Bob+Kurland+and+the+Dunk+Shot

Olympic gold medalist Robert Albert “Bob” Kurland was a 7- footer who emerged as a de facto inventor of the dunk shot– or the jam as it is also called. Though many players could dunk shot during that era, many chose not to, as the shot was viewed as unnecessary showboating and unsportsmanlike. Kurland clearly didn’t feel this way - he became the first player to regularly dunk in games. He was often described as a "dominant force above the rim" The 7-foot Hall of Fame center used the shot routinely while playing on NCAA championship winning teams for Oklahoma A&M Aggies (now Oklahoma State Beavers) in 1945 and 1946. He dunked his way to two NCAA championships while in college in '45 and '46. (Incidentally, since Kurland ruled the air above the rim, the NCAA banned goaltending in 1945 because Kurland regularly grabbed opponents’ shots out from above the rim) Future NBA stars and Hall of Famers, Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell, were other big men who used their size advantage upon entering the NBA in the late 1950s to regularly score off dunk shots.     "Who Invented the Slam Dunk?" //interbasket.net//. 31 Mar. 2011. Web. 20 Nov. 2013  "Who was the First Man to Dunk?" //SI.com/vault/.// 12 Aug. 2002. Web. 19 Nov. 2013