one coming in from the right side of the basket, and finally from either corner down the baseline to the basket. At the contest, it was announced that the competitors were judged on artistic ability, body flow, fan response, and imagination, earning up to ten points in each category. There were $1,200 in prizes provided by the Denver Nuggets and KHOW radio station. There were five competitors: Artis "A-Train" Gilmore of the Kentucky Colonels went first followed by George "Iceman" Gervin of the San Antonio Spurs, Larry "Special K" Kenon of the San Antonio Spurs, David "Skywalker" Thompson of the Denver Nuggets, and finally Julius "Dr. J" Erving of New York Nets. Rookie and shortest competitor in the contest, Thompson recalls, "Since my hands weren't very big, I couldn't really palm the ball so I would cup it. I'd cup it with my left hand between my hand and forearm and put it above the rim and come over the top with my right hand and punch it into the basket. Very few guys could do it, I was told that Wilt Chamberlain could do something like it but I never seen it. You not only had to be able to jump high but you had to have the hang time, you had to be able to levitate up there and punch it through the basket.” Thompson performed a 360 degree or twist-around dunk to finish his routine—the first time this trick had ever been seen. However, Thompson missed a dunk during his routine which counted as a zero; Gervin missed two dunks. All competitors had to perform a dunk from ten feet, but Julius Erving started marking his steps from the free throw line which is fifteen feet away. Erving then completed a dunk from the free throw line, winning the contest. He said, "I just wanted to make a nice, soaring play that would get the fans out of their seats. I really started going at half court and got a good running start and made sure that I made the shot authoritatively." Irving said that his favorite dunk of the night was by Thompson who "came out of the corner, spun 360 degrees in the air and slammed it, 50 by anyone's standards.” One basketball historian wrote, "The 1976 Slam Dunk Contest represents a key focal point in basketball history. David Thompson and the rest of the