Cedric Ceballos wasn’t the most sought-after prospect coming out of Cal State Fullerton in 1990, but he was soon a household name in the NBA. The lanky forward became a fan favorite after competing in the 1992 All-Star Slam Dunk Contest, where he threw down a memorable blindfolded dunk. Ceballos would go on to have a successful 11-year career, but his Dunk Contest victory remains his standout accolade.
Advertisement
When the former journeyman was asked what motivated his iconic slam, he recalled watching previous Dunk Contests during his youth. Ceballos saluted several high-flying legends, including Julius Erving, Larry Nance, Dominique Wilkins and Michael Jordan while explaining his own journey to the competition.
Participating in the Dunk Contest had been a dream of Ceballos’ since his college days. He even took part in the Orlando Classic All-Star Dunk Contest as a senior, where he faced Dee Brown in the finals. Ceballos admitted that he was imitating the 6-foot-2 Brown’s ferocious dunks on a bigger stage. But Brown would soon get back at the former All-Star.
“I go to Phoenix, Phoenix is loaded … Boston was terrible, no Bird. At that time, they had Len Bias pass away. They were in the bottom,” Ceballos explained the difference between him and Brown. “He got to play, I didn’t. At the time, if you didn’t have no name, you wasn’t in the Dunk Contest. Dee Brown had a name for himself.”
“So he goes in the Dunk Contest, does all my dunks, gets the big contract, gets the fame, gets everything. I’m like, ‘How I’m gonna do this next year?'” Ceballos asked himself. Luckily, a conversation with Magic Johnson showed him exactly what he needed to do.
“Our wonderful Buck, HIV. They want him to play in the All-Star Game. So he starts working out to get better, to get in shape. We play LA in the Forum … I’m working out, and Buck is there, and we start shooting around, and you know, ‘Hey man, what you going to do man? Dee Brown came. You got to go all the way blind with it,'” Ceballos recalled Magic’s words.
Magic’s blindfold idea didn’t end up being nearly as easy as he expected, though. “So I go back with the gorilla, and we try it, you know, fully blindfolded, everything. I cannot get it done. So we turned it into a spoof … If you go look at my dunks, man, I think maybe one of my dunks was done before … I bounced it over the backboard … windmill off the bounce,” Ceballos continued.
“So, I’m slowly just working my way up to the finals. I had already won the Dunk Contest. I was the first one to call the NBA prior to the Dunk Contest and say, ‘Okay, if I get eliminated, let’s do this spoof thing with the mascots,'” the 55-year-old admitted. “After I do it, they’re waiting on the sideline with a gurney. I was supposed to break my neck, pretend like I break my neck.”
The spoof wasn’t expected to be a success, but once it was, Ceballos soaked in all the glory. “They come out with the gurney. They put the ball on the gurney and take the ball off. Real funny, all right, good. It went in … I dunk it, it goes in, I grab the basket like, ‘This s**t went in? Party time!'”
Ceballos couldn’t quite explain the slam, simply calling it a blessing from the basketball gods. The California native wasn’t a superstar in the NBA, but that one iconic dunk cemented his place in basketball history.
