Tulane's Byron Parker Wins Dunk Contest
Apr 3, 2003 | Men's Basketball
April 3, 2003
WESWEGO, La. - Tulane University senior Byron Parker was crowned the New Balance Collegiate Slam Dunk Champion with a highlight-reel performance at the Mountain Dew 15th Annual Slam Dunk and Three-Point Championships at the Alario Center on Thursday evening on ESPN. The Green Wave high-flyer defeated Middle Tennessee State's John Humphrey in the final round.
The diminutive Parker, just six feet tall, finished second to Humphrey in the first round, to advance to the semifinals and then took second once again to Humphrey in that round to advance to the finals.
In the finals, Parker was to open the round based on his lower score. With the pressure on against the vicious dunking Humphrey, the Green Wave junior said that he would just have to hope for something vicious of his own to force the pressure on Humphrey.
Parker, coached throughout the event by his 10-year old sister Brandy, rose to the occasion, literally. The Stone Mountain, Ga., native approached from the left side of the hoop and lifted off, gripping the ball in both hands, twisting his body backwards and whipping the ball from his waist to behind his head for an amazing slam dunk.
"That was my secret weapon, a two-hand reverse windmill," Parker said. "I was trying to save that one for last, but I was not sure if I would make the final round. A lot of people haven't seen a little guy like me dunk like that."
That included the four-man judging crew of Baron Davis and Robert "Tractor" Traylor from the New Orleans Hornets, Deuce McCallister of the New Orleans Saints and New Orleans native and former major league baseball star Will Clark. Perhaps a foregone conclusion as the capacity crowd had already erupted in cheers over the dunk, the judges awarded Parker a perfect score of 40.
If there was one man in the building who may have been able to match Parker's effort, it was Humphrey.
After running to congratulate Parker on his performance, punctuated by a look of shock of his own, the 6-2, 210-pounder's effort at a near-impossible 360-degree cuff dunk slammed into the front of the rim and Parker had wrapped up the championship.
In each round, participants had 30 seconds to complete one dunk. In the opening round, each contestant had two turns. For his first dunk, Parker attempted an alley-oop bounce dunk, but missed and had to scramble for a two-hand cradle as time ran out. With his second effort of the first-round, Parker wowed the crowd for the first time to cruise into round two.
Joining Parker and Humphrey in the semifinals were Dahntay Jones from Duke and VCU's Willie Taylor. LSU's Ronald Dupree, Kyle Dodd from Arizona State, Leonard Stokes from Cincinnati and Devin Thompson from St. Peter's were eliminated in the first round.
In the semifinals, Parker again missed his first effort, but followed up with a near-horizontal baseline one-hand slam to push himself ahead of Taylor, but with Humphrey and Jones still to go. Humphrey assured himself a slot in the finals as his assistant coach stood in the lane and held the ball at head level and the dunker raced through the lane, snared the ball and completed a ferocious windmill tomahawk slam to bring the crowd to its feet.
With a chance to join, Humphrey in the finals, Jones converted a rather routine baseline slam which drew boos and nudged Parker into the title match.
