Dr. J Dunks: Julius Erving Video Shows He Can Still Throw It Down At Age 63
Dr. J may be 63 years old, but he can still get above the rim and dunk a basketball like he did decades ago.
Julius Erving was shown in a video online on Tuesday proving a claim that he can still dunk even into his seventh decade. The video arose after a documentary aired on NBA TV on Monday called The Doctor. In the documentary, Dr. J told reporters that he doesn’t have the gravity-defying hops he did as a star of the NBA and ABA, but he can still get high enough to dunk the ball.
Julius Erving, the subject of the documentary, has stayed in the public eye after retirement and is held among the game’s all-time greats. With that the fame comes increased scrutiny: In 2011, Dr. J held an auction for several pieces of memorabilia from his historic career, and had to publicly deny he was doing it to pay off a $200,000 loan he owed.
Erving said it was just a coincidence and added that he planned to donate proceeds to the Salvation Army.
“That irony actually gave me a sleepless night last night,” Ervin said of the timing of it all. “I had to laugh at it and cringe at it that these stories would run concurrent with one another… We decided to do it a long time ago. To claim it’s a firesale or to clear up some debt, I don’t think so. You don’t do an auction overnight. This has been long planned. We had 4,000 catalogs that have been mailed already to people who buy this kind of stuff.”
Dr. J was known for his aerobatic assaults on the rim during his career, including one of the most iconic dunks of all time:
The dunk this year, at age 63, was posted to Twitter by Ryan Kelly.
63 year old Dr. J has still got major ups. #TheDoctor vine.co/v/bl7dlA9JIxg
— Ryan Kelly (@RyanJKelly) June 11, 2013
The video of Erving dunking wasn’t just a one-off, either. Dr. J said he has dunked three times in 2013, as well as at least once a year since he retired from the NBA 26 years ago.
The @officialdrj6 said he has dunked at least once a year since he retired from the NBA, including THREE dunks in 2013 at age 63.
— Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) June 6, 2013
The video of Dr. J dunking is a bit grainy and cuts out right at the end, just before he slams the ball through the cylinder, but it’s clear that Julius Erving can still dunk whenever he wants to.
