill in the fall of 1961, he was all skin and bones, a freckle-faced redhead with a clumsy, pigeon-toed gait. Cunningham would never play again. Upon his retirement on May 28, 1985,[13] his 454 wins as a head coach were the 12th best in NBA history. Unlike Thompson, a huge star at North Carolina State, Dr. J kind of sneaked up on the basketball world. Youre entering another world up there. Basketball was just a game they played for fun. Media in category "Billy Cunningham" The following 5 files are in this category, out of 5 total. College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com, Scores from any date in BAA/NBA or ABA history, Frequently Asked Questions about the NBA, WNBA and Basketball, Basketball-Reference.com Blog and Articles, Subscribe to Stathead Basketball: Get your first month FREE. Joe Vanilla Sky Alexander has restless, jumpy feet that propel him way up to block shots and confound his opponents. An American-Israeli boy who was actually born in Taiwan, this dude was THIS CLOSE to entering the Slam Dunk competition in 2009, but was passed over for the Portland Trail Blazers Rudy Fernandez. There is a tavern called the Corner Club, in Moscow, Ida. I loved it instantly.. He was a tough, intense, competitive player who used his intelligence as much as his physical talents. We sure are glad he picked basketball! Another oft-told legend has Jackie on defense. Latrell Sprewell, a rising NBA star, would be known more for his off-court antics than his bas, Erving, Julius 1950 He would toss the ball off the backboard and then slam it home. Geraldo Rivera is standing by. White, also known as the Elevator from Decatur, made the NBA all-time all-warmup team that one season. Its unbelievable. Billy Cunningham wasn't nicknamed the Kangaroo Kid because he had a pouch. Wed been on the bus eight hours by then, Trenkle said. Its not just his personality that gets attention, though; hes been an NBA Champion in 2013, participated in the Slam Dunk Contest twice, and his vertical leap measures in at a not-too-shabby 37 inches. [6] He announced on June 15, 1972, that he was going to play with the Cougars beginning with the upcoming season at press conferences in Charlotte and Greensboro, North Carolina which occurred almost simultaneous to the Sixers' introduction of Roy Rubin as its new head coach.[7]. 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. However, you can take all the sergeant numbers of all the jumping jacks, put the numbers in a manure spreader and sprinkle them on your lawn or garden. He ran to the nearest school, three blocks away, and started shooting baskets. Joey? After playing for Philadelphia from 1965 to 1972, he signed a free agent contract with the ABA's . Soon Greer would be alone. Billy Cunningham found success as a coach in the NBA after his playing days were through. The SPORTS REFERENCE and STATHEAD trademarks are owned exclusively by Sports Reference LLC. Cunningham became a top analyst for CBSs broadcasts of NBA games. To that end, heres this writers all-time all-leap team: Dr. J, the Big Dipper, Air Jordan, David Skywalker and Joey Johnson. He was all but unknown at the University of Massachusetts, then played five seasons in the semi-secret ABA. Billy Cunningham played fiercely, coached intensely, and won frequently. The 1996 dunk competition boasted great ballers like the 76ers Jerry Stackhouse and the Suns Michael Finley, and nobody really expected the Lakers guard to triumph. Anybodv can win the lottery, a move in which a player drives past a defender by stepping one way and then quickly taking a big lateral step in the other direction. After acquiring the talented Moses Malone for the 19821983 season, Philadelphia won sixty-five regular season games and then the league championship, losing one of thirteen play-off games. The Grizzlies say their star guard will be away from the team for 'at least' the next 2 games. His daddy was also a professional ball player, which means his skill and confidence are ate least somewhat genetic. Cunningham was part of a group that helped to secure an NBA franchise for Miami in the late 1980s. On December 20, 1970, Cunningham scored 31 points and grabbed a career-high 27 rebounds en route to a 134132 road win over the Portland Trail Blazers. The Philadelphia 76ers star was a consistent scorer throughout his heyday in the 1960s and '70s. Jackie took off, jumped over Normans head and dunked the ball.. Home Depot Is Selling A Giant 89-Pound Crab Statue For $1,500. //]]>. In