Top Nor Cal Dunkers

[hoopjunkie21]

The bay area has had its fair share of Dunkers over the years. Curious to know everyone's top 5.

1. Damon Powell- Mack
2. Jameel Pugh - Grant
3. Ray Young- St Joes
4. JoJo McGlaston- Dublin
5. Blandon Ferguson- St Joes

 

[EHS HOOPS]

JR Rider
Hook Mitchell

 

[Y2Koach]

Damon Powell
Wendell McKines
Aaron Gordon
Gerald Walker
JR Rider
Hook Mitchell

 

[H.E.A.T.]

Sac area only in no particular order
RICHARD JOHNSON SAC HIGH
ROB PARKER SAC HIGH
ROVAN TURNER GRANT
JAMEEL PUGH. GRANT
MARLON JOHNSON MCKLATCHY
DEMARCUS NELSON SHELDON
DENNIS BERRYMAN CITADEL CHRISTIAN
DARIN JOHNSON SHELDON
SEAN SMARTT HIGHLANDS

 

[131Pressman]

@ehshoops , none better then those 2. Saw hook dunk over a car in person. I think he was like 5'9 or so. JR had the power and size with the hops a rare combo

 

[EHS HOOPS]

131pressman... I remember watching Hook dunk over cars and motorcycles at dunk contest at outside playgrounds like the Panhandle courts at Golden Gate Park. I remember JR Rider went to the Westmoor High Dunk contest and jumped over 7 people. Another dunker that I got to see at Hayward State was David Barksdale.. he had some hops too.

 

[Coach Brown]

Prolific dunkers?

Hook
Rider
Pugh

 

[youseechief]

Antonio Davis won loads of contests.

 

[MC415]

How about Cordell butler from San Mateo high, there was a reason he played for the and 1 team.........he threw down some thunder

 

[larry legend33]

Gerald Walker - 6"1 - Haven't personally seen anybody like him around these parts. I looked up in awe several times with him and shawn pennington flying high in summer league against us.

Jamel Pugh- 6"5 with little hoop skills but a serious 45 inch vertical and was powerful beyond belief.

Damon Powell- Had range out to 5 feet but could fly with the best of them. Did he ever play in college? If he played football would have been in the NFL. That athletic.

Aaron Gordon- What needs to be said. Not only could he dunk but he could play.

Dwayne Fontana- Riordan back in the late 80's early 90's. Wow….. That is a shot out to you crusader guys.

 

[dilbertw]

How about Brent Barry . He and JR Rider only Norcal players to win the NBA's slam dunk contest!

 

[remc]

Thaxter Arterberry,Mission of SF. Marcus Cotton of Castlemont Oakland.Had a nice football career at USC and the NFL.They used to call Arterberry the Helicopter

 

[lovin basketball]

Cats don't know about Marcus Cotton, and to add David Williams from Berkeley High!!

 

[raiderjohn]

Jason Kidd tore down the South Rim at Cal State Hayward in 1990.

That said based on a combo of reputation and what I saw:

JR Rider
Aaron Gordon
Hook Mitchell
Ray Young
Jason Kidd

 

[youseechief]

Pugh > Gordon

Did you really mention Kidd? I'm throwing a 15 yard unsportsmanlike conduct flag on that one, issuing a technical, and sending you to the penalty box.

 

[H.E.A.T.]

@DILBERTW..... Darnell Hillmen from Johnson High /San Jose state also won and NBA Dunk Contest and also went head to head with Doctor J in some..

How ironic that many years later his son Lloyd becomes best friends with another Johnson High/Sac State High Flyer in Damond Edwards who played a season or 2 with the Globetrotters.

 

[raiderjohn]

Ha, you're probably going to have to eject me after this.

I have seen my fair share of Kidd dunks in high school and let me tell you, he was angry at something whenever he went at the rack. One handers, two handers, he was pretty vicious. Please do not think of his NBA career, that is far and few between, especially post microfracture.

If the criteria were dunk contests, then sure Kidd would not rank, but in game he threw down some vicious dunks.

 

[TwitterLegend]

Top 10 from the last decade (anything else was before my time):

1A. Damon Powell - FREAK. Most bouncy guy I have ever seen around here.

1B. Aaron Gordon - No comment needed, we all know.

