Jared's
May 9, 2011
CORVALLIS, Ore. - Jared Cunningham's "Kiss the Sky" dunk won the 2nd Annual Hoops Manifesto College Dunk of the Year Tournament in the finals by 72% of the votes against Dwayne Lathan of Indiana State.
"It was an honor to be in the contest and I want to thank everyone for voting for me," Cunningham said. "It was exciting for me to hear Gill Coliseum get that loud after the dunk. It was the best dunk I've ever had until just last week when I dunked on my teammate Kevin McShane in a pickup game at Dixon (Recreation Center) when my chest literally hit the rim. I wish that dunk was on YouTube."
His winning dunk came on Jan. 2 in the final minutes of the Beavers exciting 76-75 win over Arizona when FSN announcer Kevin Calabro yelled "Cunningham kisses the sky with a tip jam; how about that?!" The dunk has become a YouTube sensation and can be seen here.
"I can't lay claim to the line `kiss the sky' because it's from a Jimi Hendrix song called Purple Haze," Calabro said. "I may have used it once or twice during a Sonics game, but it seemed appropriate when he went up and cocked it and let it go. It was just a great play and you want to get it right and add to it as much as possible, yet describe it accurately as an announcer.
"It was amazing how he just rose so suddenly and just shocked the crowed" Calabro added. "There was a delayed reaction from the crowd like `did that just happen.' That was just wild because he came right out of traffic and brought it back and jammed it."
The Hoops Manifesto College Dunk of the Year featured 16 of the best dunks from the 2010-11 college basketball season that squared-off in a March Madness-style tournament to determine the best dunk of the year. Fans were able to vote in an online contest where Cunningham's dunk advanced to the finals before winning the title.
Cunningham is coming off a sensational sophomore season in which he broke three school records -- most steals by a sophomore (85) to shatter Gary Payton's 1987-88 record of 72; most free throws made in a game without a miss (15); and most consecutive free throws made (34) to tie Vince Fritz's 1967 record. He was also named to the All-Pac-10 Second Team and All-Defensive Team and joined Payton as the only Oregon State players to make the Pac-10 All-Tournament Team.
Calabro was the "Voice of the Sonics" for the 12+ seasons Payton for Seattle and sees a comparison between the future Hall of Famer and Cunningham. "From a personality standpoint they are different people," Calabro said. "But in terms of comparing their games, they both have that defensive presence, that basketball intelligence and I think he has the vision on the court that Gary had. But Gary couldn't dunk like Jared. Gary didn't need to dunk. He had an old-school game and saved his legs. He played too many minutes to dunk."
The junior-to-be is already looking forward to next season when the Beavers return four starters and will add two highly-touted recruits in Daniel Gomis and Challe Barton. "I plan on jumping over a cloud next year and everyone needs to look out for the Oregon State Beavers and our young and talented team," Cunningham said. "I want to thank everyone for their support of Beaver basketball."
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