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THROWBACK: Dee Brown looks back on 1991 Slam Dunk Contest

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Camille B. Naredo, ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2016/sports2/07/21/brown.jpg"/><figcaption><div class="embed-desc">Dee Brown signs a pair of the Reebok Pump Omni Lite, the same shoe he wore when he won the 1991 Slam Dunk Contest. <em>Richard Esguerra, <a href="http://sports.abs-cbn.com/photos">ABS-CBN Sports</a></em></div></figcaption></figure></div><div><span style="line-height:1.6">MANILA, Philippines – When Dee Brown, then a rookie for the Boston Celtics, pumped up his shoes and covered his eyes before going up for a throw down in the 1991 Slam Dunk Contest, he simply wanted to play to the crowd and win the competition.</span></div><p>Competing against the likes of Shawn Kemp, Rex Chapman and Kenny Smith – &quot;Lots of big names in there,&quot; Brown recalled – it was the 6-foot-1 Brown who completed the dunk that basketball fans still remember 25 years later.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameBorder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bQOeLu1kcdU" width="420"></iframe></figure><p>For his final dunk, Brown pumped up his Reeboks, took off just inside the free throw line, and then covered his eyes with his off arm while throwing down a dunk that some have called the &quot;<a href="http://www.nba.com/celtics/allstar/dee-brown-interview-dunk-contest.html">No See Dee</a>&quot; slam.</p><p>&quot;I made it up right on the spot,&quot; Brown said of the dunk, in an interview with ABS-CBN News last Monday at the NBA Cafe in SM Aura. &quot;I never did that dunk before. I made it up. I had no clue that I was gonna do that, so either I make it or I miss it.&quot;</p><p>&quot;I didn&#x27;t know how it was gonna turn out. Just made it up, right on the spot,&quot; he added.</p><p>Brown wanted a signature moment. He remembered Michael Jordan dunking from the free throw line, and Dominique Wilkins throwing down windmills after windmills – dunks that lived on in the history of the game. He wanted to do something similar – a dunk that people will talk about for years to come.</p><p>&quot;I wanted… something that we talk about 25 years later, which we are doing now,&quot; he said, smiling. &quot;It&#x27;s special.&quot;</p><p>Brown, who is in Manila for the 2016 edition of NBA FIT Week, revealed that he was a late – and unexpected – addition to the Dunk Contest. For one thing, he played for Boston, at the time still led by Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parrish.</p><p>&quot;Nobody equated the Celtics and dunking,&quot; he said. &quot;So I was kind of a different breed at the time.&quot;</p><p>&quot;But it was great,&quot; he added. &quot;I thought I could win (even though) nobody knew about me, as far as being the underdog with Shawn Kemp, Rex Chapman, Kenny Smith. Lots of big names in there, but for me to come out and win was such a great experience.&quot;</p><p>READ: <a href="http://sports.abs-cbn.com/nba/news/2016/07/19/nba-legend-feels-filipino-love-basketball-13455"><strong>NBA legend feels the Filipino love for basketball</strong></a></p><div><strong>Reebok Pumps</strong></div><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2016/sports2/07/21/reebok.jpg"/><figcaption><div class="embed-desc">The Reebok Pump Omni Lite. <em>Richard Esguerra, <a href="http://sports.abs-cbn.com/photos">ABS-CBN Sports</a></em></div></figcaption></figure></div><div><span style="line-height:1.6">Brown&#x27;s dunk contest performance also came with a clever bit of marketing. He pumped up his shoes – a pair of Reebok Pump Omni Lites – before every slam, in the process hyping up the crowd as well as popularizing the brand.</span></div><p>&quot;The pump thing was spontaneous,&quot; Brown said. &quot;Reebok didn&#x27;t tell me to do it.&quot;</p><p>Brown previously told ESPN&#x27;s &quot;<a href="http://www.complex.com/sneakers/2016/04/michael-jordan-dee-brown-1991-dunk-contest">Dunkumentaries</a>&quot; that he was approached by Michael Jordan after the contest, and was informed by the Chicago Bulls superstar that he had &quot;started the shoe wars.&quot;</p><p>&quot;I think it was the only year that Reebok outsold Nike,&quot; Brown told ABS-CBN News. &quot;The pumps were great. I wore them my whole career. And obviously, with me being part of that company, (we became) synonymous.&quot;</p><p>&quot;You think of Nike – you think of Jordan. You think of Reebok – you think of Dee Brown. So it was one of those things that helped me grow my personal career and my brand out there,&quot; he added.