3. Wendell Mckines - Sheer volume (like 10-15 dunks a game); power dunks; poster dunks; 2-handed windmills in games LOL

4. Kiwi Gardner - Little guys with hops always makes it better. Electric player all around, especially when he dunked.

5. Jared Cunningham - NBA level athleticism senior year of HS.

6. Tyree McCrary - From Oak Grove High in San Jose 2007; once went between the legs in a game senior year.

7. Jabari Bird - Big time athlete. Overshadowed in 2013 by AG, but pretty special in his own right.

8. Drew Gordon - Drew did some stuff in his day, just not like his brother.

9. Mark Tollefsen - May end up winning the NCAA dunk contest next year, wherever he ends up.

10. Ivan Rabb - Big guys don't always get credit for dunking but Ivan dunks well and often even for a big!

*Top current Norcal dunker probably Oscar Frayer, would have to show some more STUFF over the next year to crack this list!
This post was edited on 4/17 2:41 PM by TwitterLegend

 

[PAL95]

There was a guy from Balboa in the 90's that used to dunk everything.
Also Sean Harris from Gunderson in the 90's San Jose City and then Colorado st. who used to windmill on people in games!
Kevin Smith from Mills was doing 360's with his flip flops on at 6-0
Jimmy Pyor - Aragon High
Atiba Williams MA Bears state champion(beat Tracy Murray and co)

 

[TwitterLegend]

Marquise Kately from Riordan another one. He put on a show every game.

 

[hoopjunkie21]

Played in a men's league in san ramon against Gerald Walker and he can still dunk.

 

[jordan24]

Have to include JR Rider and Hook Mitchell.
Ray Kelly (Riordan '89) I believe won or took second in a dunk contest that included J.R Rider. Ray Kelly was only 5-11, and one of the best pg's to come out of the City.
Terrence Mullins (Riordan) also had great hops. Had a memorable dunk where he took off from the FT line and dunked over several Fremont-Oakland defenders in the Skyline Summer Tourney.

Originally posted by larry legend33:
Gerald Walker - 6"1 - Haven't personally seen anybody like him around these parts. I looked up in awe several times with him and shawn pennington flying high in summer league against us.

Jamel Pugh- 6"5 with little hoop skills but a serious 45 inch vertical and was powerful beyond belief.

Damon Powell- Had range out to 5 feet but could fly with the best of them. Did he ever play in college? If he played football would have been in the NFL. That athletic.

Aaron Gordon- What needs to be said. Not only could he dunk but he could play.

Dwayne Fontana- Riordan back in the late 80's early 90's. Wow….. That is a shot out to you crusader guys.

 

[kiddman32]

Mike Vontoure might not have been the "best" dunker, but he did win a "shortest dunker" contest when in the 8th grade... A little less than 5' 8" and wasn't just barely dunking... was doing reverses and stuff.

During his days at St. Mary's College, I talked to him briefly... Asked him what his best vertical was... He said 52 inches... Dayummmm...

 

[kitty3]

Hands down Gerald Walkers best high school dunker ever! You tube! Here are some names. I see PAL96 mentioned Sean Harris. Big time leaper. San Jose use to have some players in the East Side District in the 90s.


Lloyd Pierce - Yerba Buena '93 , Santa Clara U... Lebron's off-season Hoop trainer

Sean Harris - Gunderson '95 , Colorado State.. NCAA College Dunk Contest '99

Jamal Sanford - Oak Grove ' 94, Portland State, NCAA College Dunk Contest ' 99

Gerald "Juma" Walker - Hayward, '92, USF , NCA College Dunk Contest '96

Calvin Brodie - Balboa, '95 , Skyline College

Tyler Johnson - St. Francis '2009, Miami Heat

Jared Cunningham - San Leandro ' 2008, Los Angeles Clippers

 

[hoopwilla]

Gerald Walker that dime @ 4:32 tho

 

[bones40]

James Renfro Lincoln high "88" saw him dunk over two defenders he was a nasty in game dunker
My top two dunkers would be JR rider and Damon Powell Those two put on a show.

 

[1storm]

Been watcthing high school hoops since the 80's Greald Walker did it as well as anyone!