his UNC career, he scored 1,709 points (24.8 points per game), and grabbed 1,062 rebounds (15.4 rebounds per game). We have tools and resources that can help you use sports data. But with a leaper, everybody instantly knows they couldnt do it, that only the tiniest fraction of humans can jump that high.. It didnt make no difference to him.. "Cunningham, William John ("Billy") But the final came down to David Thompson vs. Julius Erving--the Skywalker vs. the Doctor. Joey, standing about eight feet from the shooter, leaped and slapped the shot away. Cunningham scored 18.9 points per game. The SPORTS REFERENCE and STATHEAD trademarks are owned exclusively by Sports Reference LLC. All logos are the trademark & property of their owners and not Sports Reference LLC. The Hawks favorite flight story, like many stories of that era, features Chamberlain as a foil. 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. Hes said to be the greatest white dunker in all of basketball history. 75 Stories | Billy Cunningham - YouTube 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.. He did prefer ball to hockey, after all. 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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 76ers lost to the Lakers in 1980 and 1982, but after acquiring Moses Malone, they finally got past the Lakers in 1983, winning the franchise's third (and most recent) NBA Championship as part of a 121 playoff run. Do you have a blog? 1943 No question, the mystique of the superleaper remains. He was discovered. Cunningham grew up in Brooklyn and on his fifth birthday he received a basketball. Ginoblili is 39 years old and recently won a jump ball against the 22-year-old Nerlens Noel, who has a good five inches on the Argentinian-Italian. He inherited a team of underachievers led by Julius Erving. We Have Fusion Energy! Join us for a March Madness Webinar on Tuesday, March 7 at 8pm ET. 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. "Cunningham, William John ("Billy") Therefore, be sure to refer to those guidelines when editing your bibliography or works cited list. Yep. The white guys listed below are heroes of the basketball world. Chess Robot Grabs And Breaks Finger Of Seven-Year . Someone would put a quarter up and Id snatch it down. Gus was a colorful thunder dunker and a breaker of backboards. He was so good, Red Auerbach saw him play in a schoolyard game and invited him to camp with the Celtics. Anybodv can win the lottery.. I see kids in the eighth grade, kids 5-11, dunking behind their heads, said Rod Thorn, former National Basketball Assn. The Globies listed him at 6-5, but Sonny Hill swears Jackie was 6-3, tops. He got kudos for his smooth-sounding, incisive work with the play-by-play announcer Dick Stockton. Dawkins claimed to have come from the planet Lovetron, he called himself Chocolate Thunder and Zandokan the Mad Dunker, and he named his dunks. Under Cunningham, the team reached the Eastern Conference finals in 1978 and the NBA finals in 1980 and 1982. This guy wasnt a leaper, but it will show you what I mean. Within the Cite this article tool, pick a style to see how all available information looks when formatted according to that style. I asked Kareem if he ever did, and he could jump a little bit. Hailing from Argentina and a family chock full of ball players, Ginobili uses his signature Euro Step to fake out the defense and get him where he needs to go. Its a rush, a thrill, said the Elevator from Decatur. Uh oh! billy cunningham vertical jump - oumi-castle.net That swagger had to come from somewhere. [14] He then returned for one last year to help cover the 1991 NCAA men's basketball tournament, partnered with Dick Stockton once again. Then he went to North Carolina and was an All-American. Can you do that? Then he goes into coaching and, percentage-wise, becomes one of the best ever. Earl Manigault was another fabulous flyer off the Eastern blacktop in the late 50s and early 60s. The soaring flight of the great leaper is amazing, even to himself. How does Zion "only" have a vertical jump of 40.5 inches when - reddit He came on back to Harlem. People think, mistakenly in most cases, that they could hit a baseball, Costas says. window.