By W.G. Ramirez
The Sporting Tribune
The John R. Wooden Award will celebrate it’s 50th anniversary this season. Leading up to the award ceremony on April 10, 2026, The Sporting Tribune in partnership with the Wooden Award and the Los Angeles Athletic Club will highlight past winners of the Wooden Award and the Legends of Coaching Award.
Long before Michael Jordan flew from the free-throw line and turned “Air” and “Jumpman” into household nicknames, someone else incorporated thoughts of dunking into basketball fans’ minds.
Darrell Griffith became affectionately known as Dr. Dunkentstein when he began electrifying crowds while playing for Louisville between 1976 and 1980.
After starring for Louisville Male High School, where he led the team to the 1975 state championship, the Louisville native stayed home and led his hometown Cardinals to their first-ever NCAA championship in 1980 and was named the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player. Griffith left Louisville after hoisting the championship trophy and the John R. Wooden Player of the Year Award as the school’s career scoring leader (2,333 points).
The 6-foot-4 lanky highlight reel was drafted second overall by the Utah Jazz and led them to the Midwest Division title in 1983-84. Griffith spent his entire 11-year professional career with one team – a rarity across major sports.
Griffith, who has had his jersey number 35 retired by both the Cardinals and the Jazz, credited his college days as the stairway to the pros, once saying, “The success I had there anchored my pro career.”
Which is why it came as no surprise to see Griffith remain visible and influential in and around the Louisville community.
Griffith took his game to another level between his junior and senior seasons, working out the entire summer before his final campaign, dedicating himself to becoming the best player he could be. He never made it any secret his No. 1 goal was to be the best player in the country.
And en route to laying a foundation for Louisville programs to come, he not only brought the national title home, but was indeed honored as the nation’s top player with the Wooden Award after scoring a school-record 825 points.
In addition to the Wooden Award, the now 67-year-old was named first-team All-American by the Associated Press. In November 2014, Griffith was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame.
Griffith has always been appreciative of the fact that he was able to earn his degree in four years and graduated as one of the top five student-athletes in the country.
As a professional, Griffith was named the NBA’s Rookie of the Year in 1981 after averaging 20.6 points per game. He’d form one of the most dangerous scoring tandems with Adrian Dantley.
He eventually became a long-term threat and led the league in 3-point shooting and set an NBA record for most 3-pointers made in a single season (91) during the 1983-84 campaign.
He’d turn in the best season of his career the following year, averaging a career-high 22.6 points per game while breaking his own league record by draining 92 shots from 3-point range.
It was announced in May that Griffith was hired to return to his alma mater, as he was officially appointed as the new assistant coach for the Cardinals.
In bringing back one of its most celebrated alumni in an official coaching role, the return of “Dr. Dunkenstein” understandably has the Louisville community riveted with the same excitement the former Wooden Award winner triggered when starring for the Cardinals.