Joe Ballard, known as Jumpin Joe, is a 6’4” dunker and a Harlem Globetrotter.
The Harlem Globetrotters have toured continuously since 1926 and run well over a hundred dates a year. It is one of the few full-time paid jobs in dunking. The work is closer to performing than competing: the dunks have to land nightly, on rims the dunker has not tested, in front of an audience that came for the show.
Dunkademics filmed him during Dunk Week, the run of sessions the channel puts together to concentrate a large group of dunkers into a short window.
The channel also has him in game footage. Game dunks and session dunks are close to different events — a session hands you the rim, the spacing and as many attempts as you need, and a game hands you none of it. A dunker who does both is showing two separate skills.
