Remember when: Michael Jordan put on a show at USC’s Carolina Coliseum at 1988 event
The headline read “SLAMMIN’ ‘AIR JORDAN’ TO FLY IN FOR COLISEUM CONTEST.” Warren Bolton, longtime writer for The State, was the author for the article that appeared in the newspaper’s Weekend section on Aug. 5, 1988.
The following Thursday, on Aug. 11, NBA star and future Hall of Famer Michael Jordan was in Columbia, South Carolina to judge a slam dunk contest. While in town he visited with coach George Glymph at Eau Claire High School and South Carolina basketball coach George Felton.
Jordan ended up throwing down at few dunks that night at the Coliseum (see the video below) in a contest that was won by Gamecock great and future Chicago Bulls teammate Jo Jo English. Here is the story leading up to that now-historic event where tickets were only $3.
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Thursday will be a day of reckoning for those who dare to fly, twisting and turning their bodies as they cram a basketball through a metal hoop 10 feet in the air.
Not only will some of the area’s finest young athletes be competing for this year’s slam dunk title, but they’ll be doing it in front of the man who is the world’s best.
Michael “Air” Jordan, the National Basketball Association’s slam dunk king and most awesome scoring machine, will be in Columbia Thursday to help judge the second annual Coca-Cola/Big DM Slam Dunk Contest.
Local television sports anchors and newspaper sports editors will join Jordan as judges. Those judges are Bob Spear of The State, Levi Johnson of JuJu Publishing Co. Inc, Bob Shields of WLTX-TV, Mark Wade of WOLO-TV and Joe Daggett of WIS-TV.
Sure, basketball is a sport, but anyone who has seen Michael Jordan dunk knows that it’s also entertainment.
Picture Jordan’s final dunk, which won him the 1988 NBA slam dunk championship: The sleek 6-6 Chicago Bull dashed the length of the court and soared as he reached the foul line, his tongue characteristically out, and one hand extended, cradling the ball. He double-pumped and slammed it.
In addition to Thursday’s dunk competition, there will be a three-point shootout this year. And as a highlight, Jordan will take to the air and perform some of his own high-flying feats.
Last year, Dominique Wilkins of the Atlanta Hawks was on hand as former Lower Richland standout and University of South Carolina recruit Jo Jo English won the slam dunk contest. The Benedict College gym, the site of last year’s event, held a standing-room only crowd.
Thursday’s event is sponsored by Coca-Cola and radio station WWDM. Proceeds will benefit the Columbia U.S. Youth Games.
Contestants for both the slam dunk and three-point shootout, who must be over 16, will be selected at a 10 a.m. qualifying round at Carolina Coliseum. Twenty contestants will participate in the contest, which begins at 7:30 p.m. at the Coliseum.
Not only did Jordan make a bid to be basketball’s dunk king this year, but he sought to be the game’s best in everything. For the second time he was the NBA’s scoring champion, as well as being selected the most valuable player and defensive player of the year.
Jordan joined the Bulls in 1984 after an outstanding collegiate career at the University of North Carolina, where he was named Atlantic Coast Conference Rookie of the Year in 1982.
In 1983, he lead the United States team in scoring at the Pan American Games in Caracas Venezuela. The following year, he was selected as co-captain of the U.S. Olympic Basketball team, coached by Indiana’s Bobby Knight.
Jordan’s exciting play and his ability to capture the enthusiasm of sports fans everywhere with acrobatic moves and extraordinary statistics have prompted experts to label him the biggest draw in NBA history. Fans flock to arenas when the Bulls travel to their city.
