THE HUMAN HIGHLIGHT FILM: Nine Chapters on Dominique Wilkins

If Dominique Wilkins played today he’d have a signature shoe and his own logo. His in-game dunks would trend on Twitter nightly. He’d be unstoppable in 2K. He’d be top five in jersey sales. He was like prime Blake Griffin AND Kevin Durant.

That’s how dominant 'Nique was.

Back in his peak in the 1980s and early 90s he’d have three or four "did you see that!?!?!?" dunks and about thirty points every single night.

But he was more than the highlights and the stats. He had sponsorships with Reebok and Gatorade and Minute Maid. He was a 9x All-Star, 7x All-NBA Team member & Hall of Famer. He was a superstar.

Lunch room arguments would break out about who was a better dunker.

‘Nique or Jordan?

Jordan or ‘Nique?

Was a windmill swung down to your ankles harder than a foul line dunk?

Was it more explosive to jump off two feet or one?

Michael Jordan and Dominique Wilkins were like the McDonald’s and Burger King of our dunking universe for a solid decade…and yet we seem to have slowly and collectively begun to only remember the Jordan half of the equation.

When I started researching this project I got in touch with Spud Webb, Wilkins’ dunking rival and longtime Hawks teammate and friend, to get his take on Dominique’s legacy and he summed it up best.

“It’s amazing that people act like they’ve never seen anyone in the 80s and 90s play other than MJ,” he said. “People need to bring up Dominique. Dominique was an all-time scorer. He never got his credit.”

Exactly!

I’ve wanted to write about the Human Highlight Film’s highlights from the first time I saw his highlights on film. I’ve even had that sentence stowed away in a notebook for about eight years. And I’m damn glad to finally use it.

From ‘Nique’s legendary high school games to his bulldozing of the SEC at Georgia to his FIVE dunk contests to his duels with Jordan and Larry Bird and even his late-career EuroLeague Championship and Final Four MVP and beyond, enjoy this digital, illustrated biography of the electric, incomparable Dominique Wilkins.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jon Finkel is the award-winning author of Macho Man, 1996: A Biography, Hoops Heist, The Life of Dad, Jocks In Chief, The Athlete, Heart Over Height, “Mean” Joe Greene and more. His books have been endorsed by everyone from Mark Cuban and Tony Dungy to Spike Lee, Kevin Durant and Jeff Van Gundy. He has written for GQ, Men’s Health, Yahoo! Sports, The New York Times and has appeared on CBS: This Morning, Good Morning Texas, and hundreds of radio shows, podcasts and streams.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Michael Farhat is a plexi-glass artist and founder of Art Mobb, a creative coalition of artists committed to serving the community with art. Born out of a passion, respect, and admiration for sports, athletes and celebrities that make a difference. His work has featured Kobe Bryant, Nas, LeBron James and a wide variety of sports and entertainment legends.