Jordan Kilgano took Rucker Park by storm with an amazing, stereotype destroying, dunk display
No one really knew what to expect when a 6″1, 22 year old, skinny guy from Ontario, Canada stepped on the Rucker Park court during half time of the TUF vs. Sean Bell game and said that him and his friend would perform a “dunk show.” What did that even mean? This guy could actually dunk?
Well, the questions were answered, when did things like jump over a huge security guard for a reverse dunk, slam it in and leave his entire arm in the hoop, and hurtle over his friend who was STANDING on a chair to slam it home.
Excuse me, what?
The Rucker Park audience only got to see this kid perform for 20 minutes, but for Kilgano it has been a long time coming. He has been training to become a professional dunker for seven years, for four hours a day to be exact. His diet includes eight eggs in the morning, and a gallon of water, chicken and raw vegetables throughout the day. He also adds in oatmeal before contests. He drank oatmeal in a water bottle before he performed at Rucker Park.
Kilgano jumps over a security guard for the reverse slam © 2014 Rodney Williams
As an athletic kid, Kilgano played a lot of sports growing up, including basketball. He loved to jump and noticed that he jumped higher than a lot of his friends. He played organized basketball in high school, but he realized only one part of the game was for him.
“Eventually I figured what if I take all my energy and use it for the one thing I love the most in this world, which is dunking,” he said.
After his first dunk at Rucker, a few people got out of their seat. After his second, almost all of the stands were evacuated, and people flooded to the court.
“The fans here,” he said. “I didn’t expect them to be that crazy. That was really cool.”
Kilgano accomplished two things that players at the Rucker always strive for: to get the crowd going, and to get a nickname. EJ the Mayor and Hannibal dubbed him “Mission Impossible” after his last dunk over the boy standing in the chair. He had never heard that nickname before. Although the crowd thought it had seen it all, Kilgano said that he was disappointed he could not bring out his favorite dunk – which is a reverse dunk over a person which he then follows up by hanging on the rim with both arms backwards.
“When I start thinking about dunking, my heart just starts pounding, my adrenaline starts going and its really difficult to sleep sometimes,” he admitted.
Not all people who are 6″1 can fly like this kid can. Fewer people are even over 6 feet and can think of ever being able to dunk in their life. For that average person, Kilgano attempted to describe the notion.
“It’s just perfect,” he said. “It’s my favorite feeling in the world to be in the air for a long time and just crush it.”
