Uncovering the Exciting Tales of MLB Players Competing in a Dunk Contest

All the biggest stars of the 1990s on one basketball court
3:05 AM UTC
Illustration by Benjamin Marra
You’ve probably seen it pop up on your Twitter timeline or in random YouTube searches over the years. Just its mere existence — the fact it really, actually happened — brings a smile to your face.
Flashy 1990s graphics flying across the screen. Packed arenas with Dick Vitale Dick-Vitale-ing behind the mic. All-Star athletes from every single sport — Olympic long-jumper Mike Powell, two-sport legend Bo Jackson and MLB Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. — trying to out-dunk each other in front of raucous crowds.
“It was fun because you get to see different athletes who aren’t all playing basketball,” Kenny Lofton told me in a phone call. “You have track, you have football, you have some basketball, I think we had tennis. It was a big thing at the time. It was Foot Locker Slam Fest.”
The event, which ran from 1988-1996, originated after discussions between former Foot Locker CEO Howard Sells and other executives in the late 80s. It was seen as a chance to promote the popular retail store as the go-to place for athletes, and their fans, to buy sneakers.
“With sneaker brands emerging as major TV advertisers, athlete endorsements were growing to be much more prominent and effective,” Francine Feder, VP of Consumer Connections for North America for Foot Locker, told me over email. “This event was created by Foot Locker to develop an ownership opportunity that reinforced our position as a top player in athletic retail by aligning with the biggest names in sports.”
The contest was first hosted at Arizona State and, as years went on and it got bigger, it moved into NBA arenas. Everywhere it moved, it sold out. It aired on ESPN and NBC for millions to see.
“The participation formula was six marquee athletes and six top shelf dunkers,” Feder said. “The majority of MLB players that we approached were not dunkers, but we had a lot of success attracting superstar names such as Ken Griffey Jr., Barry Bonds, Deion Sanders and Bo Jackson who asked for nothing other than the prize money and room and board. We made sure we had a nice balance representative of different sports.”
The first-place winner received $50,000, the runner-up got $25,000 and third won $15,000.
The scenes and sets were bursting with colors and NBA Jam-style art. From the head-to-head matchup graphics …
To the video game-esque font …
To the incredible trading cards to commemorate the players involved.
And to attract attention from any and every possible sports fan, organizers invited any and every top-tier athlete in sports. Some, like Olympic high jumper Dwight Stones, felt a bit overwhelmed, with guys like Barry Bonds and Michael Irvin sprinting up and down the court in pickup games the night before. » …
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