What basketball fan doesn’t get excited when a player on their favorite team goes in for a high flying dunk? This is a very good book on the history of that crowd-pleasing play.
Title/Author:
“Magic in the Air: The Myth, the Mystery and the soul of the Slam Dunk” written by Mike Sielski
Rating:
4 of 5 stars (very good)
Review: The dunk is one of the most exciting plays in basketball. Players who may not have great skills or statistics in other facets of the game but can dunk with flair can become legendary anywhere from playgrounds to NBA arenas. Of course, superstar players can also add to their legendary status with dunking prowess. This book by Mike Sielski takes the reader on a journey through the history of this shot and how it not only affected the sport, but how it also became a way to introduce Black culture to a mostly white fan base.
The story of the dunk really begins with Jack Inglis, who was considered to be the best professional basketball player of the early 20th century, long before the birth of the NBA. The stories that Sielski found about Inglis and some of the shots and jumps he made are at times hard to believe and make up one of the best parts of the book.
There’s also a good write up about Inglis’ life, which is something Sielski does for most players featured in this book. They do include the legendary stars whose dunks are famous (Michael Jordan and Julius Erving) but also some other players whose names may well have been forgotten save for one famous dunk or a win in a slam dunk contest. Lorenzo Charles and Mac McClung are two examples of these types of players in the book and their stories, especially that of Charles, were also very good.
The linkage between the dunk and Black culture, and as an extension of that’ its influence in the sport, is also well documented and researched in the book. Here the reading can be a little more tedious and slow paced, but that doesn’t take away the quality and depth of the research. The best example and illustration of this is Sielski’s chapter on the famous 1966 NCAA championship game between Texas Western and Kentucky. Basketball fans will recall its place in history as Texas Western won with five Black starters against Kentucky’s team of all white players. What isn’t as well know is that David Lattin decided to send a message to Kentucky by dunking during Texas Western’s warm ups. Stories like this one make this book a very good source of information for anyone who wants to learn more about the dunk.
I wish to thank St. Martin’s Press for providing a copy of the book. The opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own.
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