1/21/1994 Foot Locker Slam Fest, ASU Activity Center, Tempe, AZ


 27 years ago today...

January 21, 1994 - Tempe, AZ

Professional athletes representing sports other than basketball took to the hardwood to dunk for cash in the Foot Locker Slam Fest at ASU Activity Center.

Taped to run at halftime of televised NBA games, this event included big name jocks like Carl Lewis, Ken Griffey Jr., Deion Sanders, Chris Carter, Michael Irvin, Barry Bonds and Olympic jumpers Mike Powell and Mike Conley, the Slam Fest winner two years prior. 
 
I don't remember who won this contest in '94.  My memory highlight came from the celebrity judges, a panel which included Meadowlark Lemon, Connie Hawkins, Calvin Murphy and Wilt Chamberlain.  
While the judges marked their scores, fans in the Activity Center were provided with their own set of scoring posters numbered 1 to 10, to offer up your own score for each dunk and perhaps influence the judging.
  
Wilt had recently published an autobiography titled "A View From Above."  In the book, the 7-foot-tall Laker star, the first to score 30,000 points in the NBA, claimed that he was prouder of scoring with 20,000 women!

When the judges were being introduced at center court, enterprising fans combined their dunk score signs to create multiple break outs of "20,000" around the arena.  Wilt didn't notice at first, but Calvin Murphy did, and pointed out to him the 20K signs around the court.

Wilt just smiled and nodded in affirmation.

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