# No one's ever grabbed a quarter from the top of the backboard.



## EGarrett

This is such a famous bit of basketball mythology...that such-and-such a player can or could jump so high that he once took a quarter off the top of the backboard. I've heard this story about Lebron James, Vince Carter, Dr. J, all the way back to Earl Manigault and "Jumping" Jackie Jackson.

Yet and still, it's never been video-taped, and in this internet age where you can find footage of people doing 720 Dunks, and tons of other things that are only one-in-a-million possible (like that baseball bat standing on end)...to the best of my knowledge, no one's ever found or posted or filmed a video of themselves or anyone else ever knocking a quarter off the top of a backboard.

The closest I've ever seen was Dwight Howard putting the sticker 6 inches from the top, (12'6" on an apparent 13' backboard) and he's 6'11" and has a gigantic vertical leap. The world record for a high-dunk is 12' held by Michael Wilson (who supposedly had a 52" vertical leap). You can watch the video of that and see that his hand is probably a few inches short of 13'.

I am forced to conclude that this particular tale is phony and has not ever actually been done on a real 13-foot backboard. Most of the tales from the past are probably from some much smaller backboards or shorter goals, or are exaggerated or flat-out lies. Is it possible for someone to do this? I'm going to say that so far with one we observed of humanity no, given that even the world record high dunk still came up a little short.

That is all.


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## mo76

I heard that David Robinson could.


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## DaRizzle

My cousin can


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## Pimped Out

I can do it.


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## myst

I have done it.


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## Dornado

I'm doing it right now


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## Dre

Dude I just peeled a Dwight Howard sticker off a 14' hoop...FOH...


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## -33-

I just jumped up and placed my laptop on top of the backboard, then jumped up and typed this post one letter at a time.......


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## Pimped Out

big deal, i just typed this entire post on top of my backboard in one jump


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## LA68

Uh, schoolyard kids I grew up with could do that. Its not that special.


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## Sir Patchwork

You may be right. Touching 13ft and actually grabbing a coin are two different things. Grabbing or knocking a coin off would require you to jump even higher than 13ft, maybe 13'3 or something to accomodate for the bend of the fingers. 

Either way, it's always been kind of a stupid thing anyways.


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## Ben

I used to be able to do it, until the injury...


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## Spaceman Spiff

Child please. I grabbed a quarter, put it in my pocket, and replaced it with a dime in one jump...... and still dunked the ball.


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## Tersk

I can't do it


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## eazy8o5

theres a youtube video of james white almost touching the top of the backboard


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## DaRizzle

Tersk said:


> I can't do it


liar


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## E.H. Munro

I threw a party with David Thompson when we jumped over the backboard. None of that pussy grabbing a quarter off the top ****.


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## Vuchato

Could've sworn that said Michael Wilbon set the high dunk record


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## Dornado

I think one thing people need to remember is that when it was rumored that guys like Earl Manigault did this, most school yards (actually, most still) didn't have those big-ass square backboards...


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## playablue

I have seen the james white one..

it is damn close if n e thing


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## gi0rdun

everybody's doing it


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## mysterio

Doug Thomas (some virtually unknown guy) is the only person I've ever seen touch 13'.






If anyone else can, it'd probably be Gerald Green


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## doctordrizzay




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## eazy8o5

Vuchato said:


> Could've sworn that said Michael Wilbon set the high dunk record


wilbon lol that old fat man

i think you meant m. wilson from the harlem globetrotters


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## e-monk

Wilt -do the math: 7'2"; 7'8" wing span vertical = x - solve for x


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## mysterio

e-monk said:


> Wilt -do the math: 7'2"; 7'8" wing span vertical = x - solve for x


He had a 9'6" standing reach, therefore, would need a 42" vertical to reach the top of the backboard. Considering that I have never seen Wilt in the countless photos of him taken at the peak of his jump get his head actually at the rim (he's been close), his running vert would be 35" at best (the vertical he'd need to get his head to touch the rim).


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## e-monk

how about now?:






most of this footage is of old, post knee surgery Wilt


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## e-monk




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## playablue

HAvent been on hear in a while.

I have played hard ball for 20 plus years seen countless athletic players. all on either stone floors or wood....yeah it makes a difference in what in the hood call "bungies"

Wilt could have at least took the change from the top of the backboard with the height agility and bravado he had. I saw bravado because well if you challenged a man such as himself. he would of stepped it up.

Look at the picture in the video and at least the video itself. I am convinced.

Like Mayweather versus Canelo. His bravado of "you think I cant do wha?".... destroyed!

or anybody who has ever come fully back from an injury or haters. Some fold. even when they make the league. Like Matt Schaub of the houston texans, Cant win the big one or do something that straight surprised us.

and making change is a big one 

Thanks for bringing me bck to the basketball forum..


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## ChrisWoj

playablue said:


> HAvent been on hear in a while.
> 
> I have played hard ball for 20 plus years seen countless athletic players. all on either stone floors or wood....yeah it makes a difference in what in the hood call "bungies"
> 
> Wilt could have at least took the change from the top of the backboard with the height agility and bravado he had. I saw bravado because well if you challenged a man such as himself. he would of stepped it up.
> 
> Look at the picture in the video and at least the video itself. I am convinced.
> 
> Like Mayweather versus Canelo. His bravado of "you think I cant do wha?".... destroyed!
> 
> or anybody who has ever come fully back from an injury or haters. Some fold. even when they make the league. Like Matt Schaub of the houston texans, Cant win the big one or do something that straight surprised us.
> 
> and making change is a big one
> 
> Thanks for bringing me bck to the basketball forum..