__mirage2 = {petok:"ZbxZ3AJWWjyZL0HXDpABwVdW.7p3rtLrWMEsK2FPL0A-86400-0"}; They were like jazz musicians in sneakers. billy cunningham vertical jump. The Leaping Legends of Basketball : Some of The Names Will Jump Out at Vertical Jump Not a Priority for NBA's All-Time Top 50 Players Find out more. Clutch West, with his awe-inspiring 60-foot shot in the 1970 NBA Final. Cunningham attended Erasmus Hall married Sondra; they had two daughters. He was an incredible shot blocker. Its a remarkable life.. On a good day, he said. [9] In 1996, Cunningham was voted as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History as part of the NBA's 50th Anniversary. He was never even charged with wrongdoing, but the NBA ban stuck until Connies lawyers broke it down in 1969, when the Hawk was 27 and well past his swooping prime. Do you have a sports website? Imagine yourself lifting off the blacktop, up and up, until you can reach into the air far above the rim. 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. Bobby Jones could swoop and soar. His standing vertical was 37.5 inches. Throughout his life, Cunningham excelled at all aspects of the game he loved. He led Philadelphia to the playoffs in every year as coach, and advanced to the NBA Finals 3 times, in the 197980, 198182 and 198283 seasons. Because each style has its own formatting nuances that evolve over time and not all information is available for every reference entry or article, Encyclopedia.com cannot guarantee each citation it generates. If thats not impressive enough for you, he also played on two NBA championship teams and later coached the Philadelphia 76ers for eight seasons. billy cunningham vertical jump - polucon.com In 1966 Cunningham The two teams waged a court battle, each claiming the rights to Cunningham, but the new league won. His show was not heard during the summer months, when WLW broadcasts Cincinnati Reds baseball games. In the 19661967 season the 76ers were a powerhouse, winning sixty-eight against only thirteen losses and beating the Boston Celtics and San Francisco in the playoffs to win the championship. Therefore, that information is unavailable for most Encyclopedia.com content. ." Most online reference entries and articles do not have page numbers. Logos were compiled by the amazing SportsLogos.net. Use without license or authorization is expressly prohibited. His departure had a disastrous effect on the 76ers, who posted a 9-73 record in 1972-73, the worst mark in NBA history. 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. Cunningham has been on 50,000-watt radio station 700 WLW for over 30 years, beginning in 1983. Billy Cunningham found success and stardom during his ABA days. Thats a white head, remember. With Maurice Cheeks and Lionel Hollins adding vitality to the backcourt, the Sixers roared to a 59-23 record in the 1979-80 regular season and then defeated favored Boston with rookie sensation Larry Bird in the Eastern Conference finals. Dunk-off of the Network Superstars? About a year ago, I was in a playground game with some black guys. (AP Photo/Rusty Kennedy) Cunningham, her stepdaughter and her fiance all jumped into action. Instant green. us, High School: The schools former coach, Frank McGuire, was the one who had recruited Cunningham, which left Smith with a prize recruit he had never seen. In those eight seasons, the team posted a 454-196 record, reached three NBA Finals and captured a championship in 1983. In todays semifinals, folks, well see Gary (Up in the Airy) Coleman vs. Bea (the Flea) Arthur, and Jumpin Johnny Carson vs. Pogo Stick Peter Jennings. Although he had never coached, he was popular in Philadelphia, and his competitiveness, toughness and intelligence seemed right for the job. Its almost like you were floating, like there was no such thing as gravity. [8] During his tenure, the team featured Bobby Jones, Maurice Cheeks, Andrew Toney, Moses Malone, and Julius Erving. His entire head and neck were above the rim. When they were not taking everything off, the dancing was more alluring. Jay Norman, an outstanding defensive player, went into his defensive stance at the foul line. He succeeded Gene Shue as head coach of the 24 76ers on November 4, 1977. He is still the winningest coach in Sixers history. 