Something really very memorable and something shocking happened at the 1986 NBA All Star Games Slam Dunk contest when a relatively short 5’7 “NBA player dominated all the other contestants with his high-flying dunks that they won the hearts of everyone there. Spud Webb was the smallest among the contestants who were over 6 feet tall, but all agreed that his dunk was the highlight of the competition and therefore , was awarded the first prize.

The contest got more interesting because Spud Webb was up against his Atlanta Hawks teammate Dominique Wilkins at the time. Wilkins was the winner of the dunk contest the year before, so he was the man to beat. The air was filled with excitement as Wilkins, aka Human Highlight Film, took on the short Webb.

But sadly, Webb was declared the winner of that night’s tournament. This was considered a great achievement and literally one for the books. Spud Webb set an all-time record for being the smallest NBA star to join and win the contest, beating out some really tremendous dunks.

Although Spud Webb is not well known to the current NBA fan base, videos of nearly every NBA star are available on many online video sharing sites. We can still look and see how the little NBA star of the Atlanta Hawks. Spud Webb’s winning dunk can be downloaded online for all to see. See how he defeated one of the all-time greats Dominique Wilkins.

Humble origins

Spud Webb realized early on that playing basketball was his path to a better life. Born into poverty, he had a great playing career at Wilmer-Hutchins High School, where he averaged 26 points.

During his early college years, he went to Midland College in Texas, where he demonstrated his scoring prowess in a finals game with Miami-Dade North of Florida. He finished that game with 36 points that had his name printed in an issue of Sports Illustrated. After that, he transferred to North Carolina State University.

Webb’s entry into the NBA was without fanfare and initially appeared to have been short-lived. He was selected in the fourth round by the Detroit Pistons, but was later removed from the list by the team. But the Atlanta Hawks saw their potential and invited him to try them. They liked what they saw and signed him for the 1985-1986 season. He played for the Hawks for 6 years until he moved to the Sacramento Kings in the 1991-1992 season. Spud ended his stint with the Kings in 1995 and later moved from one team to another, even once returning to Atlanta. He played his last NBA game as the Orlando Magic in 1998.

Spud Webb’s 10+ year professional basketball career was an astonishing success story of triumph over any physical limitation. He achieved his dreams by jumping higher than his competition that night in 1986 in the NBA Slam Dunk championship.

Currently working as a motivational speaker, Webb is now helping other people achieve what they believe cannot be done, just as he did in his wonderful athletic career.