The video and the picture in it convinced me - he couldn't do it. At his peak, in the oldest footage on there of him at his athletic best he was almost half of a foot shy, at best 3-4 inches shy, of the top of the backboard. He'd have to clear another half of a foot, and when you get to such rare air every last centimeter is a trial. The best way to explain it is this...

If you're a 13.5 100M runner - improving by an entire second is something you can do with some serious training. If you're an 11.5 100M runner, improving by .10 is something you can do with more serious training. The 10.0 guys? Every .01 is a struggle, but doable with serious training. When you get down to the 9.5 range it takes serious training just to cut every .001 off of your time.

It goes the same with high jumping, leaping ability. When you hit that rare air - yes he could have trained and improved his leaping ability, but it isn't the same as you or I adding on inches. For every HALF of an inch he improves at those heights, he's making incredibly devastating leaps in skill that astound... Adding another 3-4 inches to get to the absolute top of the backboard, and then another 2-3 inches to get his fingertips on top of a coin to pull it down? That's beyond superhuman, thats the sort of improvement the world's greatest and most dominant leapers would look at as an impossibility.


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## thomasahildum

EGarrett said:


> This is such a famous bit of basketball mythology...that such-and-such a player can or could jump so high that he once took a quarter off the top of the backboard. I've heard this story about Lebron James, Vince Carter, Dr. J, all the way back to Earl Manigault and "Jumping" Jackie Jackson.
> 
> Yet and still, it's never been video-taped, and in this internet age where you can find footage of people doing 720 Dunks, and tons of other things that are only one-in-a-million possible (like that baseball bat standing on end)...to the best of my knowledge, no one's ever found or posted or filmed a video of themselves or anyone else ever knocking a quarter off the top of a backboard.
> 
> The closest I've ever seen was Dwight Howard putting the sticker 6 inches from the top, (12'6" on an apparent 13' backboard) and he's 6'11" and has a gigantic vertical leap. The world record for a high-dunk is 12' held by Michael Wilson (who supposedly had a 52" vertical leap). You can watch the video of that and see that his hand is probably a few inches short of 13'.
> 
> I am forced to conclude that this particular tale is phony and has not ever actually been done on a real 13-foot backboard. Most of the tales from the past are probably from some much smaller backboards or shorter goals, or are exaggerated or flat-out lies. Is it possible for someone to do this? I'm going to say that so far with one we observed of humanity no, given that even the world record high dunk still came up a little short.
> 
> That is all.


Wilt was the only one. You would need to reach 13'3" to do it and here is proof from a 1958 news article on Wilt from Look magazine.

__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/838196121759596545


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## oikwle

EGarrett said:


> This is such a famous bit of basketball mythology...that such-and-such a player can or could jump so high that he once took a quarter off the top of the backboard. I've heard this story about Lebron James, Vince Carter, Dr. J, all the way back to Earl Manigault and "Jumping" Jackie Jackson.
> 
> Yet and still, it's never been video-taped, and in this internet age where you can find footage of people doing 720 Dunks, and tons of other things that are only one-in-a-million possible (like that baseball bat standing on end)...to the best of my knowledge, no one's ever found or posted or filmed a video of themselves or anyone else ever knocking a quarter off the top of a backboard.
> 
> The closest I've ever seen was Dwight Howard putting the sticker 6 inches from the top, (12'6" on an apparent 13' backboard) and he's 6'11" and has a gigantic vertical leap. The world record for a high-dunk is 12' held by Michael Wilson (who supposedly had a 52" vertical leap). You can watch the video of that and see that his hand is probably a few inches short of 13'.
> 
> I am forced to conclude that this particular tale is phony and has not ever actually been done on a real 13-foot backboard. Most of the tales from the past are probably from some much smaller backboards or shorter goals, or are exaggerated or flat-out lies. Is it possible for someone to do this? I'm going to say that so far with one we observed of humanity no, given that even the world record high dunk still came up a little short.
> cinema hd
> applinked
> That is all.


David Robinson could


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## marcosrashford

EGarrett said:


> This is such a famous bit of basketball mythology...that such-and-such a player can or could jump so high that he once took a quarter off the top of the backboard. I've heard this story about Lebron James, Vince Carter, Dr. J, all the way back to Earl Manigault and "Jumping" Jackie Jackson.
> Nox Vidmate VLC
> Yet and still, it's never been video-taped, and in this internet age where you can find footage of people doing 720 Dunks, and tons of other things that are only one-in-a-million possible (like that baseball bat standing on end)...to the best of my knowledge, no one's ever found or posted or filmed a video of themselves or anyone else ever knocking a quarter off the top of a backboard.
> 
> The closest I've ever seen was Dwight Howard putting the sticker 6 inches from the top, (12'6" on an apparent 13' backboard) and he's 6'11" and has a gigantic vertical leap. The world record for a high-dunk is 12' held by Michael Wilson (who supposedly had a 52" vertical leap). You can watch the video of that and see that his hand is probably a few inches short of 13'.
> 
> I am forced to conclude that this particular tale is phony and has not ever actually been done on a real 13-foot backboard. Most of the tales from the past are probably from some much smaller backboards or shorter goals, or are exaggerated or flat-out lies. Is it possible for someone to do this? I'm going to say that so far with one we observed of humanity no, given that even the world record high dunk still came up a little short.
> 
> That is all.


I heard that David Robinson could.


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