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. That's because like many players expected to be picked very high in the draft, they do not attend the Draft Combine or its measurements. So goes the popular assumption. How tall is Billy Cunningham? The following season, with the ABAs future in jeopardy, Cunningham returned to the 76ers. Cunningham hit for 18.9 ppg and 7.6 rpg. As a high school senior, he received a scholarship offer from a Midwestern college, asking him to become the schools first black player. During a game in 1963 against Clemson University, he grabbed a record twenty-seven rebounds. The legendary player and coach was named the ABA MVP for the 1972-73 season. He played nine seasons for the Baltimore Bullets, beginning in 63, and he died last year. Biography. Joey averaged 19.5 points at Southern Idaho and led the team to a national junior college title. Refer to each styles convention regarding the best way to format page numbers and retrieval dates. The 6-2 product of the Harlem slums could dunk, catch the ball with his opposite hand and dunk it again, all in the same leap. . The players who fly through this thin air are not simply remembered by hoop fans. ." As a freshman he went out for the track team, worked out a total of 10 hours, then high-jumped 7-3 7/8. During the post-season, the Cougars defeated the New York Nets in five games in the Eastern Division Semifinals to advance to the Eastern Division Finals. Erasmus Hall in Brooklyn, New York, Draft: Then he transferred to Arizona State, clashed with then-coach Steve Patterson and wound up quitting the team. The man waits and waits for Jackie to start coming down, but waits too long. 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. Some have called the team the greatest of all time. Almost always the feat involves money--claims that the player could grab a dollar bill off the top of the board, or could pluck off a quarter and leave two dimes and a nickel change. In fact, his hockey-head-ish hair might even be as famous as his dunk. As the NBA celebrates it's 75th Anniversary Season, get to know dozens of star players who helped make the NBA what it is today. His masterpiece was a backboard shattering dunk over Kansas City forward Bill Robinzine. In The Finals, however, Abdul-Jabbar, Earvin Magic Johnson, Jamaal Wilkes and the Lakers were too much. "Rubin Quits L. I. U. to Pilot 76ers,", Goldaper, Sam. The World's Most Entertaining Car Website. The most frequent flyers? Cunningham reached 200, 300, and 400 wins faster than any previous coach in NBA history. I dont want anyone ripping rib-cage muscles or wrenching spinal disks. White is a regular at Hawk games and a fan of Wilkins. He also had stellar 3-pointer abilities, but after that 1996 air show, most of his other accomplishments were left in the dust. . Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. Date of birth: 3 June 1943 . In 1967, he teamed with fellow Hall of Famers Wilt Chamberlain and Hal Greer to lead the Philadelphia 76ers to the NBA title. In the twentieth game of the 19751976 season, Cunningham's career suddenly and inexplicably ended. Lets add Billy Hoyle as an honourary #16 to this list, shall we? At (one NBA tryout camp), where we had a strong cross section of draftees, the highest was 36 1/2 inches. He led the Cougars to the best record in the league and was selected to the All-ABA First Team and was named the ABA MVP. Billy Cunningham Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images [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. As an owner and commentator, he also made a favorable impression. But he was over by a good six to eight inches. There are two other pure measurements of leap--the dunk and the top of the money exchange. That said, you can see his leaping ability when he takes off. I dont believe anyone has ever done it. Robinson, David 1965 In the far-up Land of Leap, the unit of currency is the dunk. When I went to Kansas, they had a 12-foot basket in the gym, because Dr. Phog Allen was advocating the 12-foot basket. Why not simply whip out a tape measure and measure the leapers leaps, take the guesswork out of whos the greatest? In his second season with Carolina, Cunningham was hampered by injuries, but he still managed a 20.5 average in 32 games. You dont play with a red, white and blue ball if youre into dignity. Cunningham returned to Philadelphia in 1977 to become the coach of the 76ers, replacing Gene Shue. Billy Cunningham. The NBA had no such contest at the time, considering such frivolity to be beneath the senior leagues dignity. 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. Billy Cunningham attended Erasmus Hall in Brooklyn, New York and UNC. In a 14-year professional career studded with superla-tives, Wilt Chamberlain established the, Mikan, George He was a five-time All Star, 1972-73 MVP, and received recognition for numerous goals, throws, rebounds, and assist plays. 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.