</p><p>Marketing is now part and parcel of the dunk contest. &quot;Now you got people doing all kinds of things with the phone books and the capes, jumping over cars and jumping over mascots,&quot; Brown noted.</p><div><strong>The Dabfather</strong></div><p>Brown&#x27;s no-look dunk has since been replicated by several other athletes over the years. In 2007, Gerald Green – then playing for the Boston Celtics – paid tribute to Brown by replicating his dunk, and in the process beating Dwight Howard and Nate Robinson in the Slam Dunk Contest.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameBorder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ltYS-hmNcOg" width="420"></iframe></figure><p>In the 2004 McDonald&#x27;s High School All-American Dunk Contest, Candace Parker beat out a field that included Josh Smith and JR Smith with a Dee Brown-inspired dunk as well.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameBorder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/G3FnknDkMH8" width="420"></iframe></figure><p>&quot;She was almost the first one to copy that dunk,&quot; Brown said of Parker, now a two-time WNBA MVP who plays for the Los Angeles Sparks. &quot;Gerald Green did it in the dunk contest, and other people have done it.&quot;</p><p>&quot;But number one, for Candace Parker to do it – I think she&#x27;s one of the best female players in the world, and for her to do it, it was a great honor,&quot; he added.</p><p>Interestingly, Brown has been called the originator of the &quot;dab,&quot; a style of celebration that swept up the sports world last year. The retired NBA player said he had no idea about &quot;the new dance,&quot; but was informed by his children that the celebration looked very similar to what he did all the way back in 1991.</p><p>&quot;People tried to put it together, that I was the first one to do it,&quot; he said. &quot;Back then, it wasn&#x27;t the dab. It was just a no-look dunk. Now, all of a sudden, it&#x27;s a big thing that the kids are doing. Football players do it – (Carolina Panthers quarterback) Cam Newton was doing it.&quot;</p><p>For Brown, who played in the NBA for 12 seasons, it was an unexpected, if gratifying way to stay relevant in pop culture years after his retirement.</p><p>&quot;I didn&#x27;t invent it,&quot; he said. &quot;It was just something I made popular back then. But obviously, it&#x27;s grown in different ways and in different segments. I&#x27;m glad I can still be associated with it.&quot;</p><p>&#x27;Healthy Dunk Contest&#x27;</p><p>Brown retired in 2002 after stints with the Orlando Magic and the Toronto Raptors. Over the course of his career, he developed his all-around game, even leading the league in three-pointers during the lockout-shortened 1999 season.</p><p>&quot;I had 135 three-pointers in 50 games,&quot; he says. &quot;If we played 82, it might have been 200… I tried to be an all-around player, not just known as a dunker, so I worked on my three-point shooting.&quot;</p><p>Brown never competed in the Dunk Contest again, not even to defend his title in 1992. Still, he kept tabs on the competition, and right now, he believes it is &quot;healthy again&quot; thanks to the efforts of Minnesota&#x27;s Zach Lavine and Orlando&#x27;s Aaron Gordon, who put on a show for the ages in the 2016 Slam Dunk Contest.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameBorder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/L3qJFjlDvKY" width="420"></iframe></figure><p>&quot;It had its ups and downs… There were a few years that it was up, then it kind of got stale again. They tried to change the rules and change things to make it more exciting,&quot; he said. &quot;But it has evolved to an entertainment, and a show.&quot;</p><p>&quot;I think, after last year, with Zach Lavine and Aaron Gordon, the show that they put on, I think people got very interested in it again,&quot; he said.</p><p>For more sports coverage, visit the <a href="http://sports.abs-cbn.com/"><em><strong>ABS-CBN Sports website</strong></em></a>.</p>

When Dee Brown, then a rookie for the Boston Celtics, pumped up his shoes and covered his eyes before going up for a throw down in the 1991 Slam Dunk Contest he simply wanted to play to the crowd and win the competition.

THROWBACK: Dee Brown looks back on 1991 Slam Dunk Contest

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THROWBACK: Dee Brown looks back on 1991 Slam Dunk Contest

Camille B. Naredo,

ABS-CBN News

Published Jul 21, 2016 07:42 AM PHT

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Updated Jul 21, 2016 11:47 AM PHT

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NBA

Slam Dunk Contest

Dee Brown

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Reebok

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