 

[kiddman32]

The mention of Jason Kidd made me think of his St Joe's teammate Adrian Ealy.... Didn't rip any rims down like Jason did, but finished huge off a whole bunch of Kidd lobs over the years...

 

[larry legend33]

Storm- I agree with you. Gerald Walker was legendary. I had the honor to play against him in the NCS and in some summer leagues. Throwing lobs off the backboard and doing windmill dunks on people. Who does that? Who does that at 6'1?

If a kid like that had the exposure that these kids get today he would have gone to a big time program. Never understood why the Dons.

 

[MonkeyAde]

Mel Claxton from Ceres High in central valley was a unbelievable dunker back in mid 90s.

Reeves Nelson had some crazy dunks his soph and jr year before he bulked up so much also.
This post was edited on 4/19 5:51 PM by MonkeyAde

 

[EHS HOOPS]

bones40... James Renfro definitely represented his senior and had some nasty dunks in games over multiple people. Wilson Stephens from McAteer was another dunker from the city. Yeah.. Gerald Walker was a special dunker especially for his size. As a guard at Hayward High he would just wait for the guards to pass to the wing and anticipate that passing lane and BOOM.. a show for the whole crowd. He kept that up at USF too.

 

[H.E.A.T.]

Dennis Berryman from sac (Citadel Christian) was 5-8 or 5-9. One day at 24 hr fitness he went baseline from the left . Standing on the edge of the key was 7-0 NBA player Jerome James. Dennis proceeded to take flight and cuff the ball near his waist and tommahawk one that made everyone run out of the gym. NASTY

 

[SacCoachA]

IIRC - Jimmy Hines, Balboa SF, around 1981-82. Shorter than 5'8", watched him dunk two balls, one in each hand, at Kezar.

 

[BKWRDKUROUT]

Another playground and HS Hoops legend: Milky Johnson.

Ravenswood HS had some other legends.

Milky

 

[Coach FJ]

Eric Woodard class 81 from Folsom. One of the best dunkers I've ever seen. Kind of dunker that the other dunkers like to watch and I've seen most of the guys mentioned. Kid could do a 540 and could high jump 6'11 with poor form. Just run up jump over it. A bad dude.

 

[1storm]

what year did they come out with the flexible rims...solid rims were much tougher to dunk on

 

[kiddman32]

Darrell Dawkins busted the glass twice with solid rims within three weeks in 1979... I think the new rims came out before the next season started, and were just about everywhere by the start of the '81-82 season. Might have even been quicker than that.

I do remember hearing that George McKeever of my school Berean Christian broke the glass in a practice or scrimmage at Alhambra HS, probably with solid rims. He graduated 1982, but I don't remember what year he was in when he took that rim down.

 

[dilbertw]

@dilbertw..... Darnell Hillmen from Johnson High /San Jose state also won and NBA Dunk Contest and also went head to head with Doctor J in some..

Another one we forgot Nate Robinson 3 times dunk champion though. I know he started at Logan but went back home to Washington or Oregon.

 

[raiderjohn]

Nate Robinson never played a minute of basketball with Logan due to grades. I'm not even sure if he made it through the full football season, but man on the football field, that kid was electric, every time he touched the ball, he'd score. It wasn't about his speed, but his elusiveness more than the speed, you get him in space with a 1-1 or 1-2, is 20+ yards.

Robinson actually spent his freshman and sophomore years at Rainier Beach, then transferred down in 2000-01, he was a junior and Arthur Ting's twin boys were sophomores on that team. He transferred back to Rainier Beach where he played football, basketball and track his senior year.

He actually earned a football scholarship to Washington, not one for basketball.

 

[dilbertw]

Nate Robinson never played a minute of basketball with Logan due to grades. I'm not even sure if he made it through the full football season, but man on the football field, that kid was electric, every time he touched the ball, he'd score. It wasn't about his speed, but his elusiveness more than the speed, you get him in space with a 1-1 or 1-2, is 20+ yards.

Robinson actually spent his freshman and sophomore years at Rainier Beach, then transferred down in 2000-01, he was a junior and Arthur Ting's twin boys were sophomores on that team. He transferred back to Rainier Beach where he played football, basketball and track his senior year.

He actually earned a football scholarship to Washington, not one for basketball.

Think he ran track at Logan too, though I don't think he ever ran in the MOC